The prognosis is not good according to Steve Hewlett‘s short analysis (The Guardian 18/1/2010) of the options surrounding the Independently Financed News Consortiums. He argues that this solution, for provision of local news beyond the BBC, is already being undermined, even as the list of bidders eager to participate in the pilots is being published. However, as some of the comments point out, pilots are designed to explore possible problems and devise solutions. What we can be sure of is that the definition of what constitutes regional, as opposed to local news will be debated for some time to come.