Folks in the IPTV space used to spend a lot of time during conference panels and interviews with me talking about the allure of “local” content as a way to draw consumers away from the cable TV and DBS providers and into their waiting arms.

I’ve since turned the IPTV beat over to Bob Wallace, who recently wrote about a NAB discussion on local content. I know Verizon has its own local channel on FiOS, for which there’s no clear business plan as far as I can tell. And our business editor Kelly M. Teal earlier this year blogged about how Ringgold Telephone Co. in Georgia is losing money on what it calls its popular local TV effort. But I haven’t heard or read anything about any significant efforts or successes around local content for IPTV providers or, for that matter, anyone else.

However, just last week I ran across a piece about The Washington Post’s failed attempt to sustain a hyper-local new effort called LoudounExtra.com. Despite all the resources you’d think The Washington Post would have at its disposal, this local effort has fallen short because it didn’t focus enough on learning about and becoming part of the local Washington, D.C.-area community it was created to cover. As a result, it was never able to draw a significant and loyal audience.

So, although many have been preaching the gospel of local news and information in recent years, it appears to be a bigger challenge than folks at first thought. As a former weekly newspaper reporter, this is not a huge revelation. Whatever the size organization they work for, local news reporters don’t make much in the way of salary, so this kind of job tends to attract very young and inexperienced reporters who, as they build their skills, tend to want to move on to bigger and better things.

But maybe we don’t need reporters for this, at least not too many, some have suggested. My sources a few years ago talked about relying on local folks to provide existing footage of high school football games, for example, which could then be offered on IPTV channels. That sounds like an even lower-cost option, for sure, but not really a model to base your business on.

Let me know what you think about this local content issue. And if you can point to a local content initiative that’s making money, please enlighten me.