Is there actually any evidence the south of Scotland is going to be handed to STV?
It's easier in terms of Granada/Border because both franchises are owned by the same company - presumably ITV PLC would have something to say if part of its area was to be handed over.
At the end of the day, it is OFCOM's duty to ensure that an adequate service is provided to any area. By scrapping the Border Scotland service ITV have basically "moved" the South of Scotland into England. I would assume that there would be nothing to stop alternative proposals being made for coverage. Or indeed for rival bidders to seek to serve the various franchise areas. Neither STV or ITV have a right to broadcast in perpetuity. Who knows, Scotland might be served by ITV Scotland or a totally new operation might bid for all or some of the areas currently held by ITV. At the end of the day, it will be for OFCOM, presumably with some Government input, to decide what the new franchise boundaries should be. I'm sure I read somewhere that there would be a single franchise for England, one for Scotland, one for Wales one for Northern Ireland and one for the Channel Islands. But, who knows, there may be a decision to have a single franchise for the whole of the UK and the Channel Islands combined. That would still not preclude arrangements being insisted upon for localised news services and national interest programming in the likes of Wales and Scotland. And, remember, Caldbeck has two muxes currently radiating the same ITV service. They are there because, presumably, it is felt that, at some point, some Scottish programming will be broadcast on one of them. And, remember, Anglia was forced to hand over the Belmont transmission area back in the 70s, mid-franchise, to make Yorkshire TV more viable.
From sometime in the 90s, IIRC, the Border Scotland service was introduced from both Caldbeck and Selkirk main transmitters. ITV Border was then broadcast on two UHF channels from Caldbeck with the "Scotland" service feeding the relays in the South-West of Scotland. Selkirk radiated only Border Scotland. It allowed opt out segments during Lookaround, separate local news bulletins at certain points during the day, and for other Scottish-interest programming to be screened, including Scotsport, Scottish clubs in Champions League action, Scottish rugby, politics programmes and the like. I assume the switching and separate feeds to the respective transmitters was handled at Leeds. Ironically, since the merger of news operations with Tyne-Tees, the Border Scotland service is no more, leaving around a quarter of a million Scots effectively exiles in their own country.
To be fair, other than the Selkirk news opts which are indeed no more, the only regular Border Scotland programming by the end was the simulcast of STV's Scotsport, and this itself had ceased. I may be wrong, but had this still been screened by STV then the splits may have continued. I think the fact it had gone, coupled with the end of the news service, was a contributing factor to the service ending.
That said, the Scottish political stuff (i.e. PPBs and the debate) in the recent election was still screened, just to the entire region (which must have been weird for those in Carlisle).
And, remember, Caldbeck has two muxes currently radiating the same ITV service. They are there because, presumably, it is felt that, at some point, some Scottish programming will be broadcast on one of them.
The cynic in me thinks the two muxes are more likely to have been kept to ensure ITV can still sell separate advertising to the Scottish bit (unlike C4 & C5 who just bombard Cumbria with Scottish adverts)
At the end of the day, it is OFCOM's duty to ensure that an adequate service is provided to any area. By scrapping the Border Scotland service ITV have basically "moved" the South of Scotland into England. I would assume that there would be nothing to stop alternative proposals being made for coverage. Or indeed for rival bidders to seek to serve the various franchise areas.........
Indeed, OfCom do have a right, and a duty to review there things from time to time. I strikers me as a very likly outcome that at some point ITV regional boundaries will be fundamentally changed, with replacement licences reflecting new realities. It is almost inevitable that the concept of a Border region will be replaced by something that reflects macro-regions with a commitment to some local content.
As the Scottish Border region is quite distinct and contained, it would be a pity to remove all localisation and run the same output as Glasgow. Perhaps a compromise might be to create a single Scottish channel 3 licence, with some obligations for local news in those areas that are distinct and served by their own transmitters?
