TV Home Forum

BBC Scotland channel - service to also launch in HD

Final approval given by Ofcom, launching in 2019 (March 2018)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
SI
simpfeld
Steve in Pudsey posted:
623058 posted:
Before everyone get their knickers in a twist.. Scotland has been unfunded for years on spending

Debatable. BBC Scotland serves the same number of license fee payers as BBC West Midlands. The latter has much less funding.


In raw money terms yes but a lot of English regions are much better served with local news than Scotland. BBC Scotland does one news programme for a larger population than a number of English regions and certainly geographically larger. And the other parts of Scotland I've lived in think they are very poorly served by this.

It is often know as BBC Glasgow elsewhere. Even outside the news other programming massively disproportionately is Glasgow based (based on population).

When was the last Drama set in Aberdeen or Dundee? Edinburgh based comedy is few and far between. When was the last New Year show not from Glasgow, it used to move around.

On New Year you'd think Edinburgh being more the centre of Scottish New Year would be better to host from rather than just bits of it.

I actually think there may have been more major Drama from BBC London set in Aberdeen than BBC Scotland. I can think of "Rough Necks" from BBC London and eh nothing from Glasgow.

I think most people this won't change with a new channel. So to me anyway being dominated by London or Glasgow makes little difference.
BR
Brekkie
As an outsider I always assumed the BBC Scotland New Year show would be from Edinburgh.

It is baffling really how Scotland has never even had sub-regions on the BBC when fairly small areas of English regions do, and I think most would rather see money invested in that than a whole new channel. Heck, if the channel does have as short a life span as many suspect maybe that is something that would come out of closing it.
Spencer and Night Thoughts gave kudos
RD
roger delacroix
JamesM0984 posted:
Which segues into a rant I want to have... when you consider fairly small-scale projects like Radio 2 Eurovision have bitten the dust, right up to one of the Corporation's four TV networks, it truly beggars belief how anyone has been able to sign off this channel, especially when the Scottish audience is already extremely well catered for by opts on BBC One and BBC Two.

By way of disclaimer, I wouldn't shed a single tear at Scotland going independent: provided not a single penny from the license fee was spent on the new state broadcaster, and STV was freed from the ITV Network and left to act as a commercial channel in its own right.

The short version is, I'm aggrieved that I am getting a poorer service for my money yet Scotland, once again arguing that it is some sort of special case, is getting an entire extra network, at the expense of the entire UK losing BBC Three.

It's not fair.

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO HAS A BRAIN GOD BLESS YOU MATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RD
roger delacroix
Inspector Sands posted:
JamesM0984 posted:
Which segues into a rant I want to have... when you consider fairly small-scale projects like Radio 2 Eurovision have bitten the dust, right up to one of the Corporation's four TV networks, it truly beggars belief how anyone has been able to sign off this channel, especially when the Scottish audience is already extremely well catered for by opts on BBC One and BBC Two.

The latter is disappearing once the new channel starts.


Have the short term stations been officially ruled out in future? I was always under the impression that they were the initiative of the production teams concerned, so it could well be that just the will, or the idea, isn't there at the moment.

Quote:
The short version is, I'm aggrieved that I am getting a poorer service for my money yet Scotland, once again arguing that it is some sort of special case, is getting an entire extra network, at the expense of the entire UK losing BBC Three.

It's not fair.

BBC Three as a linear channel closed years ago, there's no connection between that and the new channel - different budgets, different departments. And BBC Scotland is being launched with a tiny budget for a channel... and replacing an existing service.

The same goes for the niche radio services, minuscule budget and different department

The 'nations' will always be a special case, but then again they do lose out in terms of localness - Scotlands two radio stations aren't as local as the English equivalents, and neither is the TV news. Go tuning around the radio dial - in many places in the country you'll get more BBC services than someone in, say, Aberdeen.

Sorry mate but there is a connection between BBC Three's closure and BBC Scotland, I remember that the BBC closed BBC Three because they needed to save £30 milion pounds then one year later the news comes of the launch of BBC Scotland and the new channel has a budget of....surprise surprise £30 milion pounds The same amount of money the BBC supposedly saved by closing BBC Three! If to you that is not a connection....
SP
Steve in Pudsey
simpfeld posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
623058 posted:
Before everyone get their knickers in a twist.. Scotland has been unfunded for years on spending

Debatable. BBC Scotland serves the same number of license fee payers as BBC West Midlands. The latter has much less funding.


