STV is the brand used by both ITV licensees in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian Television (now legally STV North) and Scottish Television (now legally STV Central) respectively. The brand was adopted on Tuesday 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' identities. Its positioning, identity and brand guidelines were developed by Elmwood Design's Edinburgh office.^[1] The STV branding was previously used by Scottish Television from around 1970 to August 1985. Both licensees are owned by STV Group plc.

Programming[link]

The two licences still produce regional programmes, although the only difference between them is the respective news programmes and overnight output: STV News at Six and STV News broadcast separate bulletins to Northern Scotland (including an opt-out for the Tayside area), Glasgow & West Central Scotland, and Edinburgh & East Central Scotland. There is no STV South as Southern Scotland is part of the Border Television region (Border being owned by ITV plc) and programmes are presented there under the ITV1 Border brand.

Emphasising the fact that STV is essentially one channel across the two regions, there is now a single director of channels (Bobby Hain - former managing director of Scottish Television), and a single head of news (Gordon MacMillan - former head of news of Scottish TV).^[2] Terms in the renewed licences for both STV Central and STV North also mean that regional non-news programmes are shared (and identically scheduled) across both licences.

Although the stations are only required to produce 1.5 hours a week of regional non-news programmes (a single arrangement covering both North and Central regions), the chief executive of STV Group plc, Rob Woodward, told MPs at a Westminster briefing in October 2008 that the station would aim to increase its regional output from 2009 onwards.^[3]

Alongside daily regional news coverage, regular STV programming includes the nightly current affairs programme Scotland Tonight and rugby highlights programme STV Rugby. The company also produces many Gaelic programmes, some of which are now produced for the Scots Gaelic-language channel, BBC Alba, alongside archive material including Speaking our Language and Machair. On a network scale, one of STV's most famous exports is the long-running crime drama Taggart, set in Glasgow.

The network's range of programmes was dramatically expanded during the 1990s under director Alistair Moffat. Previous TV programming includes the serial dramas Take the High Road, Garnock Way & High Living, gameshows Now You See It and Wheel of Fortune, crime series Crimedesk with Bill Knox, long-running documentary series Weir's Way, lifestyle show Room at the Top, and Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade, which lasted 26 years. Another of the station's best-known programmes, Scotsport, ran continuously for 51 years until May 2008 and remains one of the world's longest-running television sports programmes.

[edit] Withdrawal of networked output

In July 2009, STV announced that it was withdrawing some networked programmes such as The Bill, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Lewis and a number of other high profile ITV network dramas from its schedules, instead preferring to concentrate on programming made within Scotland.^[4] The practice of dropping networked shows had been in operation for other programmes since November 2008 when STV announced it would opt-out of programmes they claimed were not performing well in their broadcast region, including Sharpe's Peril, Al Murray's Happy Hour, Moving Wallpaper, Benidorm and The Alan Titchmarsh Show. ITV's coverage of the FA Cup was also dropped.

ITV claimed that STV were in breach of their network agreements by making this decision and are subsequently suing STV for £38 million.^[5][6] Latterly, STV counter claimed by launching its own legal action against ITV plc,^[7] claiming the company was owed money and unhappy about promotional advertising of ITV services. The then executive chairman of ITV plc, Michael Grade claimed ITV was the "victim" in the ongoing dispute.^[8]

Amid many protests, the company's chief executive Rob Woodward admitted in December 2009 that STV had made a 'major mistake' by dropping some of the networked dramas and replacing them in some cases with imported output, repeats and films. The company pledged to continue with its plan to produce more regional programming and opt out of networked output with further plans announced in August 2010.^[9]

On 27 April 2011, ITV and STV settled its legal dispute, with ITV receiving £18 million from STV.^[10] The £18 million consists of a £7.2 million cash payment payable in 2011 and £10.8 million either in programme rights at the end of the year or cash, as adjusted, depending on further discussions with ITV. The programming rights payment is capped at a maximum of £15 million. In addition, STV will receive £2.4 million of credit for programme opt outs in 2011.^[11] STV said it believed it was in the best interests of shareholders to end the long period of uncertainty. The parties have agreed the basis of a more collaborative relationship for the future.

Ofcom investigation[link]

In March 2010, the Telegraph reported that Ofcom would launch an investigation over claims that STV allowed the Scottish Government to influence its schedules and replace networked series with Scottish based programmes.^[12] An Ofcom report released four months later cleared STV of allowing political interference within feature series, but 18 short social action programmes were found to have been influenced too closely by sponsorship from Government agencies and initiatives.^[13]

Studios[link]

STV Central[link]

The STV studios in Glasgow were originally located in the former Theatre Royal in the Cowcaddens area of the city. The first programme broadcast by STV from the Theatre Royal studios was This is Scotland on 31 August 1957. In 1974, the company sold the Theatre Royal to Scottish Opera for conversion back to a full theatre and national opera house^[14] and moved into custom-built studios next door. The association with Cowcaddens ended in July 2006 when the station moved to new, smaller studios in Pacific Quay, alongside the Glasgow Science Centre.

In Edinburgh, STV converted the Gateway Theatre in Leith Walk into colour studios during the mid-late 1960s - a facility which proved especially useful in 1969 when a fire gutted studio A at the Theatre Royal, killing two firemen. The Edinburgh studios later became a permanent production centre for Take the High Road before being closed in the early 1990s to save costs. STV's Edinburgh base now consists of smaller studios for local news and advertising operations. In April 2012, the Edinburgh operation was moved from George Street in the city centre to a new studio at Fountainbridge.

