BBC Scotland channel - service to also launch in HD

Yeah but no mention of the simulcast of BBC 2, that's the bit I don't think we realised

But BBC Two HD isn’t leaving DTT in Scotland? It’s replacing CBBC HD from 7pm each night.

Reiterating this ...

BBC TWO SD and HD on Freeview continues to be available in Scotland 24/7 albeit in the English Variant.

BBC Scotland SD is available 24/7 on Freeview AND in HD from 1900-2400.

Where is the SD space coming from, especially with BBC Alba already an extra channel on top of what the rest of the UK get on the BBC mux.

One interesting thing on the website is this:



So effectively a Scottish Six for the 21st century with a tailored BBC News homepage for Scottish readers.

And the trailer for The Nine makes it look like a Scottish version of Victoria Derbyshire.

BBC Scotland will show BBC Two content between 12-7pm. With the addition of local opts for programs such as Politics Scotland and First Minister questions and so on. It will be branded as BBC Scotland with the new announcers performing continuity throughout the day.

Are there sacking staff? or will the current staff cover the 12-7pm slot with new starts just doing 7pm to 12am?

No staff sackings. BBC 2 staff will be fitted into BBC 1 rota and also be moved onto BBC Alba planning. New announcers will be on air from 12pm-12am. One staff member at a time will be cycled on the channel. For the next 3 months, it will be Kirsty Merchant with Cameron McKenna being used for holiday cover. After the 3 months another existing announcer will take their turn.

Interesting about the new channel simulcasting some BBC Two programmes.

It's almost starting to sound reminiscent of BBC 2W. For our younger readers, this was a special version of BBC Two Wales that existed in the evenings on digital only. Normal BBC Two Wales, although still with a handful of Welsh opts, continued on analogue, while digital viewers were subjected to wall-to-wall regional programmes for a chunk of the evening, including a fairly pointless 9pm news bulletin that next to nobody watched, because they were too busy tuning back to analogue to watch what was "meant" to be on BBC Two at that time. When they did the first trials of DSO in west Wales, they ended up letting the poor souls keep analogue BBC Two after all, else they'd never be able to watch Gardeners' World et al. When DSO happened for the rest of the country, they scrapped the whole thing and everyone got normal BBC Two Wales again.

Of course, if somebody in the dim and distant future scraps this new channel to save money, you won't have a BBC Two Scotland to go back to.

I've already answered that question twice in this thread !

Alba partially uses space that requires some BBC radio services to cease after 7pm

Thanks for clearing that up.

Everyone is wondering when will the yet-to-be-launched channel will shutdown, and how the new channel will even fill its schedules. But I have another question.

If the new BBC Scotland channel ever turns out to be a success, will the BBC roll out the new dedicated channels for other nations and English regions, and turn BBC One and Two into sole nationwide channels without any regional opt-out? Germany's ARD (Das Erste) and ZDF have no regional opt-out, and all of ARD's regional members air regional contents on their own TV channels.