In raw money terms yes but a lot of English regions are much better served with local news than Scotland. BBC Scotland does one news programme for a larger population than a number of English regions and certainly geographically larger. And the other parts of Scotland I've lived in think they are very poorly served by this.

It is often know as BBC Glasgow elsewhere. Even outside the news other programming massively disproportionately is Glasgow based (based on population).


Much like the people of South Yorkshire complaining about Look Leeds.

I'm sure some stv style sub opts could be done if there was the will in Glasgow.
JK
JK08
roger delacroix posted:
Sorry mate but there is a connection between BBC Three's closure and BBC Scotland, I remember that the BBC closed BBC Three because they needed to save £30 milion pounds then one year later the news comes of the launch of BBC Scotland and the new channel has a budget of....surprise surprise £30 milion pounds The same amount of money the BBC supposedly saved by closing BBC Three! If to you that is not a connection....

The BBC Three closure announcement was made in 2014, and the announcement of the BBC Scotland channel was made in 2017. And the savings made by closing BBC Three were said to be over £50m.
IS
Inspector Sands
Yes and the chunk of money allocated to network television is a different chunk of money that is allocated to the nations. That plus the time difference

Plus as I keep pointing out, they are closing a service in order to open the new BBC Scotland channel* Also remember that just because its called BBC Scotland and primarily goes out in Scotland it doesn't mean us sassonachs can't watch and enjoy it's output.


*which in part replaced the Scottish output of BBC Choice all those years ago
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 7 January 2019 12:59pm
JA
Jamesypoo
Inspector Sands posted:
Yes and the chunk of money allocated to network television is a different chunk of money that is allocated to the nations. That plus the time difference

Plus as I keep pointing out, they are closing a service in order to open the new BBC Scotland channel* Also remember that just because its called BBC Scotland and primarily goes out in Scotland it doesn't mean us sassonachs can't watch and enjoy it's output.


*which in part replaced the Scottish output of BBC Choice all those years ago

Don't forget to call him mate to get your point across.
JM
JamesM0984
I can't see it lasting particularly long nonetheless. Sorry mate.
IS
Inspector Sands
Jamesypoo posted:

Don't forget to call him mate to get your point across.

It's quite handy when people call me mate.... It saves a lot of time Wink
IS
Inspector Sands
simpfeld posted:

I actually think there may have been more major Drama from BBC London set in Aberdeen than BBC Scotland. I can think of "Rough Necks" from BBC London and eh nothing from Glasgow.

'BBC London' doesn't make any drama. Departments of the BBC that are based in London do.


That's quite an important distinction, the network production departments have never just made programmes set in the location they are based, whereas a national production department will.

Ultimately for the audience it's where the programme represents that's important, not the location it was commissioned, produced or edited.
SI
simpfeld
Inspector Sands posted:
simpfeld posted:

I actually think there may have been more major Drama from BBC London set in Aberdeen than BBC Scotland. I can think of "Rough Necks" from BBC London and eh nothing from Glasgow.

'BBC London' doesn't make any drama. Departments of the BBC that are based in London do.


That's quite an important distinction, the network production departments have never just made programmes set in the location they are based, whereas a national production department will.

Ultimately for the audience it's where the programme represents that's important, not the location it was commissioned, produced or edited.


Well apparently it mattered politically in the BBC at the time. The story was that BBC Scotland weren't happy that this network commission was made with crews and equipment from down South shipped up and not them (in any way involved).

There are turf wars in the BBC, maybe more in the past than now e.g "Murder Rooms" series from BBC Films. Despite being pretty popular wasn't recommissioned, as series Drama isn't supposed to be done by BBC Films but by the Drama dept (or so the story goes)

I guess my point was you'd think BBC Scotland (over many decades) would have made more shows in Scotland in one of it's major population centres than BBC London but in drama that maybe isn't true. Just illustrative of how Glasgow centric they are and seen as by lots elsewhere in Scotland.

I always had the suspicion that they think if they properly distributed their resources around Scotland it would dilute (in their eyes and maybe financially) their ability to be a bigger fish by having a larger centre.

Newer posts