Kent County Council has been forced to release more details about the funding of Kent TV, its £1.4million internet-based TV station following a ruling by a Freedom of Information watchdog.

The ruling follows a successful challenge by the KM Group, which has been engaged in a long-running dispute with the county council over its refusal to disclose information about a feasibility study for Kent TV.

The station was launched in September last year and is being operated by Ten Alps, a company founded by Sir Bob Geldof.

Now the Information Commissioner has ruled the county council was wrong to withhold some of the information we asked for. He also said KCC was wrong to provide us with a censored version of a briefing note provided to county councillors and has ordered the full briefing note to be published.

In his ruling, the Information Commissioner said he accepted the Kent Messenger Group’s argument that “the council should be open and transparent about the costs incurred by the taxpayer”. As a result, it was in the public interest “to disclose the costs borne by the public for the establishment and maintenance of the TV channel”.

He rejected the council’s argument that those details should be kept secret on grounds of commercial sensitivity and said the council had failed to demonstrate how its commercial interests would be affected by full disclosure of the councillors’ briefing document.

The information now released reveals that at the time KCC was considering setting up Kent TV, it had considered whether to establish it as a stand-alone digital TV station broadcast on Sky. It also reveals the yearly running costs could be as much as £695,000 a year - nearly £200,000 more than it has actually set aside.

The county council has always argued that Kent TV will become self-financing but set aside £1.2million to cover running costs and in addition spent £200,000 on set-up costs.

However, in his ruling on our complaint, the Information Commissioner says KCC need not release a document setting out the full business case for the project.

The KM Group had argued it was in the public interest for that document to be published in full.In a statement, deputy Conservative county council leader Cllr Alex King said: "Kent County Council has been open about the cost of Kent TV since the first stages of the tender process and that it would cost £1.2million over two years.

"The Information Commissioner agreed that we were right to withhold the report except for appendix 10 which has been made available and simply lists the anticipated costs of Kent TV. We have now happily released the information the IC has asked us to."

Opposition Labour leader on KCC Cllr Mike Eddy said: "The council needs to tell us all how much of the £200,000 for set up costs was actually spent given the wide range of estimated costs.

"We should also be told how many of the set-up assets were transferred from KCC and whether the full cost was written off. None of that information is commercially sensitive. KCC needs to realise it is the custodian of the public’s money and accountable to the public."