BBC Scotland is a British English-language free-to-air television channel that is under the BBC Scotland division of the BBC. It airs a nightly lineup of entirely Scottish programming. During daytime broadcast hours, the channel broadcasts a simulcast of BBC Two, but may opt out for news and sports events outside of its formal broadcast hours. The channel launched 24 February 2019, replacing the BBC Two Scotlandopt-out of BBC Two, but operating as an autonomous channel.
History
As of 2017, BBC Scotland had operated regional variations of BBC One and BBC Two for the Scottish region, as well as the Gaelic channel BBC Alba. On 22 February 2017, BBC director general Lord Hall announced that the corporation planned to replace BBC Two Scotland with a new, part-time BBC Scotland television channel, focused exclusively on Scottish programming. A feature of the channel would be an hour-long 9:00 p.m. weeknight newscast produced from Scotland, covering national and international headlines from a Scottish perspective. The proposed newscast was compared to the frequent proposals for a Scotland opt-out of the BBC News at Six. Hall also announced that the BBC would increase its overall spending on factual and drama productions in Scotland by £20 million annually. Ofcom granted provisional approval to the new service in April 2018, but showed concerns for its proposal to only dedicate half of its lineup to new programmes, and directed the BBC to ensure that the channel does not have an undue impact on competing news outlets. Ofcom granted final approval to the service in June 2018: the BBC subsequently announced a planned launch for February 2019. The channel will be allocated £32 million in annual funding. In preparation for the launch of the new channel, BBC Two Scotland was discontinued and replaced by the networked version beginning 18 February. BBC Scotland launched 24 February at 7:00 p.m.; it signed on with an introductory video, featuring a performance of "Miracle" by the Scottish synthpop group Chvrches, accompanied by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Its first programme was a variety special hosted by comedian Iain Stirling. Opening night programming also included the broadcast television premiere of the documentary Nae Pasaran, the one-off Burnistoun special Burnistoun Tunes In, and the ninth and final series premiere of Still Game. Viewership peaked at 700,000.
Programming
BBC Scotland's main broadcast hours are 7:00 p.m. to midnight. At least 95% of programming must be of Scottish origin, and the BBC stated that roughly half of its programming would be new. Between noon and 7:00 p.m., the channel simulcasts the BBC Two schedule with BBC Scotland continuity, thereby accommodating the daytime sport and political programming opt-outs which had been displaced following the closure of BBC Two Scotland. The channel airs a 9:00 p.m. newscast, The Nine, presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler, which features coverage of national and international headlines from a Scottish perspective. On Wednesday nights there is a 15-minute programme aired called The Edit which covers the week's entertainment news. It is presented by Amy Irons and David Farrell. BBC Scotland has traditionally shown Sport on Friday evenings with Scottish Championship and the early rounds of the Scottish Cup matches featuring on Sportscene presented by Leanne Crichton and Steven Thompson from 7.00pm. With football talk showA View From The Terrace, adapted from the cultTerrace Scottish Football Podcast aired later on Friday evenings. AVFTT is produced by Edinburgh-based Studio Something and is presented by Craig Telfer, with analysis from Shaughan McGuigan, and The Scotsman Journalists Craig Fowler and Joel Sked. The first main programme to air on BBC Scotland was the Still Game Season 9 premier on the channel's first day.
Announcers
There are three main continuity announcers on the BBC Scotland channel. George Taylor, Dominic Main and Jennie Cook.
George Taylor from Glasgow worked in marketing for The Sunday Times and The Times Scotland.
All continuity on the channel is performed live and is broadcast from Pacific Quay.
Identification
BBC Scotland's idents feature the channel's logo in the centre of the screen, usually accompanied with a background that fits the colour of the logo when it eventually is lit up. In the first set of idents, the BBC Scotland logo is featured among cobblestones on a rainy street, a bird which flies around the logo as well as a subway station.
