Government plans to increase news pilot scheme funding

The government is understood to be planning to increase the funding for replacement ITV regional news pilots in Scotland, Wales and England. According to an insider close to the negotiations over the news pilot contracts, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has made available another £7m to cover the cost of VAT. The funding for the Scotland pilot is set to be increased from £16m to £18.8m over two years, and the Wales and Tyne Tees & Border region will both go up from £12m to £14.1m. These pilots, supplied by independently funded news consortia, are designed to replace the ITV1 local news service for each area and will be funded from BBC licence-fee money, initially from the amount left over from the digital switchover help scheme. It is thought the additional money will come from the same source, although the DCMS refused to comment about it. In January the DCMS revealed that eight bids were in the running for the three news pilot contracts. The Tyne Tees & Borders region pilot will be contested by ITN's consortium, which is backed by broadcaster Melvyn Bragg and includes Johnston Press, Newsquest, Metro Radio and ITV Tyne Tees and Borders news staff. ITN's competition in the area is UTV, the ITV franchise-holder in Northern Ireland, and an alliance of Trinity Mirror, the Press Association and the TV production company Ten Alps. In Scotland a consortium comprising STV, which holds the two ITV Scottish franchises, ITN and Bauer Media will compete against a partnership of Johnston Press, the Herald and Times Group, Question Time producer Tinopolis and publishing group DC Thomson. Tinopolis, whose chief executive Ron Jones has said that he did not see any prospect of them ever being able to evolve from being publicly subsidised into profitable franchises, is also bidding for the Welsh contract. The company is up against former ITV executive Clive Jones, who is leading an alliance called Taliesin that comprises ITN, Northcliffe Media, Newsquest, Tindle Newspapers, ITV Wales news staff and production company Boomerang. They also face competition from a partnership between UTV and Flintshire-based news group NWN Media. Conservative opposition to the government's plans to provide replacements for ITV's regional news services around the country is led by the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who has vowed to prevent the IFNC plan even getting through parliament as part of the digital economy bill. A DCMS spokeswoman declined to comment. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".