[Orry Verducci]

The real problem with local TV is that running TV channels, especially ones on the DTT platform, is expensive.

For most channels those costs are recovered by the ad revenue, but the local channels on their own simply don't have the coverage to bring in sufficient ad revenue to cover the costs, apart from maybe the ones covering the biggest cities. Which means they also can't afford the programming that will bring in the viewers, so ad revenue falls further. It's a vicious circle.

The whole business model, as originally intended, simply doesn't work. Which is why most of them have moved to form quasi-national channels, which works better in terms of ad sales and revenue.

For the local channels to work in the way the government originally wanted them to, really they needed to subsidise it.

I always thought they would work better as something along the lines of a national rolling news channel but with regular local inserts and bulletins for news/weather/travel. In a way the new Talk local channels are a step in that direction.