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"Channel 6, the organisation vying to take on the government&amp;#039;s proposed new local TV channel, has partnered with universities and colleges in the UK to tap into emerging media talent. The group has signed collaboration agreements with Sunderland and Cardiff Universities to share local production resources in their areas. Channel 6 is also working with Skillset to explore similar partnerships with more than 20 other universities and media colleges around Britain, including the Skillset Media Academies. Richard Horwood, the chief executive of Channel 6, said that universities and academies often have state-of-the-art production facilities, as well as highly motivated and qualified graduates eager to develop local TV services in their areas. Horwood wants these educational institutions to become &amp;quot;key local partners&amp;quot; as Channel 6 prepares to put together a strong proposal for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt&amp;#039;s new national TV channel for delivering local content in the UK. Hunt wants bidders to submit proposals by March 1 for providing the UK-wide channel on digital terrestrial television (Freeview), which would have a national schedule but enable local operators to &amp;quot;opt out&amp;quot; in certain areas to deliver local shows and adverts. &amp;quot;Over the next few months we will be sitting down with our partner colleges and universities to discuss in detail how we can collaborate most effectively,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ll be looking at issues like access to studios, production, and post-production facilities, providing internships for undergraduates and jobs for graduates, maybe even setting up our local affiliates on campus. Depending on the business model we agree, our partner universities could participate directly in the profitability of the local affiliate.&amp;quot; Graeme Thompson, dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design &amp;amp; Media at the University of Sunderland, said: &amp;quot;We were early supporters of the Channel 6 model and are looking forward to exploring how the best use can be made of our exceptional facilities and well-trained students. Real World experience for our students is a key aspect of our degree and postgraduate programmes.&amp;quot; Skillset deputy chief executive Kate O&amp;#039;Connor added: &amp;quot;We are extremely keen to make the links between our Skillset Academies and local TV as this will foster even stronger links between the Skillset Academies and the media industry in their local area, exposing Academy students to industry practice and in turn giving industry a direct line on the best emerging talent.&amp;quot; Under the Channel 6 plans, the new local TV network would launch with around nine local affiliates on Freeview, Virgin Media and satellite in 2013. The number of affiliates would grow to 39 by 2017. The organisation has claimed that the channel would have a programme budget bigger than Channel 5 and spend roughly the same amount per viewer as BBC Two. However, Channel 6 will face strong competition for the contract from the Local Television Network (LTN), a campaign group headed by former BBC director general Greg Dyke. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a305722/channel-6-teams-up-with-universities/>