Switching on to the future of Scots TV

Alex Salmond says more must be done to get broadcasters to spend north of the border, write Phil Miller and Robbie Dinwoodie

Appropriately, yesterday's main event in Edinburgh had all the trappings of a Fringe act: it began with a comedienne, its theme was the tragedy of unfulfilled aspirations, and it concluded with more questions than answers.

The launch of a new Scottish Broadcasting Commission, to be chaired by Blair Jenkins, former head of news at BBC Scotland, was the main message in First Minister Alex Salmond's debut speech on broadcasting. The commission's remit is as yet veiled, as is the make-up of the rest of its team. But one thing for certain: its short-term target is what the First Minister clearly sees as a broadcast deficit north of the border.

Speaking in the halls of the National Museum of Scotland, Mr Salmond contended that not only is the BBC "hideously white", as former leader, Greg Dyke, once famously said, it is "hideously White City" - concentrated, at least in its mindset, far too much in west London. Mr Salmond's longer term target is, plainly, the full devolution of powers over broadcasting to Scotland.

The much-debated Scottish Six - a bespoke evening news bulletin for BBC Scotland - also shuffled on to yesterday's stage, only to be hushed back to the eaves. Even Mr Salmond said it was a symbol of a malaise, not the problem itself.

Stuart Cosgrove, head of nations and regions for Channel Four, said he thought the Scottish Six issue was "a sideshow, not the whole circus". He hopes it does not dominate the commission's work.

Many might agree. Even Mr Salmond said it was "just shorthand for the broader debate we need to have".

After an entertaining, if somewhat incongruous, introduction by Elaine C Smith, Mr Salmond laid out his main reasoning for the new commission: he believes that in broadcasting terms, Scotland is losing out. It has the talent, the potential, but is short-changed.

The statistics are thought-provoking: according to the executive, spending in Scotland by the four licensed public service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five) appears to have halved in the past two years.

The BBC's network spend in Scotland is down from 7% to 4% of the total spend on broadcasting in the UK. Mr Salmond wants it to be 9%, at least. ITV is down from 3% to 2% of the spend in Scotland, and Channel 4 is up from merely 2% to 3%.

From 2001 to 2006, the spend on current affairs television in Scotland (BBC and STV) fell by 45%. Budgets for television news were also down by 27%.

Alistair Moffat, a former director of programmes at STV before working at Border, said: "It's not quite too late, but if a quota of local programming is to be saved in the ITV regions, then it's five to midnight."

Ken MacQuarrie, BBC Scotland controller, welcomed the commission (although he was hardly going to lambast it) and said he was eager to hear its "terms of reference".

He defended his ultimate boss, BBC director-general Mark Thompson, who, he said, had not denigrated Scottish talent.

Mr Salmond had made great hay with Mr Thompson's reported comment from a recent convention that there was not enough talent north of the border, hence the decline in programming.

Mr MacQuarrie was at the Cardiff media conference where Mr Thompson made his comments, and he said: "What he said was that in terms of getting ideas through to the (BBC) commissioners, in the last couple of years, there appeared to be a lag. He was casting no aspersions on the quality of talent or the quality of the production staff in Scotland. In fact he was recently quoted as saying Pacific Quay (the new headquarters in Glasgow) is the future of the BBC."

As far as those tricky broadcast percentages go, he added: "My job is the get the absolute maximum amount of content on the airwaves for our audiences across the UK - and also Scotland."

In a recent article published in The Herald, Mr Jenkins made his opinions clear. He said BBC Scotland should be securing more than the current percentage of spend, nearer that 9%, which would deliver around £40m in revenues. He wants the corporation's funds to be "venture capital for the creative industries".

He added: "We need to work with the BBC, ITV, Channel Four and other networks on a more strategic and co-ordinated approach to developing the creative content sector in Scotland."

Mr Jenkins said he wanted "smarter" investment, and capital to encourage start-up businesses and new media. It would be a surprise if these views were not expressed in some form in the final commission report. Ultimately it is hard to ascertain the end-game of this move. Mr Salmond said he would not limit the remit of the commission, and until its remit is properly detailed its ambitions are as limitless as blue-sky thinking can be.

He said a recent paper by film writer Richard Curtis had proved inspirational. It said there were four "interconnected" areas of creative life needing support: theatre, radio, television and film. In film and theatre, Mr Salmond said, Scotland is rich. In the other areas, work is needed.

Once the commission's report is delivered, whatever its conclusions, it is, in itself, without power or influence, although it will presumably be endorsed by the Holyrood parliament.

Then what? The future of broadcasting in Scotland is a political question, not an artistic or creative one. This explained why there was only one arts correspondent at the speech, but a roomful of political writers.

Mr Salmond acknowledged there would be no "Scottish Broadcasting Corporation" until there was an independent Scotland.

So BBC Scotland will remain, its structures unaltered fundamentally, for the foreseeable future.

It seems unlikely a mere report will lead to Gordon Brown budging an inch on the devolution of media, or changing the Scotland Act.

The announcement of the commission is just the first salvo in a complex, and intriguing, battle, which is about far more than what is on Scotland's television sets. But right now there is more static and interference than clear signals in the battle for control of the nation's airwaves.

Blair Jenkins

Has agreed to be the chair of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission.

Was head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland from 2000 to 2006, when he surprisingly resigned in a move rumoured to be over his opposition to job cuts.

Born in Elgin, his career began at the Evening Express in Aberdeen and was Young Journalist of the Year in the Scottish Press Awards in 1977.

He joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1980 and worked as a producer on the Nine O'Clock News before returning to Glasgow to produce Reporting Scotland in 1984.

Joined Scottish Television in 1986 and was successively controller of news and current affairs, head of regional programmes and then director of broadcasting.