BBC Scotland to launch new channel

It's an interesting scenario. Could we eventually see a BBC Wales, BBC Scotland and BBC NI, meaning that there would be no need for regional BBC 2's and it could go HD on 2/102 for everyone and the main national versions of BBC 1 be closed also with all regional content on its own dedicated channels?

There's just enough content to fill the BBC One 6.30's let alone stretch to a series of 6-8hr per night airtime regional channels...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/media/unhealthiest-nation-in-europe-encouraged-to-watch-more-telly-20170222122665

I honestly think sub-opts within Reporting Scotland would be more beneficial, with regions roughly akin to the STV ones. If it wasn't about trying to placate people who will never be placated so long as the BBC (and the UK) exists, then maybe it would've been a consideration.

Yes, indeed. It's quite unusual that a country with the size and diversity of Scotland isn't covered with regional television or local radio (at least not on the BBC).

The Scottish channel is slightly reminiscent of BBC Choice, perhaps the idea would be for this to assume all the Scottish national content, apart from BBC1 news. If that is so, them perhaps Scotland Today could have regional opt-outs on BBC1, with BBC2 becoming UK-wide?

Will BBC Alba survive?

Is there in Scotland either though? I honestly don't see them showing ~35 hours of original content a week. The news hour will obviously be new each night but I can see many repeats in many of the other time slots.

But not in HD.

Maybe there going to wheel out the Archive plenty to fill up the slots. Come on Scotch on the Rocks

The Borderers (1968–1970)
Bothwell (1979)
The Crow Road (1996)
Case Histories (2011–present)
Doom Castle (1980)
Donvan Quick (2000)
Down among the boys (1993)
The Dunroamin' Rising (1988)
Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962–1971)
The Flight of the Heron (1976)
Hamish Macbeth (1995–1997)
The Haggard Falcon (1974) [2]
Hen Night Tensions (1993)
Hope Springs (2009)
Kidnapped (1975)
Just Another Saturday (1975)
Just a Boys' Game (1979)
Just Your Luck (1972)
Lip Service (2010–2012)
Looking After Jo Jo (1998)
The Lost Tribe (1980) [3]
The Mad Death (1983)
The Master of Ballantrae (1962)
The McFlannels (1958)
The Miser (1979)[4]
Monarch of the Glen (2000–2005)
The Omega Factor (1979)
The New Road (1973)
The Nightmare Man (1981)[5]
River City (2002–present)
Rob Roy (1976)
Sea of Souls (2004–2007)
Scarlet and the Black (1965)
Scotch on the Rocks (1975) [6]
Shetland (2013-present)
The Ship 1990
Shoot for the sun 1986
Sunset Song (1971)
Sutherland's Law (1973-76)
Takin' Over the Asylum (1994)
Tinsel Town (2000–2001)
Three Ring Circus (1961)
Tutti Frutti (1987)
The View from Daniel Pike (1971)
Wallander (2008–present) (a co-production between Left Bank Pictures and Yellow Bird)
Waterloo Road (2006–2015)
The Workings of a Slab Boy (1979)
Your Cheatin' heart (1990)

Good question about BBC Alba. If they merged it and made the new BBC Scotland bilingual, it would be a reverse of the current trend of keeping different language services separate (i.e. BBC Alba, S4C). It could be controversial though if the Gaelic content is outsed from popular time slots to make way for the English.

BBC Two Scotland may well just become BBC Two Network. It is most of the time anyway. Perhaps much of the playout equipment for BBC Two Scotland would be redeployed for the new channel.

BBC One is more complex though as it still has a regional dimension across the UK not just for news but with the likes of Inside Out also. Would BBC One Scotland lose its other programming? River City is broadcast on Tuesdays at 8pm. Maybe this would move to the new channel and Holby City would be shown on BBC One like in England. Would BBC One Scotland keep its own continuity full time or would it be more like in England, with regional continuity only appearing where programmes are different to network?

Seems to bring more questions than answer anything.

BBC Alba isn't in the BBC's remit to do as they want with. The MG Alba partnership exists to prevent such a combination as envisaged above. Shunting Gaelic out would not be politically viable with the devolved administration.

This idea, along with the Welsh proposal yesterday, is astute (and dare I say UK Government led) and effectively knocks Broadcasting devolution into the long grass for a few years too.

So, stepping away from bringing political parties into the matter (eg grievance comments), I would inevitably say as a Scottish person that this is a welcome development. I would add, however, that the BBC should consider its obligations to the nations and regions in totality more seriously, particularly in an environment when this is being abandoned by the commercial sector. It's a matter of time until the likes of Heart or Capital do an ITV and reduce their local programming to news, especially after recent developments from Ofcom.

In terms of the old debate of "But what about my region of England?" Yes, I know much of England gets a raw deal in terms of programming. However, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have separate legislatures, and Scotland has a distinct legal system among much else. Have a listen to the 6pm news and count the amount of stories that refer to England and Wales, or England, which have an afterthought of "In Scotland, this happens". In an era of increased devolution a lot of the 6pm bulletin simply isn't relevant to the nations, Scotland in particular.

On Wales - I've seen figures floating about here stating that 95% of the licence fee spend from Welsh licence fee payers is spent in Wales. Now in fairness, if true that's presumably partially because the BBC has had to take on the cost of maintaining S4C, and partially because Wales produces high budget programming for the network. But it does throw a different shade on to the idea that Wales is being underfunded.

However, there is a fair case to be made for Wales having its own equivalent, and Northern Ireland, which is frankly ignored by network news until something bad happens, also being given extra consideration.

In terms of the country as a whole though, there is a bigger issue which could do with being addressed. A lot of our media is very clearly London-centric. The era of shows coming from different parts of the country has pretty much vanished. The BBC has done a bit to try to turn this around, and Salford has developed into quite the little media hub, but it would be good to see more.

It would be good to see proper consideration of what BBC local radio is there for, rather than just assuming it's for people too old for Radio 2. It would be good to see local correspondents appearing on the network every so often, presenting stories of interest to the whole UK that we just don't hear about it otherwise. It would be good to see productions in different places, meaning talent from right round the country are given an opportunity to shine. It would be good to see the UK take nations speaking unto nations hyper-literally and looking at what Scotland, NI and Wales produce and seeing if there's anything in there that would be good for a spin on network, or maybe encouraging the nations and regions (or production companies in those areas) to pitch to London more often?

There is a lot of talk about diversity within the media, and that's healthy, but there's a danger we also fail to represent people from right across the UK. And as I think we've discovered recently, failing to look beyond the London bubble can be quite dangerous.

That takeover of STV by ITV looks ever further away...