YORK has missed out in a pilot for the Government’s Local TV plans, but could be included in any subsequent roll-out.

Ofcom, the media regulator, yesterday named 20 towns and cities as proposed pilot locations for the plans, but although Leeds was included in the list, York was not.

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt wants a nationwide network of hyperlocal TV stations, including some owned by local press operators, to replace ITV regional news from 2014.

Yorks’ bid was put together by a group including Science City York, City of York Council and the city’s two universities – the University of York and York St John University – and has had the support of The Press.

Carl Wolf, business development manager for Science City York, said: “We are disappointed we are not in the first round of licences but we are continuing with the proposal for an Internet based TV service for York which we are confident will be up and running next summer, a full year ahead of the government proposals.”

The 20 sites selected were Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Grimsby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Preston, Southampton and Swansea.

Ofcom said the sites were selected on the basis of strong local demand, technical feasibility and availability of a potential local operator.

Mr Hunt said: “I am confident these new stations will provide local communities with programming which is relevant to their daily lives.”