Credit: By .reid. on Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.
A new online hyperlocal news station is set to be launched in the Pennine Lancashire region.
Founded by local business man Peter Macgregor, PLTV News will go live on 2 April, alongside an accompanying magazine.
"We'll have daily news on the website and some of that will be built upon with features that will go into the magazine," Andrew Frost, of the PLTV news team, told Journalism.co.uk.
"We'll also be encouraging freelance reporters from around the area to send in content and we've got little music shows that will go on the website. Music interviews, sport interviews, they'll all be going in the magazine as well."
The magazine will be a free, 82-page, content based, glossy distributed to over 40,000 households and businesses in the area whereas PLTV will cover the BB postcode – including Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Blackburn and the Ribble Valley.
"The primary reason for setting up the company was to provide the community with a voice," Macgregor said in a press release.
He added that East Lancashire is an area that doesn't get as much attention from national and regional television unless there is a big story. Frost agreed, stressing that with a population of over 500,000 there was a lot to report on in the area.
"After living round here for the past 20 years," said Macgregor, "I feel it’s time the people of Pennine Lancashire were given a quality news source that provides content specific to the area."
An advertising-based business model will crossover between the two formats and Frost hopes that this will allow room for expansion in the future.
"The plan is, if it's successful in our area and our Lancashire region then [Macgregor] is going to transfer that model to other regions," continued Frost. "It is a growing trend because it's a niche market."
You can find PLTVNews on twitter at @pltvnews.
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