Not at all I have plenty of info on future plans of STV just waiting for official releases to back up my info.
STV has a few major surprises in store next year after DSO
Stay Tuned
Take it Thingimyjig is make a return in the style of Strictly Come Dancing.
Thats the problem,viewers are not staying tuned.
Oh something that all have failed to grasp regarding the Billy Connolly program was that it was originally a BBC funded show for the BBC network in 1996, STV are showing their rivals 14 year old cast offs.
I think talks with SKY have broken down as SKY insist on encryption. However talks with Freesat are still on going.
Wht would that be the case? STV and ITVHD, for example, are available free to air without issues. Indeed, if STV HD wants to be free to air, there is nothing Sky can do to stop it, assuning it can get an EPG position (and I believe the queue is open for new HD channels). Sky blocking it makes no sense.
Freesat blocking it makes even less sense - they too have a legal duty to carry channels, and do not have any blockage on channel numbers. I'm sure they would love to carry the channel.
The only possible negotiation with Sky would be if STV wants to put it in a Sky package, and be paid for the privilege. If so, the channel would be encrypted and not available to Freesat.
I suspect that the block on the channel appearing officially on satellite is likely to be an ITV / STV issue.
Well considering that the BBC Scotland news decided to follow up on the disappointment of viewers who missed DA, they could have been a little more firm in the interview.
"Can you understand the disappointment of viewers of STV in missing a much heralded new drama?" would have been a fair question.
If Scotland existed in a bubble and we had no idea what everyone else was seeing the opt outs would not be such a problem. But when you KNOW what you are being denied, it's "no fair".
Take it Thingimyjig is make a return in the style of Strictly Come Dancing.
Thats the problem,viewers are not staying tuned.
Oh something that all have failed to grasp regarding the Billy Connolly program was that it was originally a BBC funded show for the BBC network in 1996, STV are showing their rivals 14 year old cast offs.
Many of us would welcome the return of Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade!
Well considering that the BBC Scotland news decided to follow up on the disappointment of viewers who missed DA, they could have been a little more firm in the interview.
"Can you understand the disappointment of viewers of STV in missing a much heralded new drama?" would have been a fair question.
I do understand the disppointment of some viewers but the majority don't mind STV going their own way and opting out. Profits and ratings are up therefore the majority of people don't care about STV opt outs. Many have thought ITV were producing crap for years and were turning away from STV for showing it. At the end of the day STV is a company and like ITV or any other station it has to make a profit to survive and opting out and providing something else is working.
I do understand the disppointment of some viewers but the majority don't mind STV going their own way and opting out. Profits and ratings are up therefore the majority of people don't care about STV opt outs. Many have thought ITV were producing crap for years and were turning away from STV for showing it. At the end of the day STV is a company and like ITV or any other station it has to make a profit to survive and opting out and providing something else is working.
I think your missing the whole point.
As i have mentioned before, STV should out perform the ITV network average, as ITV has always done better the more north you go in ratings. At the same time STV has had the advantage that the scottish population seems to see the BBC as the EBC, so are always going to favour a local company STV. Thus STV SHOULD outperform the network.
However, even with the above situation for STV, time and time again we have seen that the majority of the opt outs have performed below the network average. Yes some will out perform, and good on STV for that, but alot havent. So i have to question if their rise in ratings is STVs programmes, or actually the ITV shows they are showing (the X-factors ratings have been on fire this year).
At the same time, how are the opt outs really helping the local tv community in scotland?, if they were investing in more local programming that wasnt just cobbled together archive material, Imports or specials (maybe an occational drama or documentary) then i would say good on them for helping the local tv industry in scotland.
Seriously, if STV were really interested in helping the scottish tv industry, they could have invested in just one new scottish drama this year, and launched it after the X-factor. Now yes this would have cost alot of money, but i believe them showing investment in even just one two part drama and giving it such a big platform really would have helped them back up there claims, and also have helped the scottish tv industry (They could have even tried a co-production with UKTV). They could have then used this as a way to get it on ITV later in the year.
