BBC to launch channel for Scotland

The BBC has announced plans to invest an extra £20m (US$24.9m) in its services in Scotland, including the launch of a new channel.

Tony Hall

BBC Scotland will launch in autumn 2018 and will broadcast from 19.00 every evening.

The channel will also be available online and via the iPlayer in HD in Scotland and across the UK, featuring a “full mix of content to inform, educate and entertain,” the BBC said.

It marks the biggest single investment in broadcast content in Scotland in more than 20 years, the UK pubcaster added.

The investment consists of £19m for the new channel and digital developments plus £1.2m for BBC Alba, which broadcasts in Gaelic. Taking in existing funding, the new channel will have an initial budget of more than £30m, the BBC said.

It comes as part of the BBC’s commitment to spending more of the licence fee raised in Scotland on Scottish content and services, as put forward in its most recent charter.

The BBC added that it was making “major investments” in Scottish programming across the company, with a particular focus on the commissioning of drama and factual programmes.

It follows the BBC’s announcement yesterday that it would be investing an extra £8.5m a year in English-language television programmes for Wales. Announcements relating to Northern Ireland and Britain “globally” will be made shortly, the pubcaster added.

BBC director-general Tony Hall said: “We know viewers in Scotland love BBC television, but we also know they want us to better reflect their lives and better reflect modern Scotland. It is vital we get this right. The best way of achieving that is a dedicated channel for Scotland.

“It’s a channel that will be bold, creative and ambitious, with a brand-new Scotland-edited international news programme at its heart. The BBC has the luxury of having first-class creative teams and brilliant journalists, who I know will make this new channel a huge success.

“The additional investment in Scottish drama and factual programming rightly recognises both the need to do more across our output and the huge pool of talent available in Scotland. We do make great programmes here, such as Shetland, Britain’s Ancient Capital – Secrets of Orkney, Two Doors Down and the brilliant Still Game, but we do need to do more.”

The proposals will be subject to approval by the BBC’s new unitary board and, as necessary, by Ofcom.