Fordham: Latest Publisher to Take Part in Shott Review

David Fordham, chief executive of Iliffe News & Media and chairman of the Newspaper Society’s Independent Publishers Forum, is part of a group giving evidence today to the Local TV News panel. The panel has heard previously from publishers including Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press and Associated as well as TV operators and other media groups.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, asked Nicholas Shott of Lazards to undertake an independent review into the commercial viability of local television in the UK. The work is expected to provide the foundation for the Government’s Local Media Action Plan, due to be published later this year.

The Shott panel includes Brian Linden from Cinven; Claire Enders from Enders Analysis; Baroness Kingsmill, formerly of the Competition Commission; and Richard Eyre, formerly of GCap.

Claire Enders has been reported this week saying that the group expects to deliver an interim report by the end of September and their final proposals by the end of the year.

“We are making patient progress, but there are long, intractable issues,” Enders told Media Guardian. “We are doing our best to go through all the business models. We are leaving no stone unturned. We are aware of how keen the minister is.

“But one of the obvious things about the UK is that our conurbations are not appropriate for local television, they are not big enough. We will get somewhere, which advances the minister’s agenda, but it will not be earth-shattering stuff.”

• Local news TV advisory panel set to report to Jeremy Hunt (Media Guardian)
• DCMS June update on Nicholas Shott study (DCMS Website)

For further information please contact Lynne Anderson on 020 7632 7421 or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.