There is no reason Scotland, an independent Scotland that is, cannot have its own broadcasting channel.
It is possible and to many it is desirable. Indeed it is difficult to name an independent country that does not have its own state broadcaster, and this week's White Paper laid out some of the ways in which it will be established. If everything falls into place, the new channel will begin broadcasting on December 31 in 2016.
But one wonders if, in the event of a Yes vote next year, the formation of the Scottish Broadcasting Service (SBS) will be as simple as outlined in the document. Heavily trailed, the new broadcaster is one of the central plans of the whole document. But observers who know how the BBC works have questions and queries about Chapter Nine, which covers culture and communications. On the face of it, the arithmetic looks straightforward. According to a recent BBC document, 2.2million TV licences were in force in Scotland in March 2013. The White Paper says that this raises £320m, and combined with £12m from the Scottish Government and another £13m slice from the BBC's "commercial profits" this will lead to a very healthy budget of £345m. So it could spend far more than the £200m BBC Scotland currently does, although it would not all go on programming - there will be staff and infrastructure costs, as well as the around £7m it costs to transmit and support the network in Scotland.
It goes on to say that this new broadcaster "should" enter in a new relationship with the BBC as a joint venture, where the SBS supplies the BBC with programming, in return for access to the BBC in Scotland. It asserts that shows such as Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing will therefore still being available in Scotland: not only forever etching the names of these shows in Scottish constitutional history but also, one assumes, placating fans of those shows who will vote Yes or No solely on what they can watch on their telly.
However, some of this plan is based on suppositions. Maybe it will be straightforward; the keys to BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay HQ will be handed over in 2016 by an obliging BBC corporation and its 1200 staff will be seamlessly TUPE'd to the new organisation. But the BBC could argue that yes, Scottish licence payer's money did pay for some of that £188m building, but not all of it (or, indeed it might be hard to work out who paid for what), and it may be unwilling to hand it over without negotiation. Additionally, the conversations between the SBS and the BBC over a share of the corporation's commercial profits may prove interesting - does that Scottish slice of BBC Worldwide profit continue in perpetuity? Even after licence fees are going to be paid to SBS? More tricky might be the relationship between the SBS and the BBC. The paper proposes a "formal relationship" as a joint venture, but of course, the BBC itself may have other ideas. It takes two to tango. The BBC, bound by its neutrality before the vote, will take its time to announce how, or whether, it wants to dance with this new partner at all.
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