Evening Standard wins London local TV licence

Ofcom has awarded the licence to run the local TV service in London to Evening Standard owned channel ‘London Live’.
The new channel is expected to cover around 4 million homes, the largest reach of all the new local TV services. The Evening standard fought off 4 other bids for the London licence.
The award follows legislation enabling Ofcom to issue local TV licences. Licences are awarded for a period of up to 12 years. It is hoped that some channels may be on air before the end of 2013.

In May 2012, Ofcom invited applications to run local TV services in 21 local areas. In total, 57 applications were received to run the local TV services, along with four applications for the local multiplex. Ofcom has now awarded 15 local TV licences, as well as the multiplex licence, and will make further licence awards in the coming months.
In addition to launching on Freeview, London Live is expected to be carried on satellite and cable platforms. Sky has allocated channel 117 for the channel. It is currently unclear where local TV services would sit on the Freesat platform.