KENT NEWS: The controversial Kent TV internet station has been scrapped.
Kent County Council leader Paul Carter announced this afternoon that the contract for the service, which was funded with £1.6 million of taxpayers' money, will not be extended beyond March.
He said: "Kent TV has proved itself to be a brave and bold innovation and we have learned a great deal from it.
"It has provided a source of practical, useful information for residents and it has particularly appealed to younger residents with its Sound Clash song-writing competition, its Animate and Create animation competition, and its groundbreaking soap opera Hollywould, which tackled young people's health issues.
"However, we are living in different and difficult economic times compared with when the pilot was launched in September 2007.
"In difficult times our spending has to be prioritised. We have therefore decided that Kent TV will not continue when the pilot period ends in March 2010."
When Kent TV was launched in 2007 by Bob Geldof's Ten Alps media company, it was intended to be self-funding through advertising by the end of its two-year pilot.
KCC originally budgeted £1.2 million for the trial and in 2008 set aside a further £400,000 to cover any extension, which was granted in September when insufficient advertising revenue was raised.
Despite this, the website only attracted about 2,500 unique visitors per day and came under constant attack from opposition members and taxpayers who believed it was a waste of public money.
Roger Gough, cabinet member for corporate support services and performance management, said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly.
"We have listened to feedback from many sources. We have carried out an independent review of Kent TV and we have taken all the available data into account, including assessing the benefits were we to go forward.
"We intend to continue to develop digital media to connect with the people of Kent.
"Our thanks go to Ten Alps and to the Kent TV team for providing a strong service for the last two and a half years."
POSTED: 09/02/2010 16:39:15
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