The winning bids for the three Independently Funded News Consortia pilots in Scotland, Wales and the Tyne Tees/Border region in England have been announced by the government.

The IFNC pilot scheme was set out in last June's Digital Britain paper and aims to lay the groundwork for new local and regional TV news services when the current Channel 3 licences expire in 2013.

The successful consortia have been named as:

Scotland: The Scottish News Consortium (newspaper groups Johnston Press, Herald and Times Group, and D C Thomson along with independent TV production company Tinopolis).

Wales: Wales Live (UTV, the current Channel 3 licence holder in Northern Ireland together with NWN Media, a regional newspaper print and publishing company).

Tyne Tees/Border: News 3 (Trinity Mirror, Press Association and independent TV production company, Ten Alps).

These consortia will receive Government funding totalling £47m over two years and will provide local news content in the television slots currently occupied by ITV and STV regional news and across the web, mobile, and other new platforms.

The culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, said the funding, which comes from an underspend set aside for the digital switchover helpscheme, represents "a massive commitment" from the present government.

But it remains to be seen whether the scheme will go ahead if the Conservatives come to power at the election.

Chair of the independent selection panel, Richard Hooper, said: "The members of the Selection Panel and I were most impressed by the quality of the applications. We had to make some very difficult decisions, knowing that we would disappoint teams that had worked long and hard on their proposals.

"In Wales and Scotland, in addition to strong proposals for regional, local and hyperlocal/community news, the bidders put forward credible ideas for quality news for those nations which is urgently needed as a result of devolution.

"We asked bidders also to think about longer term sustainability without public funds. Given the political uncertainties surrounding IFNCs, my colleagues and I were particularly impressed by the sustained enthusiasm and resource commitment of the bidders and the momentum that has built up to deliver innovative multi-platform multi-layered news in Wales, Scotland and the Borders/Tyne Tees region of England, competing with the BBC.”

The independent selection panel outlined the key features of each of the winning bidders' plans:

Scotland
"SNC set out an imaginative and innovative cross-platform approach to news provision adding the reporting resources of its partner newspapers and a new website to a strong TV proposition.  The proposals represented a clear sense of public value associated with a credible news alternative to the BBC in Scotland.   The planned website would act as a portal to 130 local newspaper partner websites."

Wales
"UTV proposed a model which would deliver a harder-edged TV news programme reflecting the needs of a devolved nation in conjunction with local and community media across both north and south Wales.  A strong track record in Northern Ireland gave credibility to a clear vision for an innovative community-based approach in conjunction with citizen journalists and its newspaper partner, NWN Media."

Tyne Tees/Border
"News 3 offered a completely new multi-platform studio based at the Newcastle Chronicle offices and a strong offering of both news and news features. The bid promised a unique model for the future provision of local and regional news across different media platforms."

Under legal requirements, following today’s announcement there will be a ten day ‘standstill’ period before discussions on contracts are due to continue.

Reserve bidders have also been announced for each of the three pilots. They are:

Scotland: Scottish News Network (STV, ITN, and Bauer Radio)

Wales: Tinopolis

Tyne Tees/ Border: Great North News (led by ITN, with Johnston Press, Newsquest, Bauer Media, and University of Sunderland)