BSkyB says no to local news

The satellite provider BSkyB has announced that it will not be providing a local news service for rival broadcaster ITV.

The reason given is that this sort of news would not fit in with the Sky News brand, or status as a commercially funded news service that is totally independent.

Sky News is one of the largest news providers in the UK, providing news services for Five and for many of the UK’s commercial radio stations too.

Sky News has been approached by other media providers to get involved in the UK local news network, but it seems it is not interested in providing this service at the moment, because it does not believe in accepting public money to provide a national or local news service.