2 hours ago
1
Jamie McIvorScotland news correspondent
BBC
STV staff formed a picket line outside the company's Glasgow headquarters
A formal consultation by the TV regulator on whether to allow controversial changes to STV's news programmes closes later.
The Scottish channel three broadcaster wants to end separate news programmes for the north of Scotland.
The Scottish government and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) both want regulator Ofcom to throw out the plan.
The union claims the scheme is a response to STV's immediate financial problems. STV denies this says and argues the service must be sustainable as viewing habits change.
Ofcom has previously indicated it may accept the plan and should set out the next steps before Easter.
Around 30 jobs are affected. In January the NUJ held a one day strike over both the principle of the cuts and the risk of compulsory redundancies.
A small number of staff remain at risk of compulsory redundancy- many affected have been redeployed or agreed to voluntary redundancy - but there is still intense opposition to the plan amongst unions and politicians.
STV says the changes are needed to ensure the service remains economically viable in the face of falling viewing figures and advertising.
The company currently provides two news services - one from Glasgow for the central belt, the other from Aberdeen for the north and north-east.
STV wants to end separate news programmes for the north of Scotland
The proposals would mean:
- All news programmes being presented from Glasgow.
- Short bulletins at lunchtime and late evening being shown in both central and northern Scotland and concentrating on Scottish national news.
- Most of the main 18:00 programme being devoted to Scottish national news and shown in both regions - with about nine minutes of separate local material.
STV has emphasised that it will still have news teams in Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.
In its response to Ofcom's consultation, seen by BBC News, the NUJ makes a detailed argument which calls on the regulator to reject the plan.
It argues the proposals would mean poorer local news provision for TV viewers and questions the financial rationale for the changes.
It says "STV plc has framed the proposed changes to STV News as both necessary and urgent on the grounds that they need to adapt to producing news where audiences now want to consume news and do so on a sustainable basis.
"While we accept these changes in the media landscape exist... we do not accept that this is the true reason for the requests put to Ofcom, nor is this the reason for the urgency.
"We believe Ofcom has made a fundamental mistake in its framing of this consultation by taking STV's argument at face value."
The union argues the motivation for making the changes now is a profit warning issued last summer, which was linked to falling advertising revenue and fewer commissions to make programmes for other broadcasters and streamers.
That led to a big fall in the share price.
The submission adds: "It is understandably embarrassing to STV plc to frame their request in these terms. While we are sympathetic to the immediate financial predicament in which STV finds itself, we cannot accept its framing of its request."
The STV News at Six is often the top-rated programme of the day on any channel in Scotland although relatively little advertising is shown around it, meaning it is of less direct commercial benefit to the company than other popular programmes.
STV has denied immediate financial pressures are the reason it wants to make the changes, although it has stressed the need for the news service to be sustainable going forward.
The company recently said advertising revenue had fallen 10% during 2025.
Other commercial broadcasters have also suffered falls in advertising revenue which have been linked to both changing audience habits and wider economic uncertainty.
ITV plc - which runs the rest of the channel three network - recently made significant cuts to its breakfast and daytime programmes in response to this.
STV chief executive Rufus Radcliffe said their plan is designed to protect their regional news service for the digital age.
"This carefully considered plan ensures the delivery of newsgathering and high quality coverage across Scotland on a sustainable basis for the company, and sees the expansion of our digital news service in response to the changing ways people are consuming news," he said.
He added that STV is a commercial business with public service commitments, which he said the company was "incredibly proud of", but pointed out the business did not get public funding.
The consultation closes at 17:00 on Monday and Ofcom's next steps are expected to be announced at some point before Easter.
If it approves the current proposals, changes on screen are likely soon afterwards.