The cynic in me thinks the two muxes are more likely to have been kept to ensure ITV can still sell separate advertising to the Scottish bit (unlike C4 & C5 who just bombard Cumbria with Scottish adverts)
On satellite ITV have stopped broadcasting the advertising split for Scotland, so I would expect terrestrial to be the same given that ITV still carry all the other ad splits on satellite despite there being no different local content to other subregions. I say this without having seen the terrestrial broadcast so if anyone knows better feel free to correct me.
I believe World of Sport did not show football that much? I know BBC always had the highlights of the games for the much of the time aswell. was it's the Auttum of 1992 when ITV had to found other stuff to fill up listings
Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, underneath World of Sport it said in italics:
Compiled for Independent Television by London Weekend Television.
By that I take it they meant Dickie Davies presented it from one of LWT's studios. However any sporting events around the country were probably provided by the local ITV company, e.g. a football match in Manchester footage provided by Granada, if it was in Newcastle it Tyne Tees would have provided the footage. A sporting event from Devon or Cornwall would presumably have been provided by Westward.
Does anyone else know whether or not the above is correct.
Whatever solution may be found to the problem of news provision in the south of Scotland, it isn't going to involve ITV franchise changes as such.
The current licences run until 2014 legally but I don't think anyone expects a franchise round in any sense. It would be unrealistic. ITVplc would almost certainly not enter the contest for the English and Welsh franchises and simply provide ITV1 on satellite, cable and one of the other slots on Freeview.
Ofcom has spoken of rationalising the system when the current franchises run out with four licences - one for each nation - which presumably could see the south of Scotland, or at least Selkirk, move to STV. But there are too many ifs and buts over the next few years to predict what will happen. For a start, the relationship between STV and ITVplc may continue to evolve to the extent that the C3 network as we have known it won't really exist.
Anyway a few points people in the south of Scotland may want to consider.
*If you are not a Scottish nationalist, why is the legally enforcable case for REGIONAL news within the south of Scotland any different to the case for regional news in the south west of England or the East Midlands? These are larger, more commercially viable areas which no longer have a distinct service.
*Why should a commercial organisation be legally obliged to provide a layer of local news coverage which the BBC doesn't?
*Border Selkirk and the Scottish relays of Caldbeck could move to STV in 2014 in theory - but would people in the Borders get more local news? We still don't know what form STV's news provision will take in a few months time after the collapse of the IFNCs. The status quo is not a long term option and it is possible they may propose moving to a Scotland-wide service (ie STV and "Grampian") with some sub opts.
*The UK Government does not believe in artificially preserving the current regional set up. It wants to find ways of making genuinely local news viable.
Good progressive thinking aberdeenboy... and very fair. It was always fair enough in the past to force ITV to provide local programming because you were handing them (in almost all cases) a licence to print money - there was no competition other than the BBC.
Now we have 900 channels the value of those licences has diluted - albeit not completely, because you have a prominent channel number which does make a difference in terms of audience. But worth nowhere near as much as it used to be.
Would ITV PLC do a runner? It's unlikely, but you can see why there is a soft touch as the logic would be some local news provision is better than none.
Anyone, a few thoughts about your points
* You're right, there's no bigger argument for regional news in the south of Scotland than in any English region. However, there is a very strong argument for the south of Scotland to receive Scottish news as part of a separate country. This difference is even acknowledged in the ruthless networking world of commercial radio, where despite all deregulation it's been decided at least a minimal amount of hours must come from the country which the licence covers. The question is whether Border viewers would want half an hour of news which comes from their country of origin (STV Central), or half an hour of news where at least half of it is irrelevant, there is little Scottish content but where smaller items of interest from their region are more likely to be covered (Newcastle).
* It is time for the BBC to fill in the gaps, in my opinion. Why the BBC can't arrange the same opts as the STV North/Central/Border is bizarre to me, but then in this current political climate I can see why they don't want to be seen to be spending money. Also, with STV providing it atm there may be concerns they would be seen to be damaging a commercial rival. Nevertheless, with more networking throughout commerical radio in Scotland, and the danger of news falling by the wayside on TV in future, it's time for the BBC to review how it treats Scotland as one big region.
