Scheme to revamp Scottish TV news dealt major blow

Published on Wednesday 31 March 2010 00:34

PLANS for a shake-up to Scotland's television new service have received a major blow.

Last night it was revealed that the consortium, which had won the 16m franchise to provide Scottish television's news service, will have to delay their plans until after the election.

As the Conservative party have already indicated their opposition to the contract, it may effectively kill off the plan to subcontract the commercial news services to an independent producer.

Last week the Scottish News Consortium (SNC), which includes Johnston Press, the publishers of The Scotsman, won their bid to take over all TV news bulletins and replace STV News.

The new programmes, expected to be called Scotland First, would have been Britain's first fully integrated TV-to-internet news service.

Following the announcement the successful bidders faced a race against time to have the contract signed by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

However the DCMS said last night that they will not sign off the contract until after 16 April.

The switch-over was triggered by the government when it announced the funding of three pilot schemes in Scotland, Wales and northern England,

It is believed the unsuccessful bidders have demanded a response from the DCMS which has resulted in the delay.

Last night a source at SNC said: "This is terrible blow. Particularly as the reason for the delay has nothing to do with events in Scotland.

"However, as no new government contract will be signed before 16 April, it effectively means that we cannot go ahead with pilots or expect to have the contract confirmed until after the election."

Last night a spokeswoman for STV said: "We do not wish to comment at this stage."

The SNC consists of Johnston Press, Herald & Times Group and DC Thomson, working with Tinopolis, a TV company behind the BBC's Question Time.