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,
Sky News Radio proposed to become a partner in DAB news station DNN. This deal fell through, although Sky News Radio did become the main national news supplier to DNN. The station closed in July 2006, and was replaced on the MXR multiplexes by London speech station LBC 97.3. In March 2007, BSkyB and Chrysalis Radio announced a new joint partnership to launch a dedicated Sky News Radio station on the proposed bid by Channel 4's 4 Digital Group for the second UK DAB multiplex. Chrysalis's existing London rolling news station, LBC News 1152, was to be re-branded "Sky News Radio for London".