STV North[link]

STV North's Aberdeen headquarters moved to new smaller studios in the city's West Tullos area in June 2003, vacating a converted tram depot that had been used since Grampian Television's launch in September 1961. Expansions to the Queens Cross complex were made in 1983 and 1987 - the former as part of a £5 million investment into the company's technical facilities.

Around the time of the station's launch, Grampian also established premises in Dundee, later moving to Albany House in 1980 and Harbour Chambers in 1998. In April 2008, a new Dundee studio for local news and advertising operations was opened in the Seabraes area of the city.

Grampian opened a base for local Highlands & Islands newsgathering in Inverness in 1983, situated in Huntly Street, which remains open today. A studio complex in Stornoway was opened in 1993 to accommodate the expansion of the station's Scots Gaelic programming production. The studios closed in 2000 following the axing of the Gaelic news service, Telefios.

Grampian also established secondary studios in Edinburgh during the late 1960s from where some of the station's light entertainment programming was produced. The studios were closed in 1969.

STV HD[link]

It was announced on 21 April 2010 that STV intend to launch an HD channel on digital TV, before the 2010 World Cup.^[15] The channel follows the launch of ITV1 HD which became available on 2 April 2010. However, ITV1 HD is not available to Scottish viewers (except Southern Scotland who are served by ITV Tyne Tees & Border). The station launched on 6 June 2010, initially broadcasting on Freeview channel 51, from the Black Hill, Keelylang Hill and Bressay transmitters and now broadcasts from all post-digital switchover transmitters in its coverage area. STV HD is also available on cable, on Virgin Media channel 113.^[16] To begin with, STV HD is a single service across all of STV’s transmission areas. It carries the programmes as seen in West Central Scotland, including news and commercials, with no regional variations. STV says it is currently working with Sky, Freesat and ITV Network with a view to making STV HD available via satellite as soon as possible.^[17]

The channel was added to the Freeview EPG on 1 June 2010, the Virgin Media EPG on 4 June and satellite tests began on 25 May.

STV+1[link]

On 4 January 2011, Freeview announced details for the launch of ITV1+1, together with the possibility that both STV and UTV will launch their own timeshift services, STV+1 and UTV+1 in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.^[18] STV later confirmed that it would launch STV+1 at 8pm on 11 January 2011.^[19] The channel is available to Freeview viewers on channel 33 and Virgin Media cable customers on channel 114. The channel is not officially available on the Freesat and Sky satellite services but may be manually tuned in. There are two regional variations of STV+1; one for north and one for central Scotland.^[19]

The north receives the Aberdeen based news and advertisements and the Central Belt service carries Edinburgh-based news and advertisements allowing viewers in the East who cannot watch STV's 6pm & 10:30pm news programmes for the micro-region to watch the bulletins an hour later.

Regions and Frequencies[link]

Regions[link]

STV serves central and northern Scotland. Within STV, Scotland is split into two regions and four sub-regions. Networked and regional programming is the same in both regions, apart from regional news and advertising. Within both regions, there are further opt-outs providing sub-regional news and commercials.

STV North (formerly Grampian Television) is based in Aberdeen and serves Northern Scotland. The main news programme serving the area is the North edition of STV News at Six, alongside short regional bulletins (STV News) and a weekly news programme for the deaf (STV News Review). The main 6pm programme on weeknights includes local opt-outs from Dundee (serving Tayside & North East Fife) and Aberdeen (serving the North East, Highlands & Islands) on week nights. The two sub-regions also receive separate commercials.

STV Central (formerly Scottish Television) is based at the STV Group headquarters in Glasgow and serves Central Scotland. Two editions of STV News at Six are produced and broadcast each weeknight from Glasgow (for the city & the west of the central belt) and Edinburgh (for the capital city, South Fife and the Lothians). The two sub-regions also receive separate late night news bulletins and local commercials. Lunchtime and weekend news bulletins are broadcast from Glasgow across the Central region.

Altogether, the regions and sub-regions serve a population of 3,849,000.

• STV North (pop: 981,000):
  • STV Aberdeen (pop: 724,000) - Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Eilean Siar, Highland (except Lochaber), Moray, Orkney and Shetland
  • STV Dundee (pop: 267,000) - Angus, Dundee City, (North) Fife, Perth and Kinross

• STV Central (pop: 2,826,000):
  • STV Edinburgh (pop: 572,000) - Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Edinburgh, (South) Fife, Midlothian and West Lothian
  • STV Glasgow (pop: 2,295,000) - Argyll and Bute, Highland (Lochaber only), East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Stirling, South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire.

• The areas of Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders are currently served by ITV Tyne Tees & Border.

Frequencies[link]

STV is broadcast on the Digital 3&4 multiplex from the following main transmitters (and their dependent relays):

STV Central[link]

STV North[link]

Retaining identity[link]

STV, together with its counterpart UTV in Northern Ireland, has resisted adopting the generic ITV1 branding that is now commonplace throughout the ITV plc regions in the southern Scottish borders, England and Wales and the Channel Islands, although it has now adopted a single Scottish identity for both its franchises. The only mentioning of the ITV1 brand on Channel 3 in the STV regions occurs during ITV Breakfast (Daybreak and Lorraine), which operates as a separate station, and during some networked programmes themselves.

Online presence[link]

STV's official website, stv.tv, consists of news, sport, entertainment, weather, competitions and programming information. The website also features a video catch-up service, STV Player, offering a chance to see networked and regional programming aired on the station for 30 days after their original broadcast. Exclusive online programming in the form of regular video blogs are also produced for the website. In September 2010 TV Genius's content discovery platform was chosen by STV to incorporate an online recommender system for its STV site.^[20][21]

See also[link]

• Scottish Broadcasting Commission
• S2

References[link]