City File: Scottish TV reeling with rumours

RUMOURS are rife of a management shake-up at Scottish Television. This might bring the departure of Alistair Moffat, who heads Scottish Television Enterprises, and perhaps even Gus Macdonald, the former investigative journalist who is STV's managing director.

STV denies any moves are afoot, but critics say that despite winning back its franchise for the minimal payment of pounds 2,000 a year, the company is underperforming. Advertising has been hit by a concerted attack from Channel 4 and is down from 5.8 per cent of the network total to 5.2 per cent.

Also, one of STV's few network shows, Take The High Road, has been dropped from the national schedules. The shares, down 2p at 517p, are set to take the low road.