TV Guide of the Future

Old post but it is funny to see this comment now after seeing Challenge+1 being closed down because “they are redundant in rhe age of catch up” (quoting Sky)

I don't know I just feel like it was a bad idea but long live Channel 5 (for as long as it lives)

To be honest I was uncertain of the need for Channel 5 at first. From what little I remember about the station's opening night it seemed insipid and i didn't see that much of it at first due to the frequency situation until I was able to retune the Philips VCR to a clean channel. ( I had to watch it through satellite)

I believe its been in the last few years that Channel 5 has found its niche. The family films on Sundays have made an impact but its the documentaries and factual programmes have been its real selling point.

I watch more Channel 5 programmes now, than I did ten or twenty years ago. As I mentioned in a previous post I enjoy watching their travel documentaries and I think they are equally as good as anything the BBC and ITV can offer., However some of the factual programmes, especially those that border onto the sensasonal are a bit hit and miss for my taste.
Overall I'd say that Channel 5 have really upped their game over the last five years. I only hope that they keep on commissioning their travel documentaries and their factual historical programmes.

G

I shared similar opinions of Channel 5 when it was first launched, and 10 years ago I wondered whether it would survive after the analogue switch off by more than a few years as it could potentially be 'squeezed' badly in a digital world, but now it seems to have found its niche in grand scheme of things.

How long will STV last? Is it's future also intertwined with the future of an independent Scotland?

STV's future is a thorny issue. If Scotland is an independent nation by 2040 I believe that if Coronation Street Emmerdale etc are still around then STV or an SBC will still buy in the programmes.

If Scotland becomes independent then its ITV1 regions will disappear - unless the Scottish government wishes to continue them. It will then be theoretically possible for ITV (or whatever is its successor) to launch a new channel in Scotland that will run in parallel to STV. It will effectively be the Scottish equivalent of ITV1, but without the PSB commitments, and it will take many of the programmes broadcast by ITV in England. Any other ITV channels will also be available in Scotland.

As a result, STV will no longer be the conduit for Coronation Street to Caledonia, and it could even have difficulty obtaining many ITV programmes currently being broadcast. It will probably end up almost completely 'detaching' itself from ITV and becoming the Scottish equivalent of the BBC or S4C.

I thought the pubs didn't open until next Saturday.

• ITV1?
• Caledonia?
• Why would ITV have a 'successor' in the rest of the UK if Scotland became independent?
• STV would never be the Scottish equivalent of the BBC as it's commercially funded.

One possibility is that STV reformats to an STV World and enters into agreements with ITV and BBC to show Emmerdale etc.

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Big questions hang over the future of (most of) the BBC in an independent Scotland because the BBC will be very reluctant to provide services in an independent Scotland unless it receives funding (from one means or other) roughly equivalent to what it currently receives from TV licence payers who live in Scotland.

An English based ITV will be treated the same as any other commercial channel in an independent Scotland unless the Scottish government enacts legislation making it a special case in order to 'protect' STV and prohibit ITV from establishing a new channel in Scotland that clearly competes with STV and takes many of the ITV networked programmes currently broadcast by STV.

Take into account that if ITV establishes a new channel in Scotland for Coronation Street etc. then refuses to supply STV with such programmes, then ITV rather than STV will take all the advertising revenue.

The result is that STV could end up effectively reformed as a PSB channel for Scotland significantly funded by a means other than advertising as that will be the only way to ensure its survival.

Channel 4, Channel 5, and most satellite channels will not, in theory, be significantly affected by an independent Scotland.

That is of course if Scotland is an independent nation by 2040.

True. It all hinges on IF.

Independence of nations is a messy affair at the best of times - as to who gets what oil painting hung on walls of embassies worldwide just for starters.

The BBC and ITV1 / STV are special cases for TV channels in an independent Scotland. Everything else can pretty much continue as before.

Does anybody here who supports an independent Scotland have any views on how they would like to see TV channels in Scotland after independence?