What is going on with the cuts at STV?
Ofcom has delayed its decision on whether to allow the company to ditch the remnants of Grampian TV until May.
It had been due in the next couple of weeks.
But are the changes happening by stealth anyway?
The division between STV’s two regions is not like the boundary between two English regions.
There are stories which clearly affect the whole of Scotland – political stories, major football games and so on.
If Rangers or Celtic were playing Dundee United or Aberdeen in a crucial game, STV would not favour one side or another in a preview – even if some fans might claim otherwise.
Then there is the matter of a story which is simply of clear interest across Scotland.
There was an awful reminder of this last week with the anniversary of the Dunblane tragedy.
It was, of course, covered by Grampian at the time even though Dunblane was not within the Grampian area.
Similarly STV in Glasgow covered the Piper Alpha and Lockerbie disasters – the two biggest stories in Scotland in the 1980s.
Nobody in 1988 looked at the IBA transmitter map before they decided what to do. It would have been ludicrous, insulting and offensive.
For the same reason, it was perfectly sensible for the STV North bulletins last week to include coverage of the devastating fire near Central Station in Glasgow.
It featured heavily on the BBC and ITV network bulletins and might well have been the lead had it not been for the war in the Middle East.
Of course some of the in-depth reporting by STV’s Glasgow team should also have been seen by northern viewers.
But I can’t help but feel that there is a bit of mission creep going on.
Certainly the northern programme seems to be including more which you might say was of Scottish national interest these days.
You can compare the different editions of the STV News on STV Player. (Incidentally, this is a very useful tool for Scots in the rest of the UK who want to keep up with the TV news from home. They can also, of course, also watch BBC Reporting Scotland on iPlayer or on satellite or cable.)
So are changes happening by stealth? Or does this just reflect the current news agenda?
It is hard to say for certain but the National Union of Journalists claims STV staff are struggling to maintain the current two services with insufficient resources.
The implication of what the NUJ is saying is that many of the cuts behind the scenes have already happened. People who accepted redundancy deals have gone or are going soon.
If this is indeed the case, then sharing more content between the two regions would seem inevitable.
And will more sharing follow before changes are agreed or become official?
Oh – and what happens if Ofcom throws the plan out. This can’t be discounted given the scale of political opposition though I wouldn’t bet my house on it.
STV argues it does not need Ofcom permission to move studio presentation to Glasgow. So far though it hasn’t.
Could northern viewers be set to receive lunchtime or late bulletins from Glasgow, recorded shortly before transmission, before Ofcom decides whether to allow a live shared service?
It is certainly worth keeping an eye on this.
Meanwhile the result of a strike ballot over pay at STV is due next week.
If journalists vote to strike action could take place before the end of the month.
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PICTURED: STV News titles. COPYRIGHT: STV Group.
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