Four powerful forced companies are joining hands for bidding for a Government contract. These companies, Johnston Press, DC Thomson, Herald & Times Group, with Britain’s largest independent media producers Tinopolis, have announced their joint move towards telecasting Scottish news for STV, the internet and other digital platforms.

These four companies which together form Scottish News Consortium will be competing for the Independently Funded News Consortium (IFNC) Scottish pilot.

The Scottish News Consortium has a vast editorial staff around the country and publishes an enormous range of newspapers including dailies such as The Herald, The Courier, The Scotsman and The Press and Journal, many weekly titles and some Sunday posts. They also have their presence on line with scotsman. com and heraldscotland. com.

Tinopolis chairman Ron Jones sounded confident and on this he said, "The Scottish News Consortium consists of the three strongest newspaper groups in Scotland, and the most distinguished producer of network television journalism. Together, we are confident we can provide Scotland with the news services it needs and deserves".

The bid winner will be declared by the government by mid-March.