ITV Local, the broadband TV site that features local news, weather, music and what's on guides, has extended its contract with Narrowstep and has plans to offer increased functionality.

ITV Meridian is expanding ITV Local to cover the whole of the South and South-East. The public will also have the ability to submit video clips and adverts from their own computers and see themselves on ITV.

Our take: ITV Local has a beautiful interface and offers high-quality video. We look forward to seeing how many viewers contribute their own video and how ITV Local organizes and presents the content. Could this be the future of community interaction?

All three editions of Meridian Tonight and local weather forecasts will be free to view for anybody with a home PC or Mac computer and a broadband connection by logging onto www.itvlocal.tv.

The news channel also offers an archive of previous stories and a video-on-demand function so viewers can watch 'what they want, when they want'.

ITV Local is also offering users free! software which will enable people to upload their own material. This service is unique on the internet and ITV hopes it will be the beginning of a new 'citizen's TV' service.

The trial broadband channels were launched in Brighton and Hastings in October and have proved popular with viewers and advertisers. Film, classified advertising, 'what's on' and documentary channels can also be viewed at the click of a mouse.

Lindsay Charlton, ITV Meridian's Managing Director said: "This is the first time in 50 years that an ITV region has provided news and feature programming 24 hours a day to the entire region. We're also giving our viewers the opportunity to create their own programming and we think there is an enormous potential appetite for this service. Friends and family can catch up with their own region wherever they are in the world thanks to the internet and broadband technology".

ITV Local automatically calculates the bandwidth of individual com! puters and then delivers high quality pictures which can be viewed full screen.

"There are already 9.8 million broadband connections in the UK and many people can now catch up with local events from their home or workplace computer which wasn't possible in the past," said Mr Charlton. "Broadband is going to be an increasingly important television platform".

During the trial, viewers also have the chance to win a camcorder by filling in a simple feedback form.

Click on over to ITV Local to see what's on.