THE BBC should move The Nine from its Scottish channel to the 6pm news slot on BBC One, according to the SNP’s culture and media spokesman.
MP John Nicolson said the hour-long programme, which is hosted by Martin Geissler and Rebecca Curran and was launched in February last year, has been “widely praised”.
Writing in today’s National, the former TV journalist, said: “We believe that the BBC should broadcast a ‘Scottish Six’ as recommended by the House of Commons Culture and Media Select Committee. The Nine, which BBC Scotland subsequently launched has been widely praised. I think the time has come to move it on to BBC 1 at six o’clock.”
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He also called for more funding for BBC Scotland, comparing its £32 million annual budget with that of RTE1 in Ireland, which receives more than £100m a year.
“There has to be fair funding for BBC Scotland. There has been a historical underspend on programming by the BBC in Scotland. In 2015/16 the BBC raised over £320m from the licence fee in Scotland but only 54.6% of this revenue went on programming in Scotland,” he wrote.
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“The BBC Scotland channel is still in its infancy but it presents an opportunity for growth if it is properly funded ... The channel cannot be allowed to fail due to a lack of investment – £32 million is not enough for the channel to grow in ambition. RTE1 in Ireland has an annual running cost of well over £100m.”
Nicolson set out his views as the BBC begins its search for a new boss following the announcement last week that director general Tony Hall will step down this year. He stressed that Hall’s successor would need to increase coverage of “the realities and complexities of devolution” and increase the representation of Scotland and the other devolved nations on its network channels.
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