The entire Scotsport team at STV was given three months' notice yesterday in the wake of the SPL highlights show being ditched by the broadcaster.

The move came after it was announced the Monday night show, presented by Andy Walker and Grant Stott, will finish at the end of this season.

The TV station blamed the decision on a five-year deal BBC Scotland thrashed out with the league for highlights.

It is known that some fans dislike the late-night slot - two days after most games are played.

Scotsport is the world's longest-running sports show, having celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and STV said the brand name will live on in other programmes.

In November, it launched Scotsport Rugby Sunday and it is expected the name will be used for other sports shows in the future.

An STV spokeswoman said it could not say how many people were affected by the decision and, though it hoped the Scotsport staff could be redeployed elsewhere within the company, it had not ruled out the possibility of redundancy.

"The Monday night Scotsport is dedicated to SPL football coverage so at the end of the season there will not be a programme going out on air so because of that we will not require a dedicated sports production team.

"Staff were advised of this. We are not in a position to confirm numbers but it is a very small and highly skilled team and we are looking for opportunities to redeploy them in the business where we can.

"As we announced at the end of last year, STV has decided not to renew its contract to show highlights of SPL matches after this football season due to an increasingly overcrowded football coverage marketplace," said the spokeswoman.

"Whilst our Monday night Scotsport programme will come off air in May, we will explore other areas to engage with our viewers via the Scotsport brand on-screen and online."