A small-scale revolution designed to produce more local news and sports coverage in regional Australia is underway.

Key points: Independent media companies in Wagga Wagga, Bendigo broadcast local sport and news

Independent media companies in Wagga Wagga, Bendigo broadcast local sport and news Major media companies have scaled back staff in regional areas and outsourced local stories

Major media companies have scaled back staff in regional areas and outsourced local stories Local media companies say internet speeds are not stopping their viewers from tuning in

At Wagga Wagga, in southern New South Wales, a small independent media company is broadcasting local league and soccer games live.

WaggaWagga.TV chief executive Adam Drummond set up the company two years ago, and said the feedback had been positive.

"A normal show on our platform would get something like between 700 and 1,000 views," he said.

"The football brings in about 7,000 and I think it's up to 20,000 now for replays."

Normally, sports broadcasters source their own sponsors and advertisers, but Mr Drummond said he could make money by turning that tradition on its head.

"We were approached by Football Wagga and we suggested that they pay us for our personnel costs and they did, and so that's locked in," he said.

"In return, they are able to get as many advertisers as they like — and I have been told they have actually made more money doing it that way, by getting their own advertisers."

Streaming harks back to time of locally owned media

The Wagga experiment is not the only one.

The internet has given Bendigo IPTV, in central Victoria, the platform to cover all things local.

"We produce everything ourselves," said the company's chief, Denis English.

"We have done the Bendigo Cup; we have done the local football grand finals with local commentary; we have done a variety of programs with local musicians.

"We really try and fill the gap, I guess, and be what television was, locally, 10 to 20 years ago."

It harks back to another time, before big, aggregated country TV markets, when locally owned media companies saw a dollar to be made in local news and large amounts of sports coverage.

Long-time regional sports commentator Alan Hull remembers it well.

He cut his teeth in a golden age of country media, calling everything from the footy to the trots.

"The fondest memory is calling football off the back of a truck and the ladies from the canteen coming out and putting down some magnificent cakes and sandwiches and saying, 'Here, have this, it is a cold day'," he said.

Adam Drummond said each football game brought in about 7,000 viewers. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

Technology ripe for building local media landscape

But right across regional Australia, media companies have scaled back staff, and local stories are often outsourced to cities to cut costs.

"So far as a ball-by-ball, as a tackle-by-tackle, to the best of my knowledge, [coverage of local football] would only take place basically in the grand final if you were lucky," Mr Hull said.

That is why he is pleased to see a small move towards locally produced news and sports being broadcast online, although he anticipates the greatest challenge for these companies will be revenue.

The former Prime TV studio in Wagga Wagga. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

Media analysts said the technology was ripe for anyone wanting to contribute to a local media landscape.

Vincent O'Donnell from RMIT University said he would not be surprised if the trend caught on.

"There are only a few types of people doing these types of streaming of local and regional content," he said.

"When a few people do it, maybe other people will say, 'Hey, what a good idea. Why didn't I think of it before?'"

But Dr O'Donnell said the biggest challenge in some regional areas could be technology itself — slow, expensive internet.

"We do need good quality NBN services, preferably fibre-based because that is the way of guaranteeing speed," he said.

But both Mr Drummond and Mr English said internet speeds were not stopping their viewers from tuning in.