Lord Carter's report proposes to invite the OFT, Ofcom and other interested parties, to undertake an "exploratory review" across the local and regional media sector. The review would then inform whether any change to media ownership rules is "desirable or necessary".
The report notes that "many people are beginning to raise questions about the longevity of local content", adding that this is an issue in commercial radio and the newspaper industry.
It calls for responses from the local newspaper industry about what role local journalism will have in providing impartial news in the digital age.
The report concludes that there are several options to address the issue of providing regional news beyond existing BBC services. Among these, the report said, the BBC could enter into news gathering and production partnerships with ITV. Secondly, the current regional news slots in ITV's schedule could be opened to a third party, contestably funded, news provider.
Following industry feedback, Lord Carter will publish his final Digital Britain report in June.
Follow MediaWeek.co.uk throughout today, and Media Week's next edition, on 3 February, for further analysis of the Digital Britain report.
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