IT COULD BE argued that not very much has changed in Scottish broadcasting in the twenty years since the restoration of the Scottish Parliament. 2019 might finally be the year when we do see the first real evidence of television catching up with devolution.
The launch of the new BBC Scotland channel, if not exactly revolutionary, is certainly both overdue and welcome. People in Scotland need a dedicated public space to explore and discuss the issues and opportunities facing the country and to see their own lives and culture reflected. The logic of having a distinctively Scottish television service has been clear for the last twenty years.
The new channel represents the most significant development in Scottish broadcasting since the launch of Radio Scotland in 1978. It will provide the biggest opportunity there has ever been for Scottish television content to be created and distributed for audiences in Scotland. It is also true to say that, with a slim budget of £32 million at launch, it already feels more like a starting point than any kind of final destination.
In 1999 spirits were very low in Scottish broadcasting. BBC Scotland had lost the long internal battle over its Scottish Six proposal (the plan for an integrated hour-long international, UK and Scottish news programme) while STV had moved firmly into its post-Gus Macdonald focus on cutting programmes and jobs.
The minority SNP Government elected in 2007 made broadcasting an early priority. The independent Scottish Broadcasting Commission (SBC), which I chaired, was set up to make recommendations for much-needed improvement. Its final report – including the key proposal for a new dedicated Scottish TV channel, the Scottish Digital Network – was endorsed unanimously in the Scottish Parliament.
Within the Commission, we thought it was important that there should be a secure and sustainable source of competition for the BBC in high-quality public service content produced for Scottish audiences. A distinctively Scottish channel had been a clear gap in UK broadcasting, a missing piece of the jigsaw.
The SBC looked in depth at broadcasting in terms of its economic, cultural and democratic importance to Scotland. It was easiest to build wide support in the strong case for the UK public service networks to spend more money here. With the television licence fee remaining the only source of public funding for broadcasting, it was politically easier to move money within the BBC than to move it away from the BBC. Our demand for greatly increased network spending in Scotland resulted in additional tens of millions of pounds flowing annually into the Scottish creative economy, mainly from the BBC. The commissioning of this additional drama, comedy and factual programming brought a much-needed financial injection to the production sector, but also resulted in more Scottish content for audiences in Scotland.
However, the case and the support for the Scottish channel never went away, and in February 2019 BBC Scotland will launch a new service with some similarities to the SBC model. It’s not the audacious and innovative start-up we had envisaged, but it does represent an important moment in Scottish media history all the same.
In the serial drama of Scottish broadcasting, there have always been two main elements to the plot: getting more UK production money spent in Scotland by the main television networks, and making good Scottish programmes aimed specifically at audiences in Scotland. Gaelic-language content has always constituted an interesting sub-plot.
Historically, there was a very similar dilemma for senior managements at both BBC Scotland and STV. It was important to sell UK-wide network programme ideas from Scotland to the BBC and ITV channel heads in London. But it was also important to opt out of those channels on a regular basis to make room for Scottish content. UK channel controllers tend to be less receptive to Scottish ideas when their own carefully-crafted schedules and pet programmes are being dropped or disrupted north of the border.
Tensions and conflict were almost inevitable. Some of the compromises were messy at best. We have now had 60 years of opt-out television services, with local schedulers always struggling on both BBC and STV to secure decent slots for Scottish programmes.
There was one important difference between the two broadcasters. STV always had more genuine corporate and editorial autonomy, but BBC Scotland always had more money to spend on programmes. Each eyed the other enviously. Both eyed London suspiciously.
Within the Scottish Broadcasting Commission, we thought that the commercial constraints on STV and the corporate constraints on BBC Scotland would always limit the scale and ambition of Scottish broadcasting. We proposed a new broadcaster, a dedicated Scottish Digital Network, as the most effective, proportionate and ambitious solution.
The remit for the digital network was outlined as including high-quality information and entertainment, news and current affairs programmes covering Scottish and international issues, and innovative and ambitious cultural content. I recall saying in interviews that it should be recognisably Scottish, but not relentlessly Scottish. Commenting on the BBC in Scotland, the Commission said there was
a sense that the energy and vitality of modern Scottish life was not being adequately reflected (SBC, 2008).
The BBC now seem to have accepted our analysis and to have adopted much of this remit for their own proposal. I continue to think that it would have been much better if the new channel were coming from a new broadcaster with none of the baggage that the BBC brings, but that has not proved financially or politically possible.
Some people have argued that television channels are outdated concepts in the age of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. But traditional broadcasting is being supplemented, not superseded. There is certainly wider choice, more control is being exercised by audiences and convenience and personal preference are dictating viewing times more than channel schedules. This is particularly true for younger viewers. But broadcasting still has a power and impact that is almost impossible to replace.
