BBC Scotland - the launch

Oh dear is a very good word that springs to mind right now! and to everyone who suggested in the News Channel thread that The Nine should be on the News Channel-Forget it!

Bloomin’ hell! Take some medicament - you’ll feel so much better.

What’s wrong with the idea of putting The Nine on the news channel, anyway? Surely doing so would open it up to a wider audience, thus increasing ratings, thus making it better for everyone? I’d have thought that news from a Scottish perspective might be a bit more relevant to a UK audience than Outside Source.

For those who can't access The Times, a few select paragraphs:

why? The show itself is very good, the fact its hidden away on an obscure channel that isn't helping.

Has a full news programme on a channel other than the main 1-5 ever actually worked (obviously excluding news channels)? They always end up getting cancelled - thinking More 4 News, news on BBC3/Choice, there’s probably more.

There was no demand, but that doesn't mean you should not try if you've been forced to launch it then. Part of that youth and young come into shows through exactly. Reporting Scotland branded news programmes should be on BBC Scotland Channel. At least that way you are starting from a recognised name and the audience knows what they are getting.

I think the only one that has worked is the world news on BBC4 - and even then that’s just a simulcast of BBC World, so it’s not exactly breaking the bank. Interestingly enough, though, there were a few current affairs programmes on ITV2 when it first launched, including a weekly media programme called Wide Angle, which I suspect would have interested many on here.

why would you brand something with the brand of a disliked and poor quality regional show? The Nine is not a regional show, it's not Look North, its not Reporting Scotland.

The show isn't Reporting Scotland though. Perhaps it should be, but this isn't, and thanks to the licence fee they had the budget to build it a dedicated set, rightly or wrongly. I don't think editions of Reporting Scotland would be rating any better, but would likely be much cheaper to produce - although leave another half hour of the schedule to fill.

The Nine probably isn't the true test of ratings - it's whether dedicated Scottish content is reaching the same audience on BBC Scotland as it was on BBC2 Scotland (and BBC1 Scotland if it's moved from there). I would hazard a guess based on UK ratings that BBC1 Scotland usually rated around 250-500k in primetime and BBC2 Scotland probably 100-250k. If no original programmes on BBC Scotland are breaking the 100k barrier that is a cause for concern.


Will be interesting to see how BBC Scotland handles the Womens World Cup, which the BBC are pushing this year. The first game is versus England and on BBC1 anyway. The second Scotland game is in the afternoon, so outside of BBC Scotlands hours, but will almost certainly be on BBC1 or BBC2 anyway. The final game is in primetime and at the same time as the England game. I don't know what the networks plan is but presumably England will be on BBC1 or BBC2 and Scotland on BBC4 or the red button, and then you'd imagine it would also be on BBC Scotland. However the argument is if a game is on BBC1 Scotland surely that should be Scotland. I guess this is a similar issue to the early days of digital TV where you needed to raise the profile of channels by putting flagship content there, but potentially limited your audience in doing so.

Even that started as a specially-commissioned show for BBC4 though.

I didn’t know that - interesting. Has it been shown on World since the start, or did that happen later?

It was always simulcast on World as well I think but it was obviously not just a standard World simulcast we get now.