London Live, a new channel from the Evening Standard, is set to launch next year. The channel will focus on news and current affairs, as well acquiring London set dramas.

Broadcasting to around 4 million homes, the new channel will transmit a minimum of 4 hours of news a day and, in a bid to keep up to date with the digital world, it will also launch 33 internet TV channels.

The Lebedev-owned newspaper won the Ofcom licence last week after beating off competition from four other applicants. London Live will initially broadcast for 18 hours a day but if it attracts enough viewers it could become a 24-hour channel.

The announcement is good news for the industry as the publisher plans to strike deals with British indies in a bid to create original content. A purpose built studio is to be created at the newspaper”s headquarters, providing job opportunities for crew and presenters.

Other job opportunities arising will be roles in production – either on a permanent or freelance basis.

Live events such as the Notting Hill Carnival, as well as live coverage of West End shows, will be covered by the channel.

Mr Lebedev said: “Our excellent team of journalists in the capital have the best contacts, knowledge and understanding of the London scene. Through the Evening Standard and Independent, we have proved time and again that we can deliver fast, accurate, high quality breaking news, features and analysis and we are looking forward to applying these skills to London Live.”

London Live is planned to broadcast early 2014 on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and IPTV, with other digital platforms planned.

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