STV to drop ITV Evening News

This is genius.

If it happens, STV get to dump a separate Grampian operation. They want to be a national broadcaster, so they're not interested in this. There will be savings.

If it doesn't, they're seen to be pro-active, and politically it helps them with the SNP Scottish Government and politicans in general in proving the case that they want to be a PSB. (Although I'm not sure dropping a nationally broadcast news programme will go down well with unionist politicians)

My view? I'd love to see it. I feel the Evening News feels like it has a south-east, Daily Mail agenda and I'd prefer something more relevant. I would miss more localised STV News, but as STV News at Six in central Scotland often shows Aberdeen stories anyway it's not going to make much different..

The losers here would be the former Grampian viewers, who get an excellent localised news service not supplied by anyone else. But this was going to happen eventually.

Surely the assumption is the national / international half hour (with scottish rather than english slant) followed by a galmmed up version of the sub-opts we have as the "regional news".

I have to say I support the idea far more than I support the idea. You don't realise the "English slant" issue until you live here but things such as education / health / wheel clamping simply aren't relevent up here. You constantly see things about English specific health issues that don't affect you whereas the much more important issues for you (eg free prescriptions) are relegated to also in the news.

Hopefully it might give Reporting Scotland a kick in the backside too to try and improve the nightly drivelfest they broadcast.

From the cover of today's Scotsman newspaper - a sneak preview of what the ITN STV news could look like...

With apologies for the ropey quality scan.

So you really reckon the entire hour will be local to both STV regions, each doing their own sub-opts and then national news stories? Seems rather unlikely. As others have said they seem to have ambitions to be a national broadcaster, with the "opts" just that. Unless the Grampian region gets the full half-hour that it gets now then it'll be a reduction in service for those viewers.

I have no clue. There's not enough information being given at this stage. If they were to secure the funding to make this work, who says it won't mean a better service for the north, as well as the new sub-opts for Dundee and other areas. There is some mention of further sub-opts for the borders region (which would require consent from ITV).

Who knows. You don't. Neither do I. Neither, by the way, does John McKay - as he mentioned on the STV forums.

I think its worth waiting to see if this project even has legs before you start talking about the north getting a raw deal.

I think this is an interesting move by STV, and could work quite well.

I've always thought that the idea of a 'Scottish Six' on the BBC was fundamentally flawed, as Scottish viewers would inevitably get a second rate service when it comes to national and international news, with the London-based service getting priority on live reports and interviews.

However with STV's programme starting half an hour before the ITV News, STV should get reports and lives first. Plus it's not like losing the fluffy ITV Evening News would be a great blow to the provision of quality journalism north of the border.

I should have known not to reply to an STV thread with you around

Time will tell - and I'd love to be proved wrong - but STV have shown little interest in maintaining two regions, despite all the talking up of Scotland lately (clearly as a nation rather than the two franchises it owns). Borders plan is interesting but who would they be aiming this at - people in the Border area who can pick up STV, via whatever method, or are they talking about getting their programme on in the Border Scotland area? As you say - no-one knows - but idle speculation is what keeps this place going...

But you can apply that to anything thats on the news. I don't care that wheelie bins haven't been collected for three months in Brighton, it doesn't apply to me, likewise with education/health issues etc that don't apply to my area.

That's not even remotely close to the same thing.

If you hear a story about bin men in Brighton, its clearly got no relevance if you live in Manchester. Its easy for the viewer to disregard information when its made clear that it applies to a specific area.

However - when they talk about a change in the law, or schools or health - those things don't apply en mass to all of the UK as we have a different legislature, education and health system. You wouldn't know that from the way the stories are delivered - or indeed their placement in the running order.

During the recent months the "swine flu hotline" (and web address) was routinely given out on the network. This is of no use to the viewers north of the border who hadn't even set up their system at that point.

Not every Scottish person is aware of the fundamental differences in the way the country is governed - never mind the subtle nuances - and so it is, at best, misleading to announce these things in the way that they are.

This isn't a new complaint - this has been a thorn in our side for decades. A "Scottish perspective" on the news could be as simple as weeding out the stories which don't apply to us - or even giving them a more suitable place in the running order and saying, "new laws came into effect in England and Wales today regarding....".

I quite like the look of that. I'd be surprised if the ITN logo was used other than on a co-production endcap. I'd be even more surprised if they used that old version of the ITN logo.

With respect to Grampian, with the new Inverness opt-out/local segment being proposed, won't that make up for it, at least in part. Take someone from Aberdeen, less Inverness stories, so more time for Aberdeen stories?

Its nicer in print - you can see it's the bendy bridge over the Clyde in Glasgow they're using as a background. Probably a quick mock up from the boys at PQ.

Naturally I would expect to see an Edinburgh skyline for the real thing.

Ahem.