BBC Launching BBC Scotland

[rkolsen 1684]

Yesterday the BBC announced they are now going to launch a channel dubbed BBC Scotland. The channel is going to be a timeshare channel meaning it will only be on air for a portion of the day.

 

The channel will only carry Scottish produced content and it's flagship show will be a "Scottish Nine" newscast where they will hire 90 new journalists . The Scottish Nine newscast is likely launched to appease many Scottish nationalists who for years have demanded a Scottish Six newscast where there would be a full hour of Scottish news. Currently the BBC airs a half hour newscast on BBC one at 6PM that's broadcast across the U.K. where there has been sentiment amongst the Scottish leadership who think the broadcast it too focused on England before having a Scottish only newscast at 6:30. The so called Scottish Six would have integrated the 6PM bulletin from London where they would cut to a Scottish anchor and package when a report unrelated to Scotland would air.

 

The channel will have a budget of £30 million - 19 of which will come from new funding and the remainder will come from the BBC 2 Scotland budget. The overall budget is the equivalent amount of money BBC Four receives each year for their U.K. wide channel.