BBC will remain, but it might require a name change.
Since Great Britain was formed as a union between England, Scotland and probably Wales first, it will mean the name of Great Britain may cease to exist officially, although some may still unofficially call it that.
Since the United Kingdom name will of course remain, It may have to be renamed UKBC (United Kingdom Broadcasting Corporation) or UKIB (United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting).
Other than that, unless costs decrease rather badly, not much would change, except that programmes will not be produced in Scotland under the UKBC name. It would instead be "A SBS production for BBC/UKBC".
They would have 2 years to sort it out before the March 2016 date though.
Or alternatively it would remain using the same globally recognised name.
From reading the white paper it would be reasonable to assume that in event of independence once the current royal charter expires BBC would cease to broadcast in it's current form on Freeview and Freesat. Chances are it might still be available on Virgin & Sky as a pay channel (ie. similar to availability of Sky One). The new SBS would purchase some of the BBC's programmes so that they could be shown on their new (freeview/freesat) TV channel. The idea of the new SBS being able to opt out of BBC1 and BBC2 as suggested in the white paper (second part of page 529) doesn't seem workable though in my opinion.
Since Great Britain was formed as a union between England, Scotland and probably Wales first, it will mean the name of Great Britain may cease to exist officially, although some may still unofficially call it that.
Since the United Kingdom name will of course remain.
I just thought the Great Britain name was first used when the union between England and Scotland was born. The United Kingdom name was the other one at the time, and of course will always be used while England, Wales, Northern Ireland (and in some cases Cornwall) would be still together, but Great Britain would not be without Scotland.
As an additional bonus, here's what the SBS logo could be like (credit to Kevin Davis's original post on Afternoon Programmes Follow Shortly):
Last edited by MatthewFirth on 10 September 2014 4:58pm - 3 times in total
Erm, the name 'United Kingdom' would be the one that ceases to exist, as it would no longer be United! As Barcode correctly states, Great Britain is the name of the island, and will remain.
The broadcasters have refused to be drawn into discussion on their future in Scotland in order to remain impartial.
However, if Scotland were to leave the UK, this notion about BBC Scotland becoming SBS is a fantasy. The BBC would not be the Scottish Government's to play around with. BBC Worldwide and - more crucially - the many other independent producers that own the rights to BBC programmes would be well within their right to sell them to the highest bidder.
Exactly - the BBC own the BBC, not the Scottish Government (or even UK government), so their assets in Scotland are theres, not the SNPs. A "SBS" would need to start from scratch - the BBC might opt to be involved in that, but would be under no legal obligation. The licence fee paid by Scottish licence fee payers effectively subscribes to the BBC from one year to the next, not gives them shares in it as the SNP seem to think.
This *should* be the case for ITV as soon as their affiliation contract expires. However, STV still has a contract with Ofcom for 10 years. Would that become null and void?
As with almost everything else to do with this vote, it would just be a mess basically, and no one knows the real answer.
In theory any deal with OFCOM expires and a new Scottish regulator would set up the framework. I'd fully expect ITV to look at setting up their own ITV Scotland rather than just continuing the current arrangement with STV.
:-(
A former member
Thus the BBC can carry on as it does, Why does need to change? we might get some minor changes.
I can't see itv wasting its time trying to set up Its own itv1 station, further down the epg. Plus stv will take itv to court.
OK, it's the other way around, my confusion. Apologises. BBC won't need a name change.
It's the United Kingdom name, not the Great Britain name, that would cease to exist.
With Channel 4 it seems to be proposing the Scottish Government will take a percentage ownership of the channel, in return for the same percentage of original productions coming from Scotland.
With regards to the paragraph about STV's future, I don't see how the proposed Scottish Government honouring its licence will "ensure Scottish audiences access to programming such Coronation Street & X Factor". Unless it's deliberately misleading and choosing to muddy the issue by bringing up ITV Border (which has 'Scottish audiences' of course).
I'd be very surprised if independence didn't trigger a break clause in the Network Affiliate Agreement between ITV and STV. Even if 'Scotcom' honours STV's licence, it doesn't mean Ofcom will treat STV in the same way, and it's in ITV's interest to either sell its programming to the highest commercial bidder, or as has been suggested, set up ITV Scotland.
