Comments on: The end of local television?

By: Mandelson, the VP debate and lots of ideas from the SNP - Scottish Roundup

Mandelson, the VP debate and lots of ideas from the SNP - Scottish Roundup — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:00:21 +0000

[...] Smith is worried that ITV is going down the same path as US television. Meanwhile, I wondered if local television might not have a future at [...]

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:22:16 +0000

I live in the Yorkshire area as far as the BBC is concerned – but the Central area starts a few miles south. How few depends on the hills. This may explain why news about my hometown is pretty sparse.

By: jack stephen

jack stephen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:19:53 +0000

“I think my dad would prefer to see ITV1 rather than STV on Champions League nights so that he could watch the English Premier League sides play rather than Celtic and Rangers!”

Well, yes and no, Duncan.
I pretty much despise the Champions League as a whole – being a competition that has been so gerrymandered. The EUFA cup is less so but still basically a rich teams’ plaything.
But it depends on who the opposition is. Celtic or Rangers v Barcelona or Inter Milan is a better bet than Man U or Arsenal or Chelsea or Liverpool v Steaua Bucharest
Having said that I don’t really much care who beats Celtic or Rangers – in Scotland; but I would want either of them to beat any English club in a European tie (some hopes these days) just because the English commentators are so obnoxious.
None of it is real football; the odds are too stacked against an outsider club.
Now, if only Dumbarton were in Europe I might change my mind.

By: Will P

Will P — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:47:26 +0000

It does, they’re just a little bit fiddly to access and you don’t have any decent EPG functions with them.

You have to add them manually tand they appear on a list of “Other Channels” through the services menu.

And for the record, you’ll find the regions and their frequencies here.

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:54:58 +0000

Really? I thought Sky Digital had all of the ITV regions on it.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:44:40 +0000

Back in the good old days of analogue Sky, you could add stations if you knew the frequency they operated at – I remember sitting for ages going through a list I found on the internet so I could watch basically every regional ITV station just so I could watch whatever football match I fancied!

Unfortunately Sky Digital doesn’t let you do this, but it does include all the different BBC regions so if you take offence at watching Rangers or Celtic in the Uefa Cup and fancy watching Everton or whoever is on BBC England then that’s a possibility.

Sorry to hijack this to talk about football!

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:39:02 +0000

Craig — It’s funny you should mention the Champions League. I think my dad would prefer to see ITV1 rather than STV on Champions League nights so that he could watch the English Premier League sides play rather than Celtic and Rangers!

Graeme — That’s an interesting link. I believe Channel 4 News is similarly under threat. It could perhaps be that news is now too expensive. Imagine if the only players in television news were the BBC and Sky!

Sara — I agree! David Robertson was the only Reporting Scotland newsreader that I actually liked.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:58:30 +0000

I’m boycotting Reporting Scotland until they bring back the lovely David Robertson.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:18:38 +0000

Looks like ITV quite fancy getting rid of news altogether, if unburdened by PSB responsibilities:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/29/itv.michaelgrade

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:08:32 +0000

I’m a Border TV viewer living in South West Scotland and I must confirm your fears that it’s pretty crap.

Roughly 95% of Lookaround and other news output features items on the English side of things, but then that may be because not very much happens which is newsworthy in this quiet little corner!

It’s only fairly recently that they started to have a Scottish opt-out for things like football – in the past if Celtic were playing in the Champions League for example, this would be on STV and the rest of Scotland however we would have to watch Liverpool or Man Utd like our English cousins.

To be honest, I’m not too sure about the news opt-out though – I’ve certainly not noticed any sign of news segments aimed directly at Scotland. Perhaps that’s because I’m not a regular Border News watcher though – and that could be the problem, just how many people actually watch it?

As a guess, I’d imagine it will be mainly Carlisle residents – ie those who find it most like a “local news” bulletin.

For some strange reason, perhaps due to the lack of coverage, it’s still quite an event to see a Border TV newsvan driving around this area – that’s normally when you try to ensure you watch the news that night to see what they have been up to!