* I imagine STV would love to move to a Scotland-wide service - indeed, was this not the unsuccessful bid they made to the Scottish News Consortium to provide an hour long Scottish Six? It's a matter of time really, and then you're back to the question in point one.
* Governments have no idea about local news. The local news consortiums were a terrible idea - the idea of an independent news organisation having to go cap and hand and bid for money from Government was a terrible idea (how to keep them under control), and the local television idea is even worse. It wouldn't work unless massively subsidised. We've seen it with Channel M and Lanarkshire Television - people won't tune in for worthy programming. It works in America because of higher populations and affiliates, and it used to work with ITV because the news was on the same channel as big hitters like Coronation Street - a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Sadly this arrangement is no longer as relevant as it was.
My gut feeling, as I've said before, is that we'll eventually see a civilised divorce between STV and ITV. STV could be C3 in Scotland with ITVplc free to distribute ITV1 in Scotland openly on commercial platforms with a lower placing on the EPG. If this happens, there's a very good case for making sure the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway are looked after by STV.
If, on the other hand, ITVplc bought STV then redrawing the regions to make sure the south of Scotland got a Scottish news programme is straightforward enough. An application to Ofcom followed by a consultation.
I don't see how local news stations are ever going to be commercially viable. The barriers to entry can be removed but that doesn't mean they can be sustainable. Jeremy Hunt has spoken about allowing some kind of affiliate system so that each station does a few hours of local programmes each day but relies on a sustaining service. But does that not sound like a recreation of the old ITV system but with Euronews rather than the winning network content?
Then there are the practical problems. You could run "Glasgow TV" from Blackhill on a tight beam. But what about people who principally use satellite rather than Freeview? Would they watch - is there a market for discussions about Glasgow City Council's licensing committee's deliberations? Would all the local stations pay for satellite carriage? Would Ofcom ask Sky and Freeview for a dedicated EPG slot or would the local stations be in obscure places?
As for the problems in rural areas like the south of Scotland, well "Scottish Borders TV" would need to go on the relay transmitters as well as Selkirk to get meaningful coverage
As you know, the UK Government says there will be no public funding for local news stations. In the current climate, it would be impractical for the Scottish Government or councils to provide cash too even if they weren't opposed in prinicipal.
I believe World of Sport did not show football that much? I know BBC always had the highlights of the games for the much of the time aswell. was it's the Auttum of 1992 when ITV had to found other stuff to fill up listings
Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, underneath World of Sport it said in italics:
Compiled for Independent Television by London Weekend Television.
By that I take it they meant Dickie Davies presented it from one of LWT's studios.
Yes, Studio 3 at LWT, it later became GMTV's studio.
However any sporting events around the country were probably provided by the local ITV company, e.g. a football match in Manchester footage provided by Granada, if it was in Newcastle it Tyne Tees would have provided the footage. A sporting event from Devon or Cornwall would presumably have been provided by Westward.
Yes, broadly so, though the small ITV companies were not equipped for large scale OBs, so would have had to have had assistance. No hard and fast rules though. Thames came to Basingstoke for Ice Hockey coverage, despite being within TVS's region. Although TVS did cover a tennis tournament in the same town.
Large sporting events relied on ITV companies pooling resourses, for instance the European Cup Final hosted in Glasgow in 1976 was a joint effort between STV, and TTTV, with help from ATV and LWT.
Then there are the practical problems. You could run "Glasgow TV" from Blackhill on a tight beam. But what about people who principally use satellite rather than Freeview? Would they watch - is there a market for discussions about Glasgow City Council's licensing committee's deliberations? Would all the local stations pay for satellite carriage? Would Ofcom ask Sky and Freeview for a dedicated EPG slot or would the local stations be in obscure places?
Couldn't "Davel" transmitter geted up? to provide the link to south of Scotland?