Battle for ITV Border Scotland services

I never understood the Border area. It would have been easier at the start if a region crossing the North east and cumbria a'la BBC1 had been formed.

Having seen STV news I have to say it needs a reboot (no offence intended to anyone)

None intended, even though its only been 2 years, it does need a slight revamp. Here's hoping when they launch the regional channels next year it will get done.

They usually have a revamp every 3 years, so theoretically speaking it should be next year.

We can only hope eh?

What worries me is that these new channels will be doomed to go the same way as so-called "hyper-local" channels have done:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23906703

I fear a combination of politics and finances will be the death-knell (hopefully not because I'm trying to get a job with my channel 6 station!)

I think if the Scots reject independence, ITV will end up buying STV's Channel 3 Licences anyway. This may have even been the reason STV have gone into the Local TV market (if ITV buy the C3 franchise, STV can then keep their brand going). After that it would surely only be a matter of time before UTV is bought.

If this happens, we would probably see Regional News levels reduced to ITV Wales levels. A reduction in Scottish sub-regions would also be likely (I think ITV would be daft to have a full Scottish National programme but who am I?). We could even see the 6pm Regional News programme cut to 20 minutes across the UK (maybe the real reason for the 20 minutes sub-Regional segments?). With more sub-regions than the BBC, it would still surely be strong enough competition especially with the Local TV services now also competiting. This could also be an opportunity for the English Pan-Regions to get some form of Political/Current Affairs programming back (say 20 minutes per week), but that's another story...

There is a lot riding on that independence vote for the Channel 3 Licences and Local/Regional TV methinks.

Seems unlikely, what use is the brand without the product? Ending up with just two piddly little city stations would be the end of the company, they won't care about the brand, which is only a few years old anyway.

Also what happens if the Scots Parliament get controls of media in Scotland and makes it clear that both full 30mins programmes a kept.

Unless Scotland leaves the UK then it won't. Pretty much the only example in the world where broadcasting is devolved is Belgium and Belgium's the perfect example of how not to do devolution.

I think if ITVplc bought out STV, the brand would go fairly quickly. They'd keep the Glasgow continuity announcers for a bit to ensure "ITV Scotland" is drilled into the viewers heads (including the Scotland half of Border which would be added to the region). These announcers would eventually go, as would the two separate programmes. You'd be lucky if any subregions existed for part time opts, quite frankly.

As far as ITV and Ofcom (and to some extent, the BBC) are concerned, England is unfortunately seen as the least important part of the UK in terms of regional broadcasting (in terms of non-news at least), despite being the largest in terms of size and population.

Surely that's because everything for the most part comes from England and is England centric anyway. Whereas Scotland is a nation, with it's own unique identity that won't be reflected in quite the same way in the England based media as England is.

Is it really any more relevant to someone from Newcastle that The Graham Norton show is from 'England' than it is to someone from Edinburgh?

Scotland does have needs, of course, when it comes to regional programming (either Scotland-wide or on a more local basis) but that's natural in the context that it's part of a larger country of 60 million people. Everyone in the rest of the UK has these needs too though and this concept of 'England' and using it to justify near enough full time network programming is a folly.

And it's this treating Scotland differently, almost as if it's a colony of the UK than an integral part of it, which is what leads to the SNP having a majority in the Scottish Parliament and a referendum on leaving the UK entirely.

OH no.... Alot of people Hate Salmond, the reason SNP won the 2011 election was because people were not happy with Grey or labour and went with the lesser of two evils.

Back on topic, Problem is Scotland just want some nice local show, This only really effects Current affairs and nothing else, which to be fair is needed since most Current affairs show would be pointless up north.

Your Correct about the Norton show or X Factor, but people still like to have some local tv shows, I wonder if ITV cooking shows or country ways which visit different locations help bridge the gap? Couldn't ITV produced a few more Local type shows were each week the show visits different areas?

I would love STV do bring back a proper Local gameshow, Scottish Action and even something like the Art Sutter show but that anit going to happen. But at least you know if you've lived in Leeds, Carlisle or Newcastle you know something was being created for the area.

The SNP thing was a slightly throwaway comment, rather than intense political analysis, though, I would credit the Lib Dem meltdown more than any antagonism against Labour or the Conservatives for the large SNP gains in the last Scottish election.

Still, my point was that whilst Scotland does have particular needs, it's not unique in this respect and the rest of the UK has equivalent needs. The idea that generic UK programming is less appropriate for Scotland than England is essentially an argument for saying Scotland is less British than England. And it's that sort of thing which supports separatist allusions that Scotland is essentially a colony of England. But yes, this is a wider argument of which broadcasting is only one aspect and it would be offtopic to go into this in much more detail here.

By the way, I'm not arguing against STV providing programming for their patch. The more the better. It's just that whilst the Scottish part of Border is missing out, they're not the only ones. The rest of us also have no equivalent to what STV offers either and I resent the idea that we're less worthy of it, purely because we're in England.