Alex Salmond outlines life after BBC if Scots go independent

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/24/alex-salmond-replace-bbc-scotland?CMP=twt_fd

Although to be honest he has few firm plans at all - and I suspect the BBC could become a big part of the debate. I wonder too whether he could legally build a new Scottish broadcasting service on the "assets of BBC Scotland" - wouldn't they be the assets of the BBC rather than the assets of the Scottish Government?

Indeed. I'm not convinced Alex Salmond would have the power to do such a thing as First Minister in an independent Scotland. I would suspect there would be an outcry amongst many Scots too to have the BBC ripped from their television screens.

But would the licence fee funded part of the BBC have any remit to cover Scotland after independence? Anyway, if the majority of people choose an independent Scotland they can hardly complain when their main public broadcaster is independent of the one in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I suspect what would happen is BBC Scotland's operations would cease, the licence fee of Scottish people would be redirected to a newly established 'SBC' or whatever they decide to call it, and this 'SBC' would come to some sort of deal to take over the former BBC Scotland buildings and would end up employing most the newly out of work BBC Scotland staff.

In terms of output, I imagine 'The Seeb' would be very similar to RTE with a lot of original content with a few of the headline BBC dramas and light entertainment shows across 'SBC 1' and 'SBC 2', but I expect there would be a method that most Scots could still view the BBC channels via digital means and many indeed will opt to, just as happens in the Republic of Ireland.

I'd also expect there would be a lot of collaboration on certain things between the two broadcasters, certainly in the early days.

Although, to be honest I'm not too sure the Scottish people will choose to become independent of the rest of the UK.

Interesting really as much of Mark Thompson's swan song evidence to the Media, Culture and Sport Select Committee heralded Pacific Quay as one of the ways forward for a future BBC so one wonders just how much Alex Salmon has consulted with Auntie before selling off the (newly re-fitted) Garden Shed.

Personally, I'll find it interesting to really see the reaction when these sorts of issues come to the fore during the independence debate - presumably, by extension, there would also need to be an independent Health Service, Armed Forces, Emergency Services etc.

Fire and police are already regional anyway.

The man makes my blood boil... and not because he wants independence... i just find him the most infuriating *******.

Fact is, the BBC will most likely gut all of the Scottish buildings of anything of use like cameras, lighting, computers etc, and bring it south of the border. It will try its darndest to hold on to as many staff as possible and Wee Eck will end up with the leftovers. Either that, or they will keep the building and stick a big BBC Worldwide sign on the side and continue to make programmes there.

Also this new Scottish broadcaster could then find that to import British programmes is more expensive than it used to be if BBC Worldwide decides to up their prices for an audience that definitely wants its programmes and was previously unavailable. If that makes sense.

The muppet at Holyrood has only thought of ONE thing when it comes to independence... the fact that he'll get to be Prime Minister or even President. He is a selfish smarmy unlikable hack and i'm just glad i dont live in Scotland, and can turn him off when he comes on the TV.

For the record... i am not against Scottish Independence, i just think the SNP want it for Selfish Power-Crazed reasons, and not for the benefit of the Scottish people.

It's not the BBC's equipment to gut. The BBC is a Government Quango run by Charter, as with all Government property should Scotland secede from the UK, it's rightful share of Government property will be transferred to the new administration. Parts of Channel 4 will go as well.

Look at how Yigoslav and Czechoslovak media was split following the Balkan Wars and Velvet Revolution respectively to see how it could be achieved.

I can't understand why people think the BBC would be so obsessed with keeping a Scottish presence. They won't have a licence fee to fund it's Scottish operations and they would loose the obligation to be in anyway representative of Scotland. If anything the SBC might produce some programming for the BBC, to be shown across both corporations, but in reality any network production would probably move either back to London or to Salford or Cardiff.

I'm not sure in reality that would happen, I mean other than perhaps losing it's licence in Scotland.

Breaking News: Waterloo Road to return to Rochdale....

Also something to consider: what level of service would this SBC be able maintain on the license fee just of Scotland, and would that be deemed acceptable to people there? They'd have a lot less money to play with and thus a lot less they could do...

Just to say "Oh, you'd still get Eastenders and Top Gear" and some idealised local programming doesn't really sound like an idea particularly thought through.

You've only got to look at RTE's schedule, to get an idea of what a PSB serving just 5 million people might provide.
Bear in mind that RTE carries advertising, as well as a licence fee.

They might well be able to purchase some BBC programmes, but it might also require the BBC's satellite transmissions (to England/Wa/NI) to go encrypted

May also need PQ to have a fairly significant re-engineering - AIUI the Central Technical Area is remote controlled from London which I suspect wouldn't be acceptable to the SNP.