Local TV: Licences on offer for Bangor and Mold

Made TV Ltd was unveiled as the winning bidder to run the new local station in Cardiff last year

Opportunities to launch local TV stations in Bangor and Mold are being offered by the media regulator Ofcom.

The watchdog has also re-advertised the Swansea local TV licence, which failed to secure an operator in the first round of advertised licences.

Made TV Ltd was unveiled as the winning bidder to run the new local station in Cardiff last year.

The UK government has said there is demand for more local programmes than those offered by BBC or commercial TV.

Bangor and Mold were named on a list of sites for local TV announced by the Department for Culture Media and Sport in 2011, but they were not included in the first round of licences to be advertised.

Ofcom invited expressions on interest to offer local TV services in 30 areas across the UK, ahead of a second phase of licensing, on Wednesday.

The closing date for expressions of interest is 24 April.

Hourly bulletins

Earlier this month, Ofcom announced that it had awarded 19 licences in the first phase.

It is hoped that some channels in the first phase may be on air before the end of 2013.

Bryn Roberts, station manager at Made in Cardiff, said last year the station would broadcast two half hour news programmes a day, along with a bulletin on the hour every hour.

There will also be an additional hour of local programming at peak time featuring local events, arts, music, restaurants and different cultures.

He said that the station would broadcast to a potential audience of 800,000 people, as far north as Merthyr Tydfil, across to Bridgend and east to Newport.