Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what subsidies have been provided to local television stations, established under the Local Digital Television Programme Services scheme, by (1) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and (2) the BBC, since 2012.

The BBC has provided funding to support the development of the local television transmission network operated by Comux, the holder of the local television multiplex licence. Out of a total budget of £25m, the BBC has to date provided grants totalling £21,191,935 to Comux.

Individual Local TV services also benefit from financial support from a BBC content acquisition scheme operating until March 2020. The scheme was established following an agreement reached between the BBC and the Government in 2011 and which was updated in the new BBC Agreement published in December 2016. Under this scheme, the BBC agreed to set aside £15m for the acquisition of news and other content meeting requirements set by the BBC from local TV stations for the first three years of their operation. To date the BBC has so far provides funding of £7,701,790 to local TV services under the scheme.

DCMS has not provided any funding to local television.