As for the profits point, if you are showing a 30 year old movie instead of a quality UK drama time and time again, then of course your costs are going to decrease, and profits increase in the short term, but you are dented in the long term. You also have to remember that STV advertising revenue is also going to be boosted by RBS, which seems to be recovering and spending more on advertising, which IIRC was STVs biggest advertiser.
As i have mentioned before, STV should out perform the ITV network average, as ITV has always done better the more north you go in ratings. At the same time STV has had the advantage that the scottish population seems to see the BBC as the EBC, so are always going to favour a local company STV. Thus STV SHOULD outperform the network.
The above statement is highly inacurate. Just because there is a thread entitled the EBC and a few individuals are arguing the same points over and over again does not make your statement true. The BBC is supported a lot more in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK and on average BBC Scotland get's better viewing figures than it's English regions.
ITV has destroyed their regions and alienated their viewers. I have visited many ITV regions and heard nothing but complaints from locals about news and weather that is not even coming from their region but 20 sometimes 30 miles away. I have heard many talk about turning away from ITV in favour of the BBC and even many border viewers have said they would prefir STV's programming and News over what they are now being offered. The majority of Scottish Viewers don't care about ITV opt outs as before they rarely watched STV and now because of alternative programming like Underbelly they are now tuning in. STV are trying to keep PSB unlike ITV and many viewers in STV like that and many ITV viewers want ITV to do the same thing. If ITV did not spend obscene amounts of money on Simon Cowall, BGT and X factor or provide exclusive payouts to keep 2nd rate presenters they could afford to maintain PSB.
The only reason STV ever started with opt out was due to ITV trying to cripple STV finances and with holding money that was rightfully theirs.
As i have mentioned before, STV should out perform the ITV network average, as ITV has always done better the more north you go in ratings. At the same time STV has had the advantage that the scottish population seems to see the BBC as the EBC, so are always going to favour a local company STV. Thus STV SHOULD outperform the network.
If the Scottish population think of the BBC as the "EBC" then it is strange that traditionally BBC Scotland has always way outperformed STV on the biggest Scottish celebration, Hogmanay.
You get the odd moan about the BBC but it comes from a very narrow group, I come across far more thinking of STV as Glasgow Television.
Where are viewing figures for STV published? The BARB site just lumps the whole of ITV1 together. I am not seeing any evidence of a large increase in viewing of STV during the opt-outs from network programmes.
I would love to see stats for those who CAN opt out of STV, but opt to stay with it when they show their cheap clip shows. I suspect much of their audience is of the 'captured' variety - they cannot get ITV1 so they sit and stare at a lot of glens with Lorraine Kelly.
I'm as patriotic as the next Scot but aren't they preaching to the converted with this "Isn't Scotland Bonny/Great/Talented" style of programme?
And, as I said very early on in this thread, the reason I was given for the drama opt-outs (in an email reply from STV) was that these missing shows were "not relevent" to Scotland. Strange then that Midsomer, Frost etc are STILL used as fillers for the afternoon's by STV.
Maybe if they had been completely honest about the money situation from the start, viewers would be more understanding. But to claim things were not relevent, then replace them witn Australian/Irish/US buy ins was an insult to viewers.
BUT, on a plus note, the very enjoyable 6 hour long parts documentary series 'Vet School' is being shown in 10 minute 'bites' next week to fill the schedule. Can I hope for a second series - and for STV to sell this programme to other regions? It was interesting, involving and well put together. One of STV's success stories - if only there were more of them.
I read the whole article in the Mail where a media expert said that, generally, the audience share is the same on both sides of the border when they both show the same programme.
So, if 25% of the available audience in England & Wales watch an ITV drama, 25% of the available audience in Scotland will do like wise. Obviously, there is a tremendous difference in the populations between countries, but on the whole the percentages come out roughly the same.
