The case for the BBC TV licence in Scotland is diminishing fast.
BBC Scotland’s own audit has found further signs of decay. Two days ago the National reported:
Fewer than one in seven have watched the regional channel this year, and the average time spent watching is just one hour and 24 minutes per week.
In 2020, BBC Scotland reached more than one in five Scots, and so, between 2020 and 2022, the audience has fallen by 38%.
The numbers are according to the broadcaster’s annual report for the year ending March 31, 2023.
The channel’s news programme The Nine has also had a poor performance, bringing in just over 12,000 viewers last Monday (July 3).
One BBC Scotland insider told The Times: “There are nights when the programme barely registers as having any sort of audience at all.”
On the same night, STV’s News at Six brought in an audience of 321,000.
https://www.inkl.com/news/bbc-scotland-viewing-figures-drop-by-more-than-a-third-since-pandemic
Missing from the report are the viewing figures for Reporting Scotland, Good Morning Scotland and Drivetime. I can’t help but draw a positive message from that protection of their three main propaganda programmes.
They’re not subject to FOI to find out but insiders will know.
I have serious reservations about STV News and I know some readers and Yes supporters refuse to watch it but, after some scrutiny it is significantly more objective, fairer and less likely to politicise public services.
The evidence, in 2023: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/06/30/research-bbc-scotland-news-constructs-a-far-more-anxious-and-conservative-world-than-stv-news-does/
Might there be a case for watching STV News, if only to pull their stats even further ahead of Reporting Scotland and help push it off into the abyss?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Re
“Fewer than one in seven have watched the regional channel this year, and the average time spent watching is just one hour and 24 minutes per week.
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“Fewer than 14.29% have watched the BBC Scotland channel this year, and the average time spent watching is just one hour and 24 minutes per week.
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Oops! My finger hit the post comment while I was scrolling..
Just wanted to point out the first two sentences of The National’s quote should all be in percentages, and (according to BBC iPLAYER) Scotland is not a regional channel. It should therefore say –
“Fewer than 14.29% have watched BBC Scotland this year, and the average time spent watching is just one hour and 24 minutes per week.
In 2020, the channel reached more than 20% of Scots, and so, between 2020 and 2022, the audience has fallen by 38%.”
Can BBC Scotland get any lower?
Yes, it has!
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Are you sure ?
Opening lines of the National article titled “BBC Scotland viewing figures drop by a third” –
“VIEWING figures for BBC Scotland have dropped by more than a third since the pandemic.
Fewer than one in seven have watched the regional channel this year, and the average time spent watching is just one hour and 24 minutes per week.”
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I actually disagree with your contention they should just be shown as percentages. Many readers profess difficulty with “maths” but are more likely to understand “one in seven” and definitely “one hour and 24 minutes”
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Not sure if the quote was from the BBC and The National was quoting them but percentages make it easier to see rises and fall quickly. A BBC Scotland article recently on unemployment, simply said unemployment in Scotland rose slightly to 3.2%, and that it was lower than the UK rate which was 4%. The article also gave the previous UK rate of 3.8%, but to get the previous Scottish rate you had to go and looked it up. The previous rate for Scotland was 3.1%. I can now see unemployment in Scotland rose by 0.1%. The increase in the UK rate is 0.2%. That enables me to claim the rate of increase in unemployment in the UK is double the rate in Scotland. That would make a great headline. 😉
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Oh,to be able to watch STV news! Living in Dumfries & Galloway we are forced to watch Borders news produced in Newcastle with content that the editors consider appropriate for their Scottish viewers to see and hear
Yes I know I can get it online but it is such a painful experience on a 1 mps connection that is only worthwhile for important stories. The ukg has already announced that the next franchise round in January 2025 won’t change this.
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Did Border not used to have a station in Carlisle? I used to live in the very south of South Ayrshire where STV was not receivable and I vaguely recall presenters quoting Carlisle (maybe it was a sub-station!)
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IIRC the main transmission mast for SW Scotland was in Sandale, Cumbria, an annoyance since the 1960s for many D&G residents as you quickly lost direct signal among the many hills.
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Thanks (including a lesson on abbreviations-IIRC!!, I looked it up!)
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I’m wary of anything published by the Murdoch stables, he has long held ambitions to destroy the BBC, the recent Huw Edwards farce being but the latest hype.
Your observation on the reluctance to release audience figures for their principle propaganda programmes is probably valid – James Cook will not want his political masters realising how badly he has failed to engage with the public when he sold them the idea he could.
I suspect “VIEWING figures for BBC Scotland have dropped by more than a third since the pandemic” is much more telling of long term damage.
– When BBC Scotland joined the Tory strategy via their pet media to kick SG when they were at their most vulnerable during a public health emergency, it will have shocked many out of any notions as to impartiality.
Even were their figures to recover slightly, the damage that has been done to public trust will linger for a long time yet.
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If you take radio Scotlands fitba shows out of the figures, does anyyin listen to it at all?
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BARB – Broadcasters Audience Research Board – might have figures you need a subscription. I know their figures are used dailyto highlight how badly GBNews compares with outher outlets.
Of course, these Scottish outlets may have figures too low to register.
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No surprise that viewing figures have dropped. No need to research the reasons either as we are surrounded by propaganda and people are sick of it. Clyde 1 and other ” magazine” channels relay their news in regular repeated bullet-point form devoid of discussion or comment. NHS or drug deaths or ferries – whatever topic de jour the editor fancies. It’s on repeat in true propaganda style all through the day then verified by Reporting Scotland or the Nine in the evening.
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LETS CAMPAIGN FOR THIS BIASED LYING CHANNEL AND ITS SATELLITE RADIO
TO BE CLOSED DOWN
AT TGE VERY LEAST STOP PAYING THEIR WAGES
THAT ENABLES THEM TO SIT IN THEIR BIG OFFICES
And collect your money
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We don;t get STV either here in the Scottish Borders, I wonder why it was decided to lump us in with Carlisle and beyond. I also wonder if this helps the Tories to win here with no official station for unbiased news
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Since devolution has any Scottish Government attempted to resolve the issue?
Does broadcasting need to be devolved before every part of Scotland can receive Scottish terrestrial television and radio?
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Labour were certainly very happy to keep Scotland in the dark about well everything really, broadcasting was never an issue for them, it benefitted them for a decade. The SNP could ask nicely, can we please, pretty please, have control over broadcasting? Meanwhile the English government are laughing their heads off. Nope, not in a month of Sundays.
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It’ll soon all be online anyway
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