STV to shut STV2 Local Stations

I feel Scotland Tonight has lost its momentum somewhat in the last couple of years. It may be partially because the Scottish news agenda has slowed down from the madness of 2014 and directly afterwards, but it feels a far more generic show than it used to be. Either that, or it's the same as it ever was but it's just not kept innovating.

It feels like a generic "here's topic A, here's a report, here's two journalists to talk for long enough to pad the segment out", filled with subjects that are of little or no interest to the vast majority of people who aren't arguing 24 hours a day on social media about the minutae of them, and then some ultra-worthy dullness towards the end.

You wonder how much launching the new services, and the dilution of resources that would entail, may have impacted. Whatever's going on, I'm not sure BBC Scotland would struggle quite as badly against Scotland Tonight now as it did a few years back.

I have always been inclined to assume that in the event of a singularly-owned Channel 3 network, Border would indeed be disbanded. Much like how the Ofcom franchising structure across Wales and the whole West Country (Gloucestershire to Cornwall) was changed in 2014 to match how things had already been done in practice for 5 years, we could end up with "Central & Southern Scotland" and "North East & Cumbria" Channel 3 franchises absorbing what was Border.

Or not. Who knows?

I have a feeling that Border would have been disbanded in the event of a single ITV about a decade ago, because it would simply be tidier. The powers that be actively seemed to want to kill it. I'm not convinced that would be the case now.

There does seem to be a view among a sizeable amount of people in the region, certainly in the Border Scotland region, that being subsumed into STV and Tyne Tees/Granada would just result in these areas never being reported on. Whereas if they're within the Border region it means they'll get a lot of news that may not be specifically relevant to them, but they're more likely to see their own area at some point on the TV.

It's difficult to measure in Scotland because, as with almost everything else these days, when there was debate over it before it went tediously down tribal lines on independence/unionism (SNP politicians were keen on Border taking Scotland Tonight and STV News, others wanted the Border Scotland area to stay in Border, and neither were particularly thinking of the viewers at this point). So it would be interesting to hear the views from the English side which doesn't have constitutional issues to consider.

After the disaster that was stv 2 will bbc Scotland still go ahead with the Scotland Chanel

Yes because it isn't a commercial operation.

The media and the politicians are the only ones that seem to want a dedicated Scottish channel. There doesn't seem to be any public appetite for STV2 or BBC Scotland channel.

Folk want Scottish produced programmes that sit alongside Coronation Street and EastEnders not opposite them.

Live at Five on STV2 was up against The Chase, Pointless, Come Dine with Me and Neighbours. It never stood a chance in my book.

More Scottish produced programmes in prime time across BBC One Scotland, Two Scotland and STV should be the main focus.

I don't think it's much of a coincidence that the announcement about STV2's future came just a few days after the BBC Scotland channel got formal approval from Ofcom.

I fear there's a lot of truth in that. I look over in envy sometimes at the opportunities afforded to Irish broadcasters from RTE and (to a more limited extent) TV3, along with locally produced radio. But that market has grown up with those as the heritage brands. Trying to build an audience from scratch on a channel which doesn't contain any big hitters, which won't be on channel 1, in a country that mainly seems happy with network programming is going to be a struggle.

The Scottish Six would have made a lot more sense as that bulletin is more domestic than the later offering, and there is a legitimate issue with a lot of "England and Wales" stories. But through a combination of logistics, internal and external politics and shoddy negotiating, somewhere along the line London said "no, you can't have an extra half hour on your tea-time news. Have an entire new channel instead." No wonder BBC Scotland said "thank you very much" and ran away.

I hope it can be successful and the Beeb has more chance of making a success of this than a commercial company. The danger, though, is BBC Scotland gets distracted from making big mass-market BBC1 shows for what is essentially a turbo-boosted BBC2 Scotland.

Bit late at posting here days after the news of STV2's shutdown, but STV put more effort than its contemporaries in local TV. It's just that STV2 burned through money straight from the get-go.

Shame about the channel, but once again, it's another thorn in the side of STV to attempt a run at a second channel (Sky Scottish and S2 bombed previously).

They "put more effort in"? Or rather, they had more money and content in the first place?

A mix of the two.

I'm sure some of my friends at other local stations running on teams of less than 5 people would be thrilled at hearing they need to put more effort in.