So, local news from Border TV has been cut back. Oh woe is us, oh woe is us. Really? Well, not as far as I'm concerned. If I want to know about local events, there is Radio Cumbria which is much better than Lookaround and the other bulletins. Similarly, for the Connected People, there are now plenty of resources available. Anyway, for quite some time Border TV has served its Cumbrian people badly. Highlights of Carlisle United matches? Well, you can forget Border, as you'll be lucky to get a couple of minutes. You're much better off watching the highlights on Virgin Media. What about, say, Workington Reds? Well, in January they beat Barrow (tier above) 3-0 in the FA Trophy, and then won 5-0 at home. No highlights of either, and not even a mention of the latter.
So, has the time come for something radical? For a couple of years, I've been suggesting that we as Cumbrians need Cumbria TV. There are 500,000 of us, mainly living in a handful of population centres. The rest live in scattered rural locations. Also, most of those in the urban (ish) areas have strong affinity with the rural nature of our county. Manchester has Channel M, and other geographical areas are starting up their own channels. Other than news, we live in a county with mass appeal in the UK, Europe and further afield. The Lake District, Beatrix Potter, and Wordsworth are a good starting point for interest. We have concerts, fairs, the Keswick Religious Convention, Appleby Horse Fair and many other events which provide annual focus on the county.
Recently Cumbria got its own University by name, with colleges scattered over the county being brought under one umbrella. Over a year ago I contacted the University and suggested that they produce local video news for access via the Internet, and perhaps build this up to a satellite channel with sponsorship and/or advertising. One of my brothers also made the same suggestion via a different route to the university. Unfortunately, the university didn't bother getting back to us.
So, in the meantime I've decided to take another tack and build up a list of Internet resources which already exist.
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