I have mixed feelings about this, really. I'm quite happy with the current situation - the five minute bulletin half way through covers the (very) local news pretty well. Saying that, it would be nice to get less stories from the west but to go to all this effort seems a little over the top.
Plus, I'd miss John MacKay too. A full bulletin by Suzi Mair just wouldn't be the same.
Will it be Suzi though? Nice if they brought Louise over for the capital's show.
:-(
A former member
Inverness does have studio and equipment to do an opt but until the switch-over is done nothing can be sorted out yet.
pilot scheme does sound good, and yes there are problems but I dare say there will explain this to locals and also hopeful sort out problems before and during the pilot scheme. I take it, it's a week?
This is fantastic news. Really flies in the face of what the homogenised ITVplc are doing.
John says they're building a larger studio in Edinburgh for the new full show based there.
Can't wait to see it - although I'll miss seeing John McKay if he continues with Glasgow - as he undoubtedly will.
What will STV do about Edinburgh ? Many folk in the city use Black Hill, that will of course carry the 'West' programme. Currently the East opt is only for a portion of the programme, but under this new scheme the West version will need to carry Edinburgh related items.
The problem won't exist with Sky and Freesat platforms, thanks to the miracle of postcode mapping. I suppose it's possible that the STV/4 Freeview mux from Black Hill could carry both versions of STV, but only at the expense of something else and/or picture quality.
My family homestead was West Lothian, but we used Burntisland in Fife (albeit with a 6ft aerial mast) because the signal was much stronger, and I think it was first to carry Channel 4.
This seems to be a pilot scheme, so I guess we'll find out soon enough what the teething trouble is - but Black Hill does seem a along way from the Lothians when Burntisland is in line of sight directly over the Firth of Forth.
The problem is the west side of Edinburgh, it's screened off by a hill from Craigkelly (or as you refer to it, Burntisland). Most of the aerials as you come into the city from the west are directed at Black Hill, and also in the areas south of the castle for obvious reasons !
There's also an historical reason, Black Hill pre dates Craigkelly for BBC2/625/colour by a few years, so many early 625 adopters will still be using Black Hill, despite Craigkelly now being a better option.
The problem's not unique to sub regional news, Meridian came unstuck when they launched their Thames Valley region, and had to build some relays to restore Mr Dinenage to many South Hampshire viewers
Indeed, Corstorphine Hill does block reception from Craigkelly in the west side of Edinburgh. There are also a few other issues which need addressed - the Broughton relay on the west edge of the Scottish Borders and the Haddington relay in East Lothian are both fed by Black Hill and will need to have their feeds changed to Craigkelly to make sure viewers in these areas don't lose out.
A half hour news service for the East Central Scotland, broadcasting from Edinburgh, is to be launched by STV, as a pilot.
Lasting six months, the pilot is to be launched within the next few months, and will mean - as far as STV Central's 6pm news broadcasting is concerned - simultaneous programmes from both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Currently, STV Central's Scotland news bulletin is broadcast from Glasgow, with east/west opt-outs lasting a few minutes taking place during the course of the programme. Meanwhile, STV North's news output from Aberdeen will be unaffected, including its Dundee opt-out.
The pilot will also include an Edinburgh-based news update at 10.30pm, again separate from the current Glasgow one. It means too a greater emphasis on West Central Scotland news for the Glasgow-based 6pm and 10.30pm bulletins.
In a statement issued by STV, Bobby Hain, Director of Channels, is quoted, saying: “We are excited by the increased focus on local TV services and the opportunities presented by digital technology to deliver this. Based on the success of our micro-regional news bulletins and the early success of STV Local, we believe this service will enable us to continue to strengthen our relationship with our audiences through providing high quality and locally focused services.”
Sorry if I'm a bit behind the times here, but what happened to the proposals from a while back for a full STV News hour including UK and international news, and replacing the ITV Evening News north of the border?
On the issue of the East / West split, and people getting the wrong service, it reminds me of the early days of Central who used to run trails advising getting your aerial changed or moved in order to get the correct regional news, as Sutton Coldfield and Waltham also have a big overlap.
I remember the oild days of East and West sharing the old Scotland Today bulletin. Tony Currie, Nick Radcliffe, Mike Gower, Caroline Dempster(?) and several others, who I cant quite recall the names of.
I know this current announcement is for a different format altogether, but it's a great idea IMO. Properly defining REGIONAL for once.
Sorry if I'm a bit behind the times here, but what happened to the proposals from a while back for a full STV News hour including UK and international news, and replacing the ITV Evening News north of the border?
Well they made an un-broadcast pilot (or perhaps a few), and it didn't go any further. It would have involved a fair amount of input and resource from ITV/ITN, so if I had to guess I'd say the sticking point was there.
Sorry if I'm a bit behind the times here, but what happened to the proposals from a while back for a full STV News hour including UK and international news, and replacing the ITV Evening News north of the border?
I think that plan also depended on the regional news subsidy going ahead. It got as far as some mock up images in the newspapers and (possibly) some pilots but one presumes it was scrapped after STV failed to win the contract (it went to a newspaper consortium). All this is presumably null and void now anyway after the coalition scrapped the scheme.
I also wonder how all this would play out should the rumoured 15 mins regional and then 15 mins ITV Evening News gets the go ahead? Seemingly Adam Crozier wants this to happen and plonk a 30 min game show in the 6.30pm slot.
Mere rumours but it does suggest while STV are looking to invest in news output - ITV does not.
Will be interesting to see what does materialise with both STV and ITV News and if Inverness does get that opt out any time soon - I hope so.
I also agree that the problems with a ITN/STV project would most likely to have collapsed due to the involvement of ITN and the cost of resources etc.
