SCOTLAND finally gets its own dedicated BBC TV channel today in the face of complaints that the corporation has neglected Scottish audiences, failed to rise to the challenges of devolution and has a skewed idea of balance on the independence issue.
Launching amid much razzmatazz, the new channel has a budget of £32 million – £19m of which is new money. Concerns have already been raised that it is too little to meet its ambitions.
Until now, the BBC has spent considerably less in Scotland than in other parts of the UK – the £30m a year total representing a small proportion of the £320m a year raised from licence fees in Scotland.
Although the BBC dominates viewing in Scotland with a 32% overall audience share, a review by media regulator Ofcom revealed that Scottish viewers are more dissatisfied with the BBC than those in any other part of the UK.
READ MORE: Here are the key shows to look out for on new BBC Scotland channel
More than half (52%) of people in Scotland had a favourable overall impression of the BBC, compared with 64% of all UK adults.
Only 39% of people in Scotland thought that the BBC broadcasts a good range of programmes and content that represents where they live, compared with 50% of all UK adults.
The new programme’s own diet of programmes will broadcast between 7pm and midnight each day, although some BBC Two programmes will be broadcast before that.
READ MORE: Brendan O'Hara: What does the BBC need to do to win back our trust?
The launch follows calls for a Scottish 6pm news programme edited in Scotland to replace the BBC’s main News at Six which regularly features long lead items on the English NHS and English education that have no relevance north of the Border.
BBC Scotland spent more than a year developing a series of pilot Scottish Six programmes but the idea was killed off by BBC director general Tony Hall and other London executives.
Instead the new channel – which Ofcom forecasts will attract only a small percentage of Scottish viewers – will air The Nine, a news programme which BBC bosses say will present national and international headlines from a Scottish perspective.
Fears have already been raised that viewers will not forsake prime time drama viewing on the other channels to watch The Nine.
The new-channel’s 15 strong news team includes political reporter David Lockhart who has been producing Question Time for the past two years.
Dissatisfaction with Question Time among indepndence supporters has been growing in recent months. The SNP, the third biggest party at Westminster, has been given far less representation than the LibDems received when they were the third biggest party.
And there was anger when a failed former Ukip candidate turned up in the audience when Question Time was broadcast from SNP supporting Motherwell recently. He was given a platform despite three previous appearances on the show and claims he was invited on to the pilot for a new Question Time type show, Debate Night, on the new channel. The pilot show will not be screened.
The new channel, which has created around 140 jobs, has been given a guarded welcome by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop but both have questioned whether the £32m budget will be enough.
A 2009 study by the Scottish Broadcasting Commission established by former First Minister, Alex Salmond, estimated that a distinct channel would need around £75m.
Only half of the new channel will be dedicated to new programmes – the rest will be repeats.
Ofcom has expressed concern about the number of repeats and also told the BBC to make sure the channel did not have an undue impact on competing news outlets.
Since then, STV has axed its STV2 chanel with bosses citing the launch of the new BBC channel as one of the reasons. Independent producers have said the number of repeats will reduce appeal while others have voiced worries over the BBC’s market share of the news in Scotland.
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