BBC plans three daily local vid bulletins

Details of the BBC's plans for local internet video services have been released as the BBC Trust and Ofcom begin investigating whether they will be allowed to go ahead.

The 60 BBC Local websites would be expanded to include three daily bulletins for each of news, sports and weather with each updated up to three times per day. In addition, there would be up to ten video items per area lasting a total of up to 20 minutes.

The BBC has proposed to roll out the services, which would also be made available for mobile devices, between 2009 and 2013, with an eventual annual cost of £23m.

The plans, which are opposed by many local commercial media groups, can only go ahead with approval from the BBC Trust, which must decide whether they pass its public value test.

Under the test, the Trust will assess the potential public value of the services while Ofcom will conduct a market impact assessment, which will include consideration of their "likely impact on existing (and perhaps future) suppliers’ plans".

The regulators have invited submissions from stakeholders and plan to publish a decision during the winter.