 Amid much local concern, Swindon Viewpoint was sold to the public of Swindon for £1 and an elected board of directors set up to oversee it.Viewpoint thus became the first local television service that was publicly owned and managed.Programming continued successfully for the rest of the decade with a staff of around six to train the public to make programmes, and was funded by a mix of sponsorship and a Ladbrokes-operated lottery scheme (a forerunner of the National Lottery).