Television in the United Kingdom 4 Corp, according to BARB's viewing figures for January 2018. On 18 January 2011, then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt announced his intentions to set up a network of local television stations across the UK. The initial plan was to create a network of local television stations, connected through a national backbone. This plan would create a television network similar to that of the network-affiliate model in the United States and Canada. In June 2011, however, it was announced that the national spine plan would be scrapped, and a 'bottom-up' approach would be followed instead,
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, or informally Culture Secretary, is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage. The first to fill the role, David Mellor, dubbed it "Minister of Fun". On 9 July 2018 Theresa May appointed Jeremy Wright to the post. In 2017 the DCMS was renamed to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in