ITV trials broadband TV

It's local TV for locals

ITV has become the latest outfit to dip its toe in the water of broadband TV with the launch of a pilot service on the south coast of England.

The TV service is aimed at viewers in the Brighton and Hastings area who will be able to tune into channels featuring local content including news, weather and entertainment guides via a broadband connection.

There's even the chance for budding filmmakers to post their own TV reports onto the service as part of the three month trial by the commercial broadcaster.

Said Lindsay Charlton, who is heading up the ITV Local Project: "The rapid advance in the number of broadband homes in the UK, combined with improvements in streaming technology, has transformed the opportunities for local broadcasting.

"By combining our traditional broadcasting expertise with the opportunities of the web, we are creating something truly unique."

Charlton might be right. A recent report claimed that TV will become more like the web, as traditional scheduled broadcast channels are elbowed to one side as viewers are given a choice of "millions of programmes" available on-demand or for download.

And broadcasters are already exploring the opportunities. Last month news outfit ITN became one of the first broadcasters to sign up to a new broadband TV service, GreenGrass.tv, making its news bulletins available to broadband users on a pay-to-view basis.

In July the BBC premiered the new series of its comedy The Mighty Boosh on the web a week ahead of transmission on its digital channel BBC 3. ®