BBC Scotland’s director has told MSPs that it can make the £30 million earmarked for its new Scottish television channel “work really well” to deliver for audiences – despite the Scottish Broadcasting Commission previously recommending a £75m annual budget.
Donalda MacKinnon told Holyrood’s Culture Committee that she was “confident” the new channel will be on air by the end of next year.
She said the proposal would go before the regulator Ofcom for approval following a public interest test, and she was “confident” of hitting an autumn deadline, adding that “autumn can stretch as far as December 2018”.
MacKinnon said she hoped the 80 journalists for the new BBC Scotland channel, which includes a flagship hour-long 9pm news programme covering Scottish, UK and international stories, would be recruited from and spread around the country.
Quizzed on the new channel’s budget, she said: “I’m very confident that with this £30 million that we can work very cleverly with others to extract maximum value.
“I’m confident that we can make this money work really well to deliver an exciting proposition for audiences in Scotland.”
SNP MSP Stuart McMillan questioned MacKinnon over an Edinburgh and Glasgow focus on the news, and she said the new investment and channel could help address this and stories being missed.
Joan McAlpine, the committee convener, questioned when the licence fee spend, as a proportion of what is raised in Scotland, would catch up with other regions in the UK.
She said: “Even with increased the amount of licence fee at 72 per cent we’re still way behind Wales and Northern Ireland who are almost reaching 100 per cent.
“Why are Northern Ireland and Wales getting almost 100 per cent and Scotland’s not?”
She was answered by Ken MacQuarrie, the BBC nations and regions director, who said high value dramas such as Sherlock and Doctor Who drove the figures in Wales.
He said: “What we want to do is get the best possible content but to make sure that we have on the ground a competitive environment in Scotland where we are delivering the very best programme and I’m confident that will come through.”
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