Glasgow-based television broadcaster STV has welcomed the UK Government’s decision to renew its Public Service Broadcasting licences for a further ten-year period.
Ofcom recommended that the Channel 3 licences be renewed for a further term in its report to The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport back in June last year.
Lucy Frazer MP accepted Ofcom’s recommendation and confirmed on Wednesday that she will not intervene to block renewal of the Channel 3 licences for a further 10-year period from January 2025.
STV said that confirmation its licences for central and north Scotland can be extended “secures the provision of public service obligations, including the country’s highest performing news and current affairs programmes”.
READ MORE: Disgraced MP Margaret Ferrier faces 30 day Commons ban
STV’s formal application for renewal of its two Channel 3 licences must be completed by 30 April. The extended licence term will run until 31 December 2034.
Simon Pitts, STV chief executive, said: “We welcome confirmation from the Secretary of State that STV’s Public Service Broadcasting licences can be renewed for a further ten-year period. STV remains Scotland’s most popular peak-time channel and our schedule provides an unrivalled mix of original UK content including drama, soaps, entertainment and live sporting events. STV News, with its unique localised programming has been Scotland’s most watched news service for four years in a row and plays a vital role in keeping audiences up to date with trusted news, facts and insight.
“As more viewing shifts online, we also welcome publication of the draft Media Bill and in particular the Government’s recognition that new legislation is urgently required to make Public Service Media as prominent on digital platforms as they are today on broadcast. STV looks forward to the swift passage of the Bill through Parliament to ensure that Public Service Media is sustained and strengthened in the future and that the highly valued service we provide to viewers in Scotland remains easily discoverable.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here