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The Element TV management team comprises of veterans of the TV, technology and investment industries, including senior experience at Sail TV, VBS.tv, City Channel Ireland, Chellozone, Chello Central Europe, Channel M, Channel 6 (Ireland), TV3 (Ireland) and the Guardian Media Group (GMG).
Speaking about the bid, Element TV founder and chief executive Jamie Conway said that there is a "commercially viable" future for local TV in Britain, but only if people think differently.
"Creating pan-national networks that opt out to short bursts of local programming provides nothing new and merely pays lip service to the concept of local broadcasting," he said.
"Solutions and opportunities to let local businesses advertise to their local areas is as essential in creating a relevance to viewers as local programming is."
Caroline Bailes, head of corporate development and intelligence at the GMG, has been appointed Element TV's director of finance and strategy. Bailes was recently involved in putting together the business plan for Channel M, the local TV channel serving Manchester.
She said: "The Channel M project proved beyond doubt that there is a healthy appetite for local TV in this country from both viewers and advertisers. The network model that we propose will allow local channels to flourish in a way that was previously impossible. The future really is bright for local TV."
Last year, Element TV met with Nicholas Shott's independent television panel, which submitted an investigation report to Hunt in December, along with media regulator Ofcom and Hunt's Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Hunt wants bidders to submit proposals by tomorrow for providing the channel on Freeview, which would have a national schedule but enable local operators to "opt out" in certain areas to deliver local shows and adverts.
Element TV said that its "exhaustive research" into both audience and local business demands has produced a sustainable model for local TV. Alongside the TV channel, Element would also focus on the delivery of content across mobile, IPTV and video on-demand platforms. It has already formed strategic partnerships with technology companies in those areas.
Hunt believes that local TV is commercially viable in between 10 to 12 major cities, but Element claims to have "developed the ability to provide support and broadcast solutions that will allow towns and villages to launch their own TV services in ways that could never have been considered before".
"Providing on-the-hour local news, events, sport and weather is something that has never really been considered before" said Conway.
"A 30-minute evening news bulletin covering thousands of square miles was fine for the 1950s, but people today want information that is relevant to them and they want it regularly. We propose to make sure that viewers are never more than 30 minutes away from a local bulletin of news, weather, sport and local information throughout the day."
David McCormack, Element TV head of operations, added: "The technological advancements of the past two years alone means that getting pictures onto people’s screens is cheaper than ever without any loss of quality or production values. We're proposing to let channels flourish in smaller areas by letting them focus on content creation and we'll take care of all the backhaul and broadcasting issues that would ordinarily destroy their balance sheets."
Also vying for the local TV channel is a consortium of Scottish campaigners hoping to create a new network covering the whole of Scotland.
The group, led by Institute of Local TV campaigner Dr David Rushton, wants to establish eight main local stations in Scotland, catering for audiences ranging from 140,000 people in Perth & Kinross to 750,000 in Glasgow & Clyde.
A further six local stations would cover the Highlands and Islands running from the Shetlands to the Western Isles, producing local news and other programming.
The strategy would dovetail with plans already put forward for the creation of a new Scotland-wide digital channel to operate outside of the BBC and STV.
Element TV and the Scottish Network join former ITV News editor Nigel Dacre and Welsh independent production company Tinopolis in expressing an interest in the channel, along with Richard Horwood's Channel 6 group and the Local Television Network, led by Greg Dyke.