Why on earth did STV not at least give viewers the new series of Taggart last weekend? Why fill in with something over 10 years old, made by a rival channel?
It would be interesting to know the numbers watching network ITV1 in Scotland, I suspect any figures are a closely kept secret.
Many years ago a friend tried to find how many were watching BBC North West rather than BBC Wales. The BBC denied that they had any figures so he went into W H Smith and asked how many copies of the North West issue of Radio Times they sold. It was quite a high figure but it would not be possible to use that method now because of the EPG.
The above statement is highly inacurate. Just because there is a thread entitled the EBC and a few individuals are arguing the same points over and over again does not make your statement true. The BBC is supported a lot more in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK and on average BBC Scotland get's better viewing figures than it's English regions
Actually, it's well known among the industry that ITV does better the further north you go and traditionally STV has outperformed the network.
This was explained by Herald Scotland, when ITV started overtaking STV after their opt-outs failed:
ITV1 which had a 17.3% share this year has for the first time in recent years overtaken STV’s audience share performance.
Also, I don't believe your posts regarding STV's ratings increasing. We all know that you're biased and have a very pro-STV agenda, probably because you work for them. Here's an extract from the Guardian:
STV's decline in its audience share is accelerating this year, falling to 16.9% for the first 34 weeks of 2009, down from 19.1% over the same period last year and taking it below ITV1's overall network share, which fell from 18.3% to 17.3%.
In peak time, STV is just ahead of ITV1 but its share has fallen more steeply, down from 25.2% to 22.8%, compared with the network's decline from 23.7% to 22.7%.
Since STV opted out, at one stage their network share fell below ITV's which is shocking and rate of decline was DOUBLE ITV's. These are the facts from BARB, published by the Guardian, not lies made up by you.
Also, last Sunday's opt-out of Downton Abbey was a massive failure, yet again, for STV.
Downton Abbey managed a 30%. At the same time, STV's opt-outs of A Scot in the Artic had 17% and Cheetah Kingdom only had 10%! Once again, another STV opt-out failure, angus.
I am not defending STV, but they are now making a profit !!
AS we all know in today's world, that's what matters, not what the customer wants.....:(
It's easy to make a profit by buying cheap shows (which the viewers don't want) and ignoring crowd pleasing dramas many of which have previously been enjoyed North of the Border. We have laughed on here about re showing Glen Michael or Thingumijig (sp???) - but if profit is all that STV want, why not? At least viewers would have a bit of nostalgia rather than looking at our bonnie country from above, below and sideways or a brave attempt to celebrate the 'glory' years of Scottish football........
I meant to say that when the BBC Reporting Scotland gently interviewed an STV bod about the 'home grown' programmes, the bod said the reason so many had 'Scotland' in the title was because of the Year of the Homecoming.....
And we all know what a runaway success THAT was.
I have yet to see a single comment from a viewer in any newspaper or magazine in praise of any of the new STV offerings. But I regularly read about the anger and disappointment STV viewers face when they find that, once again, they are being left out.
Elderly viewers in particular are unlikely to have - or want - to access Sky, Freesat or Virgin - so they are missing out perhaps more than other age groups. If only ITV1 could be sneaked on to Freeview.......
Elderly viewers in particular are unlikely to have - or want - to access Sky, Freesat or Virgin - so they are missing out perhaps more than other age groups. If only ITV1 could be sneaked on to Freeview.......
I wonder what would happen if ITV network found a way of raising the profile of the other ITV areas available on satellite. Imagine if ITV1 was up in the EPG alongside BBC1, BBC2, STV, CH4 and CH5.
There must be many viewers who have no idea how to get network ITV.
Surely STV have nothing to fear if, as they claim, Scottish viewers want their low budget Scottish offerings.
I can opt out and watch ITV but I've kept STV as my preferred channel.
