Could C4 be the saviour of regional TV news?

Channel 4 say they're thinking about entering the arena of regional news. Along with children's programmes they think this could help them fulfill their public service remit, and maybe help achieve some sort of financial settlement.

At a time when ITV are planning to cut back their regional commitments this has got to be welcomed, even at this early stage when it's little more than daydreaming and certainly not a concrete plan.

C4 seem to be thinking of starting off online and then moving onto their digital channels rather than putting regional news into their mainstream output. This makes a lot of sense to me. The BBC are proposing local online video news services at a cost of £68m, plans which aren't being universally welcomed. itvlocal.com could also become a conduit for local content, but I'm not sure if the regional ITV services will have the resources to provide this after the changes that are coming.

Whatever the outcome it looks as if local and regional news and current affairs are being moved to the digital margins, which is fine for those of us who are connected; but for my Mum who consumes media in a very traditional way this could be more of a problem.

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