Kent County Council says it is “probable” that more public money will be needed to support Kent TV if it does decide to push ahead with the project for a further five years.

County Hall leaders are to decide before Christmas whether to continue with its controversial internet channel.

A review of the two-year pilot project is due to be published next week.

A tendering process for the new contract is already under way and 24 potential bidders have signalled their interest in taking on the contract, which is currently held by Ten Alps.

KCC says that if it does carry on with Kent TV, further public subsidies are likely but at the same time, a new operator would be required to bring in money from other sources.

The council said the potential level of taxpayers’ subsidy had not been determined and emphasised that it was still weighing up options - including scrapping the scheme.

When Kent TV was first launched, KCC said it would eventually become self-financing and not be a drain on the public purse. However, that has not happened and the council recently pumped a further £385,000 into Kent TV to cover the costs of a seven-month extenstion to the original contract.

The next phase of inviting formal tenders from those who have registered their interest is expected to begin shortly.

Cllr Roger Gough, the cabinet member responsible for Kent TV, said it was “probable” that a five-year extension would involve the county council offering some subsidy.

However, he said it was not possible at this stage to say whether it would be at the same level as the two-year pilot, which has cost the council £600,000 each year.

“We have not set out a clear position on the expected level [of support]. What we can say is that so far as we are concerned, an ability to generate additional sources of funding will be needed by any operator,” he said.

The fact that the county council had initiated the tender process did not imply it had agreed to continue with the scheme, said Cllr Gough.

But he welcomed the high level of interest from would-be operators, saying it reflected the growing consensus that the public sector was increasingly expected to be using such outlets to communicate with people about its activities.