Delivering council services to the living room of residents through a TV screen is just one of the initiatives of the Community Information Programme developed by Knowsley MBC. All developments have been made possible by installing a broadband network.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister wants to set up twelve clusters of councils and regional development authorities to pilot the use of interactive digital TV. The clusters will be chosen to represent a cross-country selection with different service delivery and population requirements. The DigiTV (Digital Interactive Television) programme will seek to demonstrate that DiTV is a viable channel for the delivery of local government services. It will also contribute to improving public services and support the renewal of local democracy.The ODPM believes that Interactive DiTV can provide an almost universal platform in which citizens can interact with local and national public services using a user-friendly medium. It offers an opportunity to bridge the digital divide between the information rich who have Internet access and the information poor who do not. The new services should increase citizen interaction with councils and tackle social exclusion by developing an easily understood user interface and a discrete method of content delivery. It is also planned to develop links between DiTV and the Internet. This aligns closely with priority areas in eGov@local the national strategy.

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