SP
The English nations have local radio. Scotland has BBC Radio Scotland.
I am the first to make a case for more programming coming from outside London, but the nations of the UK have separate legal systems and separate traditions. Scotland's Parliament takes devolved decisions on huge swathes of policy, whereas the lack of coverage of Northern Irish issues (with the welcome exception of tonight's lead) mean viewers in that country may as well watch RTE over network UK news.
{Devil's advocate}
As the populations served by those nations are comparable to some English regions, are license payers in England not already subsidising those in the nations? A viewer in Scotland gets a lot more "regional" content than I do in Yorkshire, yet we pay the same license fee.
Maybe it should work in the same way that areas that want a Parish Council pay a small amount more in their Council Tax to fund it; if the Nations need more funds per head of population than English regions, shouldn't this come either from an extra tenner on the license fee for those who will benefit or a grant from the relevant devolved government?
With no regional programming on English ITV stations apart from regional news and the BBC ‘Inside Out’ often networking reports across regions, why does Scotland need an extra dedicated channel. I thought it had Alba?
The English regions need representing.
The English regions need representing.
The English nations have local radio. Scotland has BBC Radio Scotland.
I am the first to make a case for more programming coming from outside London, but the nations of the UK have separate legal systems and separate traditions. Scotland's Parliament takes devolved decisions on huge swathes of policy, whereas the lack of coverage of Northern Irish issues (with the welcome exception of tonight's lead) mean viewers in that country may as well watch RTE over network UK news.
{Devil's advocate}
As the populations served by those nations are comparable to some English regions, are license payers in England not already subsidising those in the nations? A viewer in Scotland gets a lot more "regional" content than I do in Yorkshire, yet we pay the same license fee.
Maybe it should work in the same way that areas that want a Parish Council pay a small amount more in their Council Tax to fund it; if the Nations need more funds per head of population than English regions, shouldn't this come either from an extra tenner on the license fee for those who will benefit or a grant from the relevant devolved government?
