TELEVISION channels, by their very nature, are programmed to disappoint. If you have an ethos, a plan, a demographic in mind, by that very intent you alienate those who don’t quite fit the match.

What you do therefore is grab your audience where you can, when you can. You create a Hollyoaks and a Despatches, even if the viewers don’t overlap.

And if you can get enough programmes right, the gods applaud. You’re in TV heaven. Plagues of biblical proportion could rain down on our world, but it wouldn’t matter so long as Bodyguard or Bake Off were on the telly.

So how do you try to create a new channel with enough varied, colourful content to cut across the demographic? At BBC HQ in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay, yesterday, plans for the new BBC Scotland digital channel were unveiled to the world, or rather fed up to the press in bite-sized pieces along with sticky buns and coffee.

How did it look? Well, let’s consider this first; we Scots demanded this channel come into being. Or rather we would have had we realised it might actually be delivered. What we have screamed out for these past 10years is a Scottish Six news programme and what happened is the BBC has wrapped a tartan scarf around the loudest mouths in Natland by offering a whole new channel. We wanted tea and scones. We’ve got a full three courses. But are we going to enjoy what’s on offer?

Initial signs are positive. Steve Carson is the man charged with BBC Scotland output, as Head of Multiplatform Commissioning. His television CV suggests he’s 130-years -old. (Newsnight/Panorama, RTE Director of Programmes, indie production boss etc, etc). Which all looks great.

And he says all the right things. “The plan for the new channel is to reflect Scotland right back at itself.” Now, that’s a toughie, Steve, because Scotland has a history of covering up one eye while looking in the mirror. And the one open eye is a little bloodshot and blurry.

We love to see ourselves as a fun-loving, happy collective. The reality is Scotland is divided on so many levels; how it sees its future, the importance it places on its past. Scotland’s class divide isn’t quite the size of the Nevis range, but it’s vast. We live in a little tribal country that’s so often sectarian and loves to get upset with itself. And there are large sections of Scotland which have loved being upset with the BBC.

So what are Carson and co going to offer to keep as many of us as possible away from the competition? How is he going to entertain during the five hours of telly a night, from 7-12pm? (The channel will operate from 12 midday but will broadcast BBC2 Scotland until seven pm, except during First Minister’s Questions.)

The five hours will feature a mix of documentaries, factual entertainment programming, comedy, drama and sport. Sounds smashing. The new station will be multi-platform – connected to iPlayer, Radio Scotland, social media and other services. More than 70 production companies will deliver content. But what sort of content? Much of the target audience will be 18-34, which represents a real challenge. How do you entice young people away from Netflix, YouTubing, wearing their thumbs out on their phones? Well, according to Carson's crew, programmes fronted by the likes of rapper/writer Darren McGarvey could make a real mark, his political voice offering up an alternative tour of Scotland.

The very funny Grado will front a quiz show and the People’s News will take in the public’s filmed response to news and topical events. There’s also Meet Jamie Genevieve, featuring the YouTube “beauty guru” (42 million hits apparently). Given the taster we watched it seems your Auntie Cissie in Kilsyth will find shows such as this a less natural fit than she would a nose ring and ripped jeans.

Yet, the new channel isn’t ignoring those who prefer TV to be about people rather than what people put on their faces. Documentaries planned include Last Breath, which features the tale of the North Sea diver stranded on the seabed with only five minutes of oxygen left. The aged (ie, over forties) will sink into this human drama, which incorporates actual footage with the drama.

Yes, BBC Scotland would be mad not to spread bet its £32m budget. That’s why the new channel will let you see River City and Scot Squad before it appears on big BBC.

And of course, there’s the much-demanded news programme. It won’t go out at six, but at nine. And it will have a “new fresh format,” although detail of that is to be announced. What we do know however it that it will run for an hour, fronted by Martin Geissler and Rebecca Curran. I don’t know Rebecca Curran but Martin Guissler is smarter than a schoolboy at the start of a new term. It sounds exciting.

There are also plans under way to broadcast from Scottish theatres, which hasn’t been done since 1957. And sport will be covered with discussion forums. But here’s a little mump; wouldn’t the new channel be the perfect platform for an arts programme, discussing that week’s hi-brow/less hi-brow output in Scotland? It could be lively and fun. (And cheap, given pundits can be bought for a glass of Lidl wine and a large slice of self-promotion.) The world of Scottish theatre alone offers up regular opportunity for strong opinion (and therefore ratings).

It will certainly be fascinating to see if BBC Scotland can get close to its hoped-for 10 per cent share, to broadcast to as wide as possible demographic, to capture zeitgeist, to reflect Scotland right back at itself, in the way that STV did in 1957 or Radio Clyde in 1973.

Interestingly, Grado’s Test Drive could be a metaphor for the new channel; a car-driving couple progress to their destination if they answer a series of questions correctly pitched at them by the sat nav. Now, all the signs suggest Steve Carson and his commissioners have a route worked out, they know where they want to be. But only strong programme content will ensure arrival.