BBC future

Jim Nisbet (Letters, 4 September) claims Scottish licence fee payers get a fair deal from the BBC but the fact is that out of the BBC’s annual income of £5 billion a mere £100m or so is spent in Scotland and out of that 
figure £70m is spent on “national” TV programmes like Homes under the Hammer and lottery game shows, leaving only £30m available for Scottish programmes.

The BBC has plenty of bland offerings and only a dedicated Scottish channel will achieve diverse programming when it comes to Scottish drama, music and sports.

In Ireland, RTE pays the BBC £20m a year to get the very best of the BBC on its free channels, which compliments indigenous programming but everyone in Ireland can get all the BBC programmes via Sky, cable or by putting up a powerful satellite dish or for free by using a little bit of computer knowledge.

There is a compelling case for broadcasting to be devolved to the democratic multi-party Scottish Parliament in order to use the opportunity to 
vastly improve on the currently 
under-resourced BBC Scotland sub-branch office output.

Fraser Grant

Warrender Park Road

Edinburgh