The London Evening Standard will officially enter the race to run a local television station in the capital, Broadcast has learned.

The Alexander Lebedev-owned newspaper was engaged in talks with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about the plans this summer and is prepared to formally bid for the London licence. 

It is understood that the Standard has been approached by “a lot” of other potential bidders in the capital about forming a consortium, but the freesheet is keeping its options open for now and could even go it alone. 

“We find the prospect [of local television] exciting and see the benefits commercially and for the Evening Standard brand,” said a senior source at the newspaper. 

The decision is a boost for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has been keen to attract high-profile bidders for local TV licences. 

It is understood that another London freesheet, Metro – part of Associated Newspapers – is not weighing up a move for the capital’s licence.

One of the bidders open to working with the Standard is Channel 6, the organisation run by former Trinity Mirror executive Richard Horwood, which last week signalled its intention to battle for the London licence. 

Horwood has been a bullish presence throughout the process and, in Channel 6’s latest submission to Hunt, said cable and satellite platform operators must be compelled to carry a London channel prominently on their EPGs.

The submission argued that only 30% of London residents would be able to watch on Freeview because of frequency limitations. 

Bidders will be invited to make a formal expression of interest in running a local TV station early next year and the London licence is seen as one of the few that could be genuinely lucrative. 

In separate submissions to Hunt last week, it is understood that some bidders called for the BBC’s £15m in funding for local TV services over the next three years to be made available in cash.

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