The BBC is to launch a new dedicated channel for Scotland in the autumn of next year. It follows a review of the corporation’s programming and services in the nations.
Combined with existing funding the BBC Scotland channel will have an annual budget of £30 million, £19 million of which is new money.
The centrepiece of the mixed format channel that will run from 7pm each evening will be a nightly one-hour news bulletin to be broadcast at 9pm. It will mix Scottish and world news and is broadcast at a time where there is no other national bulletin being broadcast. It will result in the creation of around 80 new journalist posts.
BBC Scotland will have its own ‘prominent’ EPG slot on broadcast channels in Scotland; and be available online and in iPlayer in HD in Scotland and across the UK.
Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, says: “I said at the beginning of the year that the BBC needed to be more creative and distinctive. The BBC is Britain’s broadcaster but we also need to do more for each nation just as we are doing more for Britain globally.
“We know that viewers in Scotland love BBC television, but we also know that they want us to better reflect their lives and better reflect modern Scotland. It is vital that 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.
On Tuesday it was announced that BBC Wales would receive an additional £8.5 million a year to spend on programming, doubling its budget.
The Scottish Gaelic channel BBC Alba will receive an additional £1.2 million.
