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A new digital Gaelic channel could transform television by allowing more local coverage, a Tory MSP has said.

Conservative culture spokesman Ted Brocklebank complained that the lack of local television output is "the biggest single failing of British public service broadcasting at the moment".

But he told a conference in Edinburgh that a planned Gaelic digital channel could "provide the home" for more local programming, similar to that in America and Canada.

The BBC Trust has already announced that a Gaelic Digital Service (GDS) will be launched in summer - which will include a dedicated digital TV channel.

Mr Brocklebank was speaking at the broadcasting regulator Ofcom's Nations and Regions conference. He told the audience the GDS could "provide the home for the true regionality or city TV concept that has been so successful in the USA or Canada".

The Conservative MSP explained: "Local regions or cities could opt in and opt out of the digital channel's output with localised news and current affairs programming of their own, thus transforming local coverage throughout Scotland."

He added: "The new digital channel would also be a huge boon to Scottish independent programme makers who would produce much of the programming for the new channel under a commissioning structure."

Mr Brocklebank also used his speech to speak out against the idea of an hour-long Scottish based evening news programme - a so-called "Scottish six". He told the conference: "We do not believe the so-called 'Scottish six' concept is the way to resolve problems of apparent anti-Scottish news bias.

"Viewing the world through tartan-tinted spectacles may have been a partial analogue solution, but not in a digital age where news is increasingly viewed on the net or on the many 24-hour providers.

"A more direct answer in our view is better education by the BBC of its bulletin editors, and especially of which issues are reserved and which devolved in the new UK set-up. Clearly, we want to see accurate coverage of Scottish affairs on our national channels, but we are equally convinced of the desire for strong local coverage."