Scottish Independence

Nah, Sky Scottish isn't the comparison you're after. A licence fee funded station versus a niche channel? Far more likely it would go down the RTE route, buying a lot of BBC and foreign programming and investing in some national programming as funding allows.

The ITV situation would be interesting. How long do the current franchises run until? Presumably if a new country is formed then would it be rip it up and start again? I suspect STV would be much more like TV3 in Ireland, buying a lot of programming from ITV but not having a clear link. And I suspect that would STV down to the ground, as under the current circumstances there is still a real threat of ITV PLC swallowing them up.

For England, if this was the case, that would pretty much be it for the Border region. The south of Scotland would go to STV, and the English border would probably become Tyne Tees.

Politicians, companies and the public generally don't like upsetting changes, so one would expect most franchises to remain in effect for the rest of their duration.

Is anyone aware of possible hurdles to retaining STV's affiliation with the ITV network after independence? It would seem far more advantageous for both parties to keep their close relationship rather than STV having to negotiate programme-by-programme. This would essentially mean taking the ITV1 schedule with a few more opt-outs.

The Border Scotland situation may be sorted out with or without Scottish independence, as Ofcom has already made clear they would like to replace the Channel 3 licenses with four 24-hour licenses (one each for E, W, S and NI, and no breakfast license).

Most people would be happy with that idea, not sure what could of opt out could be provided.

Er, Sky Scottish wasn't aimed at Scotland - it was aimed at Scots in the rest of the UK.

I can't see the SNP going for the idea of the main commercial channel essentially being a relay of the main network in England. It may be a short-term solution though.

ITV would presumably decide whether it was worth selling their programmes to STV, or whether they would make more money broadcasting to Scotland themselves. ITV would have satellite and cable and almost certainly some DTT capacity in Scotland, so hence 100% coverage.

In the absence of a political solution, I could see them cutting STV loose.

but new Scottish OFCOM could outlaw it....

A big discussion piece on this today on The Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/feb/29/how-would-the-bbc-be-divided-if-scotland-became-independent

Henry McDonald's observations about Ireland are a bit wide of the mark in some respects, BBC Radio 5 Live is available here via AM and on cable and satellite, and Irish radio stations Newstalk and Today FM do provide radio coverage of the Premier League anyway. In addition his statement:



That would have been true maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, nowadays it is BBC Northern Ireland on cable/satellite practically everywhere, and this will become even more the case if the remaining deflectors switch off as scheduled at the end of the year.

The main point though - that the BBC and Channel 4 would be likely to continue to be available in Scotland post independence, is likely.

Slightly OT, but not entirely, as STV's relationship (or lack of one) with ITV in an independent Scotland would be a matter of interest. Can anyone translate this into English?

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11136481