'Scottish Gold' TV channel in the pipeline

Scottish Gold - MediaGuardian

Basically this would be a joint venture between the BBC and STV, it would be ad funded, but aswell it could also be used as an extension channel, rather than all archive. Taggart would be most likely to be repeated on there.

Good to see they're thinking of bringing a Scottish channel back, Sky Scottish never got the chance to develop and was binned off pretty quickly, although it only broadcast for 2 hours a day.

although old news, It nice to see it getting an airing

SMG is making an interesting contribution to the debate on the future of Scottish broadcasting but the Guardian article is a bit misleading as it implies this channel will go ahead in the form proposed.

There are a number of big obstacles to overcome first.

*The BBC has not said anything to suggest that it would be supportive of a Scottish Gold channel. If any licence fee payers' money was to be spent on the channel, it would be subject to a public value test by the BBC Trust. Buying archive material from BBC Worldwide is a possibility - but at commercial rates.

*Would the Scottish Government really want to give £15m of taxpayers' money to this channel even if it is supportive of the principle? It has a fixed income remember. The money for Gaelic broadcasting is part of the Government's contribution to preserving and nurturing the Gaelic language - not support for the tv industry.

*Where would the capacity on DTT come from? If it meant taking ITV2, ITV3 or ITV4 off Freeview it would almost certainly lead to the long-awaited takeover bid from ITVplc.

An interesting proposal with merit. But a lot of hurdles before it happens.

Well If walsh have SC4 then we can have that?

what does channel does that cover?

Basically S4/C has half of the SDN MUX, they use S4/C broadcasts on Bid-TV (Bid-TV in Wales broadcasts on CITV's time) and S4/C2 uses QVC, usually between 9.00am and 6.00pm.

As S4/C is a proper terrestrial channel it's allowed space on a PSB MUX.

And the Welsh aren't relying on " gold ".

I know there are some gems hidden in the Scottish archives, but surely without endless repeats of Taggart or Take the High Road, this is going to be difficult to sustain?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for repeats of Grampian's thrift show, Pennywise , which provided handy hints on saving money, and successfully reinforced the stereotype that all Scots are tight-arses.

And maybe for good meaure they could throw in Mconomy from Victoria Wood

Oh dear, I've just spat on my cardigan.

Joking aside, if they throw in too many old programmes from either BBC or Scottish / Grampian, then to any non-Scottish people it could reinforce stereotypes.

Shindig or Shammy Dab for example?

On the plus side they could always show The Way It Was. ( and even Living and Growing if they wanted to sort out the teenage pregnancy problem )

Well I know and can confirm that the English are far more "grippy" than the Scots!!

Good idea but I guess it will all be Glasgow crap that will feature on it!!

I would like to see Victoria Wood's version: McConomy to go into a full series.

"Where we help you pick up those pennies and pile up those pounds - whoops - just spat on my cardigan".