Alex Salmond outlines life after BBC if Scots go independent

RTÉ does fine quite fine in a smaller market, with BBC One still available, and it is a long time since any cheap American shows have been shown in prime time on RTÉ One. Unfortunately any argument I could have made on the 20 years old movies has been debunked by the fact that they for some reason chose tonight of all nights to screen Raiders of the Lost Ark in early evening (not quite prime time), but it is the high summer. On a normal evening from September to May practically all programming from 18;00 - midnight on RTÉ One, other than the Wednesday and Saturday night movies, is home produced.

RTE has been around though for as long as it's been around and the Irish have always had the BBC as a "foreign" channel. The onl;y comparison surely that matters to Scots is with what they have now, and a new SBC will struggle to match that. Also if Alex Salmond is so for independence why on earth is he even worrying about Scottish viewers seeing Top Gear and EastEnders.

I do think the BBC and TV in general could become a big issue in the debate (and probably a welcome distraction from genuine political pros and cons for both sides) - after all we saw how popular STV was for not showing ITV shows! It's tough now to launch any channel, never mind a national PSB - and I struggle to see how the "SBC" could launch successfully. The only way IMO is if there is a few years "switchover" period where the BBC and SBC exist side by side, with the BBC reducing it's commitment as SBC build theres before ultimately going private. However as others have said with the BBC still in the picture it would probably make it harder rather than easier for the SBC to establish themselves.

Another option I guess could be that the BBC are given the licence to run the SBC for it's first few years at least, but thiat might complicate things for the BBC in the rest of Britain going forward and ultimately if Scotland is truly independent things like sports rights, films and imports would surely be sold separately in the years that followed.

On the commercial side too it could actually cost STV their franchise as ITV would no longer be legally obliged to provide them with programmes, and might opt to bid against them to launch something along the lines of TV3 in Scotland themselves.

I wonder if a new body would name itself like the BBC and call itself, Scottish Broadcasting Corporation?
After all RTÉ stands for Raidió Teilifís Éireann perhaps a new Scottish broadcaster would call itself, Raidió Teilifís Alba, or would that be calling out for car crash television? (RTA)
Would STV be allowed to carry on as a franchise holder for ITV? As it stands any rights for sporting events that ITV1 wins carries over to UTV and STV as well, would this be allowed to continue or would there be a whle new rights war in Scotland that Sky could mop up or even see Setanta which has been simmering away back in Ireland make a return.
This could get messy folks.
One thing that is very likely to happen though if the BBC pull out of Scotland is the switching off of BBC national radio channels. Radio 1,2,3,4 and 5 live. DAB channels will also likely be scrapped an replaced with new Scottish stations, though if following the Irish example, Radio 1 and 2 will be on one station (like RTÉ 2fm) while Radio 4 and 5 will go on another (like RTÉ Radio 1)

Surely it would be Rèidio Telebhisean Alba?

He's trying to get on side undecided voters to support independence by attempting to reassure that popular BBC shows would still air in Scotland. Just like the decision to retain the monarchy if Scotland becomes independent is probably an attempt to get independence sympathisers on board that still want to retain a link to the the Royal Family. He's making concessions to try and win the referendum

I presume STV would be safe due to the newly signed affiliate contract with ITV plc - thus securing at least prime-time programming with options of opt-outs here and there.

BBC would be a comp[letely different kettle of fish - as it is all BBC channels are FTV on satellite, but not too sure with regards to Irish cable. But also do not forget that Switzerland, The Netherlands and a couple of other European countries also show BBC and ITV channels - in fact I can even pick up all the BBC National radio stations with a normal radio or via the Iplayer or normal net. Would you honestly think that they would just block Scotlands viewers and listeners - or would it affect millions of other across Europe?

Providing that the Scotrish Government was happy to maintain the model. I doubt that they would want such an arrangement to continue though. A lot would depend on it's vision for the commercial broadcasting sector. As I said previously the broadcasting landscape could change completely, STV being involved in the shake-up. Being reliant on supply from a foreign country would seem perverse.

I really don't think that all the national stations will just disappear from Scotland. An 'SBC' could not possibly expect to replace all 9 of the BBC's national stations and nor would the population want them to. I'd have thought that the more likely scenario would be that Radio Scotland is upgraded and become their national radio station and the others will continue as they are now.

DAB is an issue on a technical level as the BBC mux is a national (UK) single frequency network so it's impossible at the moment to split programmes for Scotland. Digital 1, however does have a different frequency for Scotland, although I don't know how they use it

What is perfectly clear from the nebulous comments made by Alex is that he doesn't actually have a vision for broadcasting in Scotland post-independence.

I imagine more than one policy advisor is busy making notes on the comments being made here.

Indeed. Like many - though, in fairness, certainly not all - of Mr Salmond's big ideas for an independent Scotland, the foundation of this proposal seems to be built upon the notion that anything and everything becomes immediately superior if it has a Saltire and "MADE IN SCOTLAND SO FÛCK YOU, ENGLAND" stickers slapped all over it.

Still, that could make for some interesting idents.

The thing is, it's all elementary. The BBC could not remain the chief public service broadcaster for both Scotland and the remainder of the UK, in the (still unlikely, thankfully) event that Scotland divorced the rest of Britain. It just wouldn't be practical.

As has been said, Scotland would be under a different regulation regime, have different broadcsting rights etc. Okay, you could have two different BBCs operating under the two different broadcasing regimes but it'd be politically and democratically impossible, I believe, to have a unified management, overseeing both parts. Of course, the Channel Islands & Isle of Man are not a part of the UK yet have these institutions, however, the UK & Ofcom pretty much decide what goes on their behalf. If Scotland wants to go down that route, then I don't get it. That isn't independence and in fact, Scotland would have less of a say than it does as an actual part of the UK.

I do think during the debate over the next two years that Scots need to be aware that independence actually means separation. I came across one Scot on the internet once who claimed to want independence for Scotland but didn't want separate broadcasting, didn't want border frontiers, didn't want a separate army and didn't want a separate currency. My reply to him is that he didn't want independence then.

Well then according to your definition, the SNP doesn't want independence. Your definition is way too literal. For example, Scotland want to keep the pound, which means they theoretically would be in a worse position than they currently are now because the Bank of England would still have a lot of fiscal power over Scotland, hence why Salmond said Scotland would need representatives at the B of E. That, under the SNP's definition, is still independence. So why couldn't a similar thing happen with broadcasting, in that OFCOM remains the regulator with Scottish representation? It's equally possible.

However, no matter how possible it is, I agree that the point of independence would slowly start to become futile.