BROADCASTER STV has stolen a march on rival BBC Scotland with the schedule for its new channel STV2, which includes what it describes as the first integrated Scottish, UK and international news programme.
The half-hour-long flagship STV News Tonight – anchored by Halla Mohieddeen – will be broadcast at 7pm on weeknights from Glasgow, when STV2 goes live on April 24.
It comes just a week after Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee announced an inquiry into why BBC Scotland had rejected a dedicated Scottish Six news programme that would have replaced Reporting Scotland and the Six O’Clock News in Scotland.
Mohieddeen, a Heriot-Watt graduate from the Scottish Borders, has spent the past 10 years working in China and in France, where she presented the Morning News and Middle East Matters programmes for 24-hour international news channel France 24, in Paris.
The new programme will be produced using STV and ITV News resources, and is aimed at offering a mix of Scottish, UK and international news from a Scottish perspective.
STV2 will feature a variety of new programmes for Scotland including an enhanced hourly news service, a live daily magazine show and a soap, as well as features on local sport, UK and international drama and films. It will also provide a weekly insight into political life in Scotland with Scottish Politics This Week, to give viewers an update on debates at Holyrood and Westminster.
Ireland’s most popular soap Fair City – which follows life in the fictional northern Dublin suburb of Carrigstown – is also part of the schedule, along with Finnish drama Black Widow and UK political thriller Secret State.
The much-loved classic drama Taggart, which is still one of the most popular series in Britain, will also feature.
STV director of channels, Bobby Hain, said: “STV2 is the new channel for Scotland designed to reflect life across the country.
“The channel will provide a unique opportunity to broadcast content that isn’t available for viewers anywhere else, including in-depth coverage of local sport and live events and exciting acquisitions including soap and drama, alongside an enhanced news service with local, UK and international stories.”
The weekday magazine show Live At Five will expand its reach on STV2 with outside broadcasts from across Scotland.
Other shows on the schedule include E... presented by Laura Boyd and Gerry Cassidy, which will provide a guide to what is happening across Scotland with celebrity interviews, features and reviews of live music, TV and film.
Ewen Cameron will host The Late Show, a tongue-in-cheek weekly chat show, every Thursday Peter and Roughie’s Football Show, with Peter Martin and Alan Rough, will provide the latest from the football world each weeknight and at weekends throughout the football season.
Culture also features on the new channel with a one-hour special from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to be shown in its first week – the Conservatoire Sessions.
STV2 will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will reach an estimated 85 per cent of viewers in STV’s transmission area.
As well as on Freeview, access will be available via Sky and Virgin and online via the STV Player.
STV2 will replace the existing STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh City channels and will also launch in Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel