Iain Hepburn is the latest journalist to muse over the question of what part, if any, Big Publishing can play in Little Publishing.

My views on this are well known and not new, and Iain rightly focuses on the fact that Big Media chooses to ignore when looking at its Little Publishing business models – UGC costs.

The fundamental problem Big Publishing has, of course, is that if hyperlocal doesn’t make the sorts of returns traditional publishing does then it has abandon its mindset of “we make money through publishing, this is publishing, therefore we will make money from this”.

AOL has been reported to be $160m a year on Patch, its hyperlocal offering in the States, DMGT’s losses on LocalPeople are nowhere near that big but are substantial losses all the same, and the Guardian has pulled the plug on its hyperlocal offering before launching notice last month.

Perhaps the STV approach Iain highlights of using hyperlocal as a gateway to customers for larger brands, rather than as a business division expected to contribute to the bottom line, is the future for Big Publishing in Little Publishing.