A local media group, Center for New Media, has announced it is in talks to begin programming a broadcast television channel that will focus on Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties.

The channel, KBCB 24.3, has a digital footprint spanning from Vancouver, British Columbia to Snohomish County, south of Everett, but the group’s plans currently have a focus on Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties.

The Center for New Media is detailing the technical needs of the new channel, according to the organization’s executive director, Suzanne Blais, and community talks have already begun with a Citizens’ Advisory Board, made up of key advisers and stakeholders to start gauging broader interest in the new project.

The process is still in its early stages, but the organization has already begun gathering local programming.

“We’re excited to have this kind of an opportunity, and we’re grateful that KBCB has a corporate vision that really includes the local community,” Blais said, in a press release. “We currently have two FCC licensed TV channels in Bellingham, neither of which have local programming. We have an opportunity to see ourselves on this new channel. If you are a content creator, and you’d like viewers in our region to see your work, we’d like to talk to you.”

Andy Wilcoxson, KBCB’s station manager, said KBCB strongly supports local programming, and the station is looking forward to seeing what can be created.

According to the Center for New Media, the organization is “a unique public­-private partnership formed to build community, provide media production education, research new media concepts, create vibrant programming, promote media literacy education, and distribute original voices through sustainable and exciting channels.”

More information is online at www.centerfornewmedia.org.