Ofcom has granted STV’s request to share more content across its new output, including its flagship 6pm shows.
The broadcaster holds two Channel 3 licences, both of which covers a separate region of Scotland, and must produce news content specific to the licensed areas. However audiences for its broadcast news programming have fallen in each of the previous five years as viewers increasingly look for news online.
As a result, STV requested that Ofcom relax some of the rules around the make-up of its bulletins, changes it said would both reflect changing patterns of consumption and be more commercially sustainable.
Ofcom has now agreed requests to:
- Share up to 70% of material in its 6pm weekday programmes, STV News at Six, where it is of particular relevance to audiences in both licence areas, with the rest of the material to remain bespoke for each region;
- Extend the current permission to share news programming at the weekend to all news programming outside of peak viewing times, where it is of particular interest to audiences in both regions; and
- Remove the requirement to provide five minutes of sub-regional opts in the 6pm news programmes in each licence.
In a statement approving the request, the regulator said: “We have consulted with stakeholders and listened carefully to views on our proposals. We think that on balance these changes are proportionate, are in the best interests for audiences and will protect the plurality of regional news provision in Scotland.”
STV said the decision allows it to “continue serving its audiences with high-quality regional news, gathered and produced across Scotland, in a way that is sustainable for the business”.
Once the changes are implemented, STV News at 6 will be presented from STV’s Glasgow studio, although its Aberdeen studio will also be “regularly” in use, and the show will feature a presenting team that includes senior journalists from both the north and central regions.
Additionally a “wide range of local, regional and national stories” will be available across multiple platforms throughout the day via STV’s digital news operation.
The broadcaster has also committed to keeping “newsgathering resources” at all existing sites in Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee as well as Holyrood and Westminster.
CEO Rufus Radcliffe said: “We’re incredibly proud of STV News at 6, which remains Scotland’s most watched news programme, but like all Public Service Media companies, we must respond to the significant shift in audience behaviour.
“The changes Ofcom has approved to our licences will enable us to continue serving viewers with the high-quality, trusted national and regional news they expect from us. Crucially, this will be sustainable for our business and will be accessible on air and across all the digital platforms viewers now expect.
“As a commercial Public Service Broadcaster, that receives no public funding, we are focused on the future and what we do best – trusted news and high-quality content that continues to resonate with audiences across all of Scotland.”