The technology is in place with a large studio, editing suites and production rooms providing the nerve centre for the station. City provost Jimmy Gray will perform the formal switch on at 6.30pm at the Town House on Monday 22nd February, and the founders are confident their free coverage - providing you have internet access - will soon find a healthy audience.

But with the long-time established presence of national broadcasters BBC and STV, does the city really need another broadcaster, however small? Inverness TV's founder Steve Bone insists it does, and accuses both terrestrial broadcasters of neglecting the Highland capital.

"As an Invernessian you have STV North, which is Aberdeen-based, and Reporting Scotland could be called Reporting Glasgow for all it reports here," he said. "Our channel is all about providing choice for the community.

"We hope locals will get on there and find out things about Inverness - what actually goes on."

Inverness TV will have a series of channels on the web, initially focusing on the community, arts, tourism and business, to be updated every week. The long-term goal is to be available on digital television via Sky or Freeview within a decade.

Mr Bone feels there is already a buzz about the station amongst the local population, despite a lack of marketing, with a social networking website helping to flag up the venture.

More than 20,000 votes were placed by the public when they were invited to pick their favourite presenters from online audition tapes in an "X Factor"-style contest. The station, which is a partnership between local media firms Highland Corporate Video Facilities (HCVF) and Zolk, will be fronted by the five successful presenters.

Another key figure behind the launch is HCVF's Jim Eglinton, who admits a dedicated community station for Inverness has been his dream for a decade.

The two companies will provide the technology, training and expertise, with the presenters - working around their day job commitments - being offered a platform for their fledgling talent.

"We had them in here speaking to camera and memorising introductions," said Mr Eglinton, who is sure there is plenty of raw, untapped talent in the city. "Some of them were complete naturals. We were very impressed with the response."

Former MFR trainee Robbie Paulin is one ambitious presenter who is looking for Inverness TV to provide him with the on-screen experience he needs.

He has just returned from a five-day course he paid for himself at London's Pinewood Studios, where the Bond films are shot, learning how to read an autocue, amongst other skills.

The 24-year-old, who lives in the Muirtown area, jumped at the chance of working for the new station and believes it can thrive by responding to what its viewers want to see.

"It's exciting to get on camera and see where it's all going to go," he said. "But Inverness TV has been quite open to ideas and wants the public to come forward with what they want.

"MFR is local but it is owned by a bigger group and covers an area the size of Belgium - playing national and international music. We will be right in the middle of Inverness and covering what is happening here. Television is different each time. I can relate and connect in a way you can't with radio." Mr Paulin says getting screen time will be vital to his ambitions to become a full time television presenter, and is keen to get his personality across in his work.

Such was the stampede of budding presenters that even an eight-year-old local girl lodged her interest. However, while there has been no shortage of volunteer presenters - an initiative called InControl, to find people willing to take on activities voted for by viewers, has not been so successful.

The Inverness TV production team and presenters who are eager to ensure the city gets the coverage they believe is lacking on other broadcast stations. Bobby Nelson

"People are quite a bit reluctant to put themselves forward," admitted Mr Bone.

"The idea is that they will be asked to do stuff by the viewers like say go to Hootananny's to review a band or undertake some of the most difficult or dirtiest jobs about.

"But I think Inverness is still small enough that people feel they would be recognised if they were to be seen out and about afterwards.

"It would be nice to think Inverness TV would help people get over that. People love seeing somebody they know on television. It's about having fun and people can come and have their 15 minutes of fame is they want."

If Inverness TV has misread the number of wannabe reality TV stars in the city, established broadcasters also reject the notion that they are neglecting local audiences.

"We understand fully the appeal and popularity of local content," said an STV spokeswoman. "We have studio bases across Scotland, including Inverness, and provide extremely popular local bulletins within our news programmes.

"STV Local will be an extensive interactive website where people across Scotland can access and contribute to a wealth of local information about their area, allowing us to build strong relationships with communities."

BBC Scotland pointed out that it had a "significant and historic" base in the city, producing content for radio, television - including BBC Alba - and online.

"Locally we have opt-out news bulletins on Radio Scotland. On television, Reporting Scotland frequently covers the major stories which matter in the city and region," said a spokesman.

"As a national broadcaster, we strive to reflect the stories and issues from around the country and ensure there is fair balance in how we cover the different regions."

Funding the internet station is another issue to be resolved. Both HCVF and Zolk have ploughed significant funds into the start-up costs, but Mr Bone acknowledges that attracting advertisers is going to be tough because it has no track record.

Mr Eglinton, however, is convinced the station can prove its worth with the people who matter - the viewers.

"I think Inverness TV has the potential to do for the visual medium what MFR did in the 80s for sound," he says.

h.ross@inverness-courier.co.uk

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