Green light for STV to slash Scottish programmes

SCOTTISH broadcasting on STV is set to be slashed in a shake-up recommended by the television watchdog Ofcom yesterday.

Homegrown productions on the channel will be halved, reducing the output of Scottish current affairs, documentaries, dramas, arts shows and children's programmes.

The watchdog recommended halving the minimum output of non-news public service broadcasting (PSB) to 90 minutes a week and reducing day-time news bulletins.

It is likely the moves would see programmes such as the late-night current affairs show Politics Now axed.

The recommendations prompted sharp criticism from the Scottish Government and other politicians. But Ofcom said the current level of PSB was "unsustainable" without extra funding amid a slowdown in advertising and as the digital television switchover completion date of 2012 approaches.

Pete Wishart, the SNP broadcasting spokesman, said: "This would be a backward step for broadcasting, just at a time when public and industry opinion has said we need a better and more relevant service for people in Scotland.

"For Ofcom, the regulator, to actually encourage this is simply staggering."

But Brian McNair, professor of journalism and communication at Strathclyde University, said the recommendations were not surprising.

He said: "As we're approaching the digital switchover, the income that STV has received from broadcasting on analogue alone is in steep decline and serious deficit is opening up.

"There is a long-term problem as to whether STV can continue to provide a public broadcast service, and that is something the government will have to address.

"But in the short term Ofcom are allowing the relaxation of rules on public service broadcasting, and it is a step that will perhaps worry people."

Prof McNair said that Ofcom had acknowledged that STV – more than any other regional channel – was in need of additional funding if it was to maintain its PBS role and was keen that it did so.

He added: "People do want Scottish news, and research has shown that people want a plurality of public service broadcast providers."

Ofcom also said it supported ITV's proposed merger of the Border and Tyne Tees region, with six minutes of Scottish news within a 15-minute broadcast from Gateshead.

South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame labelled the proposed merger "patronising and tokenistic".

She said: "These latest proposals from Ofcom are a complete disgrace, made worse by their patronising suggestion that six minutes of news, covering the whole of the south of Scotland, is an improvement on what was first suggested through discussions with ITV.

"Given the geographical spread across the south of Scotland, Borderers will be lucky if they get two minutes per day in local television news.

"In reality these proposals from Ofcom effectively spell the end of local television news covering issues in the Scottish Borders."

And Borders MP Michael Moore said the recommendations were "made by people stuck in London offices who fail to understand the importance of regional news and diversity".

He added: "What local viewers want to see is news that is directly relevant to them.

"Watering down the coverage in this way will mean far less local news for viewers in the Borders, not least because the resources are likely to be located in Gateshead."

At yesterday's presentation of Ofcom's findings in Glasgow, Kate Stross, the watchdog's director of content, said the recommendations reflected ITV's dire need for extra funding if it is to continue its public service broadcasting role.

"Our firm conclusion is that the current model of ITV provision is broken," she said. "The status quo is simply not an option for the future."

Vicki Nash, director of Ofcom Scotland, said the current model was "unsustainable", adding: "Extra funding from the Scottish Government will be needed."