This is very clearly the case in current affairs. It continues to strike me as a major failing of the Scottish broadcasters that there are no regularly-scheduled political discussion programmes with audience participation. In the 1990s these exercises in public engagement were important parts of the service on both main channels. It seems extraordinary at a time when there is such political energy and interest in Scotland – and so much to talk about – that there are no lively televised debates with ordinary members of the public actively involved. We need this kind of democratic forum to make sure that we see and hear the other person’s point of view, not just our own.
Broadcasting is still a very important space for the exchange of ideas and opinions. Social media, for all its noise, seems incapable of fulfilling this role. Twitter is not somewhere you go to listen respectfully to other views – why bite your tongue when you can bite other people? We will benefit as a society from more open dialogue and more open minds. We need an accurate representation of our communities and our issues, which the BBC under its Royal Charter and under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code is required to provide.
It is certainly better that the BBC should create a new Scottish channel rather than one not existed at all. But we will need to see transparency in its operation and governance, and be vigilant in our scrutiny, if we are in effect to put almost all of our broadcasting eggs in this one basket.
The new BBC Scotland channel will be picking up a lot of tabs: compensating for the reduced spending and hours on BBC1 and 2; satisfying the SBC and public demand for a dedicated Scottish channel; providing the long-awaited integrated news service covering Scottish, UK and international news; and, last but not least, trying to appeal to the currently disappearing young audiences. All of this on a budget rather less than half of what the SBC thought would be necessary more than ten years ago. It is certainly a challenge.
That’s one reason why the BBC will be pointing to the overall impact and distinctiveness of the new channel rather than just audience reach as the more valid measures of success. The shift away from linear broadcasting to viewing on demand makes this approach all the more necessary. The channel’s content will almost certainly attract more viewing and comment online when it is shared on social media than when it is initially broadcast on the linear service.
With the new service launching, it means the end of separate programming for Scotland on BBC2 and we lose six hours a week on that channel in peak-time. There is no point in pretending that BBC Scotland can immediately make up for those audience losses for Scottish programmes. It can’t. Ofcom thinks the share of total viewing achieved by the new channel in Scotland will be ‘modest’, with a working assumption of just over 2 per cent (Ofcom, 2018). Of course, it’s not possible to estimate viewing levels precisely ahead of launch, but it’s wise to be cautious.
The full details of the BBC Scotland schedule are not available at the time of writing. Those commissions which have been announced look generally crowd-pleasing and ratings-driven, which is perhaps understandable if you are launching a new channel with the difficult pre-existing obligation of an immovable hour-long news programme in the prime 9–10pm slot. We know the core content will be broadcast between 7pm and midnight, about half of it being original productions and the other half repeat transmissions.
The political context for the launch is problematic. That unanimous vote in the Parliament in 2008 was an unprecedented outbreak of political consensus in relation to broadcasting and not surprisingly it couldn’t last. The SBC had said that ‘broadcasting should not serve as a surrogate for the constitutional debate in Scotland’ (SBC, 2008). This was ultimately a forlorn hope in a policy area which has become intensely politicised.
The BBC has put itself in the difficult position of being regarded with suspicion if not with outright hostility by large parts of the Yes movement for an independent Scotland. This is in part a legacy of its controversial and uncertain coverage of the Scottish referendum campaign. Whatever your view on that issue, it is undeniable that the BBC is not launching its new channel from a strong position in terms of the relationship with licence fee payers in Scotland. It was caught flat-footed by the referendum while new media (and indeed STV) did a better job of capturing the energetic and grassroots nature of the campaign.
From the other side of the constitutional divide, the channel is seen as an unwelcome acknowledgement by the BBC of Scotland’s distinctive culture and identity and indeed is assumed to be some kind of sop to nationalism. There will be many in both camps hoping for its failure. In these circumstances, audiences will be tough to attract and even tougher to hold.
On the positive side, this will be the best-funded media development we will see in Scotland in the foreseeable future. This is really it in terms of anything new with significant scale and resources. Importantly for all sceptics, the new channel is covered by robust impartiality obligations and a public service remit externally licensed and regulated by Ofcom.
We must insist on transparency and we must practise vigilance. Ofcom will formally review the performance of BBC Scotland against its stated promises and obligations, but the people of Scotland also need to take ownership and ensure that we get the service we need and deserve. Always remember, this is not an act of charity by the BBC. Our money is paying for it.
Most of all I believe, the new channel has to be talked about. Making an impact is more important than hitting a particular target for viewing figures. I hope to find things that are surprising and challenging, distinctive and innovative. It has to become part of the national conversation and quickly come to be regarded as indispensable. Whatever doubts I have about the BBC’s ability to deliver such a service; I have to wish it good luck.
OFCOM (2018), ‘BBC Scotland Competition Assessment: Final Determination’.
Scottish Broadcasting Commission (2008), ‘Platform for Success’, Edinburgh: Scottish Government.