BBC Scotland new channel BBC Alba (Gaelic service) has started testing ahead of it launch on Sky/Freesat. I have still to see test on Virgin TV so keep the eye out for it*.
* = BBC Alba (Working name) starts on September 19th.
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STV and BBC to launch ''Scottish Gold'' TV Channel.
Rob Woodward, the chief executive of SMG, has outlined plans for a "Scottish Gold" TV channel, in partnership with the BBC, funded by at least £15m in public money a year.
The plan forms part of Scottish company SMG's wider strategy to become the "national broadcaster of choice in Scotland", which includes a corporate rebrand under the name of its TV subsidiary STV.
SMG originally grew out of the STV business based around the Scottish ITV franchise of the same name in the mid to late 1990s.
Woodward, speaking at a British Press Guild lunch today, said the service would be the "best of the BBC and STV" with an injection of news and current affairs as well as Scottish-based factual programming.
"It would be Scottish Gold but with some news and current affairs," he added.
There would be a level of commissioning guaranteed to Scottish-based independents, Woodward said.
He proposed that the Scottish Gold channel could be funded in the same way as the BBC's £25m-a-year proposed Gaelic-language TV service, which will get around £15m in funding annually from the Gaelic Media Service.
''There is strong consumer demand for a dedicated Scottish channel," Woodward said.
SMG would licence relevant TV content from the BBC with the aim of launching the channel on digital terrestrial television as a "public service-based" ad-funded service.
This would also enable STV to launch "local breakouts" of dedicated coverage for key Scottish cities that could be supported through broadband delivery of local content.
Woodward said that while SMG was committed to regional news some form of funding, in the "low millions" would be needed to cover the £7m-a-year annual costs of providing the service for the STV and Grampian franchises the company owns.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008...bbc.television
Info from Guardian Media.