BBC to launch dedicated channel for Scotland

The BBC is to launch a new dedicated channel for Scotland in the autumn of 2018.

Combined with existing funding the BBC Scotland channel will have an annual budget of £30 million, £19 million of which is new money.

The centrepiece of the mixed format channel that will run from 7pm each evening will be a nightly one-hour news bulletin to be broadcast at 9pm. It will mix Scottish and world news and is broadcast at a time where there is no other national bulletin being broadcast.

BBC Scotland will have its own ‘prominent’ EPG slot on broadcast channels in Scotland; and be available online and in iPlayer in HD in Scotland and across the UK.

Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, says: “I said at the beginning of the year that the BBC needed to be more creative and distinctive. The BBC is Britain’s broadcaster but we also need to do more for each nation just as we are doing more for Britain globally.

On Tuesday it was announced that BBC Wales would receive an additional £8.5 million a year to spend on programming, doubling its budget.

The Scottish Gaelic channel BBC Alba will receive an additional £1.2 million.