URTV Leith to launch neighbourhood TV station in July

Judging by an email received by Greener Leith this weekend it would appear that an online only TV station dedicated to Leith will be launched this July. 

The venture is backed by private cash through a Paisley registered company called URTV. Very little is known about who owns it. The firm has one existing online TV station up and running in Helensburgh.

Apparently they chose Helensburgh to launch because it was the birth place of the inventor of the TV, John Logie Baird.

So for a taste of what is to come, you can check out what the good people of Helensburgh have been enjoying here:

http://helensburgh.urtv.co.uk/

Judging by their RSS feed, they seem to post new video clips to the site two or three times a day. Of course, they may put more or less resource into the Leith site, who knows?

The email we received described the company thus: 

"URTV is a network of hyper-local news channels providing a mix of informative and entertaining content to, and about, communities throughout the west coast of Scotland."

"Every town or village has storytellers, champions, bloggers, leaders and heroes. Our aim is to offer an informative and entertaining professional platform for them to develop the oldest social network there is – a sense of community."

Whilst their aim is laudable, clearly they're going to have trouble building any community if they think Leith is on the West coast of Scotland.

But knit-picking aside, at least they're making the effort to say hello before their launch.

It's also pretty interesting to see that they offered to broadcast Argyle and Bute council meetings online for free. In Edinburgh, the council is already considering this, and the indications are that councillors here may respond more positively to the idea than those in Argyle and Bute.

Greener Leith only raises a tiny proportion of its revenue through advertising, so the Leith URTV station is unlikely to have much direct affect on our revenue, although it could help to promote our projects, alongside the activities of all the other charities in Leith.

However it's probably fair to ask what impact will this have on the viability of existing local media like The Leither, and non-profit broadcaster Leith FM?

Do you think URTV Leith will be a useful addition to the Leith media landscape? Let us know what you think.