BBC considers launching online-only television channel in Scotland

Lord Hall announces possible channel as broadcaster seeks to shake up output and reconnect with Scottish audiences

BBC Director-General Lord Hall answers questions in front of the Education and Culture Committee at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh (PA)

The BBC is considering launching a new online-only television channel in Scotland as it seeks to shake up its output and reconnect with audiences north of the border, the corporation’s Director-General has said.

Appearing in front of MSPs at Holyrood, Lord Hall said the BBC was looking into “building an online channel” in Scotland as part of a wide-ranging review into its charter, as well as the possible creation of a new flagship current affairs programme dubbed the “Scottish Six O’Clock News”.

The BBC has been under intense pressure in Scotland since the controversy surrounding its coverage of 2014’s independence referendum, when a mass protest took place outside its Glasgow offices amid accusations of pro-Union bias. The corporation has always insisted it remained impartial.

Lord Hall told the Scottish Parliament’s Culture Committee that the BBC had decided it would be better to put its money into increasing the number of programmes produced in Scotland rather than financing a new “linear channel” on terrestrial television. But he added that a new online channel was being considered as the corporation looked at the “future of broadcasting”.

“I believe that channels will be important for a long time into the future – BBC One is doing remarkably well,” he told MSPs. “Nonetheless, in certain areas you can see the way in which people are watching what they want, where they are, on demand, particularly in our younger audiences. In that sense, building an online channel seemed to us important.”

Sources at the BBC told The Independent that a new Scottish online channel was one of “a number of options are being discussed” as the corporation examined its output, but stressed that it was currently only “a possibility” and that discussions were still ongoing.

Lord Hall said the BBC was in the process of reviewing its Scottish news services and would also create new Scottish homepages for its news and sport websites as well as its popular iPlayer service. He added that the corporation’s Scottish arm should be handed greater control over budgets and decision making as the BBC looked at “how we portray Scotland”.

Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s Culture Secretary, said it was “disappointing” that the BBC had shelved plans for a new terrestrial TV channel to serve Scottish audiences. “I think the very least we can provide is more online platforms for Scotland, but it is not just about how you access and how you want to watch it, it is about what you want to watch, it is content as well,” she added.