BBC Scotland axes 'The Nine' under news and current affairs shake-up

Hour-long programme to be replaced with half-hour show following Reporting Scotland

BBC Scotland is at loggerheads with the Scottish Government after announcing it will be ditching its controversial show The Nine as part of a shake-up of its news and current affairs output.

A new half-hour programme will go out on the BBC Scotland channel at 7pm, after Reporting Scotland has finished on BBC One, under the changes.

The broadcaster has announced the end of The Nine, which was created for the new channel’s launch five years ago, weeks after it emerged viewing figures for some editions had slumped below 2,000.

BBC Scotland is also planning to drop its entertainment show The Edit and weekly news review programme Seven Days over the next few months.

A new topical current affairs podcast is to be launched and made available on both the BBC Scotland channel and iPlayer, while Reporting Scotland is to be "regularly extended" into hour-long editions in future.

The end of The Nine has been confirmed weeks after BBC Scotland director Steve Carson was quizzed at the Scottish Parliament about the performance of the programme. At the time he insisted The Nine was reaching more than 100,000 viewers every week.

BBC Scotland chiefs say the shake-up is being carried out in response to changing "audience habits” and have insisted there will be no job losses as a result of the overhaul.

The BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

However, the Scottish Government say the changes will effectively “downgrade” the broadcaster’s news output in Scotland.

Culture secretary Angus Robertson said he would be seeking the “earliest possible meetings” to discuss the changes with BBC director-general Tim Davie and Ofcom, which is being asked to amend the BBC’s current operating licence, which requires it to operate more than 250 hours of news on the Scottish channel.

He said: “This decision runs counter to the growing success of the screen and TV sector in Scotland.”

The Nine was billed as “a world-class programme combining international, UK and Scottish news with the needs of a Scottish audience” when it was launched five years ago and was initially presented by Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler.

The BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.

The news and current affairs shake-up has been announced by BBC Scotland ahead of the fifth anniversary of the channel’s launch this week.

Gary Smith, BBC Scotland’s head of news and current affairs, said: “It’s going to be a busy year for news with a UK election, an American election, and Scotland’s trip to Germany for the Euros.

"We need to make sure we keep changing our output as audience habits change, so that we provide the best possible service for our audiences in the formats and on the platforms they want. I’m very proud that The Nine has produced such great journalism and developed such great talent over the past five years, and I’m confident that our new offer to audiences will continue to meet those high standards.”

Mr Carson said: “In launching new shows and developing our digital services, these changes play to our strengths as an innovative broadcaster that delivers high quality journalism to audiences across all our platforms – from TV and radio to online news, iPlayer and Sounds.”