The US experience suggests that the government’s plans for local TV are unsustainable and will not lead to a new wave of locally based broadcasters

One of the biggest differences between the US and UK media is the lack of local commercial TV stations in the UK’s urban areas. While Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is very keen to adopt the US model of individual local broadcasting licenses, Sally Broughton-Micova warns that without the ‘backbone’ of a large affiliate network to provide content (as is the case in the US, but not the UK), most of these local stations will not be sustainable.