SCOTLAND will get its own digital BBC channel showing exclusively Scottish programmes including news, entertainment and drama under a radical plan being developed by broadcasters and ministers. Under the plan, digital TV viewers would switch to a new channel every night, with all content sourced from the BBC's headquarters in Glasgow. The opportunity has arisen as a result of the BBC's 'change-over' from digital to analogue, which will free up more digital channels from 2010 for the national broadcaster to fill. Both the new Nationalist government and TV executives in Scotland are now pressing for BBC Scotland to claim one of the new digital slots, so that a new channel can go on air. Such a separate channel already exists in Wales, where, every evening, BBC2 is switched to Welsh-produced programmes on the digital network. However, in Scotland, the BBC has opted to slot its own programmes within the British-wide BBC network. Critics argue that this leaves viewers short-changed when it comes to providing a service that reflects Scotland adequately. Under the envisaged system, viewers would be able to choose between the UK BBC channels as they are seen across the whole of Britain, or would have the choice to switch to a Scottish channel that could go into greater depth on Scottish news. It could, for example, provide the setting for the 'Scottish Six' - a half-hour news programme to be broadcast at the same time as the main early-evening BBC news programme. It could also provide a new venue for the much-criticised Newsnight Scotland programme, which currently takes the London-based Newsnight off air at 11pm. An SNP spokesman said last night: "The digital revolution is opening up all sorts of exciting possibilities, and Scotland needs to be at the forefront of these developments." He added: "A Scottish digital channel would enable broadcasters to reflect the world to Scotland and Scotland to the world, and provide more quality jobs and skills in this country." The new move reflects the SNP's wider plans to shake up the controls over TV in Scotland. It will press Westminster to devolve powers over broadcasting, and is demanding, at the very minimum, that the BBC present a dedicated Scottish news service. News from Scotland on Sunday. For more info:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...m?id=824522007
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