I haven't bothered to watch Downton Abbey and I can watch endless American shows and every possible combination of reality TV on "cable" channels.
I like more locally based programmes and the ones I've seen have been much more entertaining and interesting than the majority of reality shows. They're also a haven from endless property shows or antique based ones.
And yes, I wouldn't mind repeats of classic series.
Glen Michael's Cavalcade would be better than Animals do the funniest of things, you've been framed etc. which seem to show the same clip(s) every 3 weeks or so in a different titled selection.
STV could also make me very happy if it re-ran Take The High Road right from the start and/or if it could get the rights to Prisoner From Cell Block H.
Many of us feel, Airam, that because DRAMA is what is being dropped, no amount of looks at Scottish scenery, football, inventions, heroes etc will ever come close to compensating. The common link to all these shows is that they are CHEAP to make - go into the archives, gather together clips on a certain subject and get someone from Taggart or if not available, Lorraine Kelly to do a voice over and lo! You have something to drop into the schedules which will more than make up for the loss of Midsomer, Wuthering Heights, Downton Abbey etc.....:rolleyes:
IF only STV were working on some good quality dramas of their own - and there is no shortage of excellent Scottish fiction just crying out to be filmed - then I suspect many of the complaints would die down.
And, of course, 'quality drama' can be SOLD to other countries, helping to raise more money.
Is any other nation likely to want 'Greatest Scot', 'The Scots Who Fought Franco' or 'Scotland From Above'?
'Vet School' has potential to sell in the rest of the UK - animal programmes are always popular and this one was of a high standard, showing the work of the Dick Vet School in Edinburgh - but are STV even trying to export their home grown shows?
Meanwhile, yes please to 'High Road', and 'Glen Michael'!!!!
And, of course, 'quality drama' can be SOLD to other countries, helping to raise more money.
Does Taggart sell well overseas? It always seems an acquired taste to me but I hardly ever watch any of the multitude of detective / crime series on TV.
Just that some of the other Scottish fiction might also have a limited audience but I never read any fiction either!
Comments
Maybe but STV viewers do have the right to decide for themselves if Downton Abbey is good/bad.
Take it Thingimyjig is make a return in the style of Strictly Come Dancing.
Thats the problem,viewers are not staying tuned.
Oh something that all have failed to grasp regarding the Billy Connolly program was that it was originally a BBC funded show for the BBC network in 1996, STV are showing their rivals 14 year old cast offs.
Wht would that be the case? STV and ITVHD, for example, are available free to air without issues. Indeed, if STV HD wants to be free to air, there is nothing Sky can do to stop it, assuning it can get an EPG position (and I believe the queue is open for new HD channels). Sky blocking it makes no sense.
Freesat blocking it makes even less sense - they too have a legal duty to carry channels, and do not have any blockage on channel numbers. I'm sure they would love to carry the channel.
The only possible negotiation with Sky would be if STV wants to put it in a Sky package, and be paid for the privilege. If so, the channel would be encrypted and not available to Freesat.
I suspect that the block on the channel appearing officially on satellite is likely to be an ITV / STV issue.
Well considering that the BBC Scotland news decided to follow up on the disappointment of viewers who missed DA, they could have been a little more firm in the interview.
"Can you understand the disappointment of viewers of STV in missing a much heralded new drama?" would have been a fair question.
If Scotland existed in a bubble and we had no idea what everyone else was seeing the opt outs would not be such a problem. But when you KNOW what you are being denied, it's "no fair".
Many of us would welcome the return of Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade!
(He never showed my birthday picture....
I do understand the disppointment of some viewers but the majority don't mind STV going their own way and opting out. Profits and ratings are up therefore the majority of people don't care about STV opt outs. Many have thought ITV were producing crap for years and were turning away from STV for showing it. At the end of the day STV is a company and like ITV or any other station it has to make a profit to survive and opting out and providing something else is working.
I think your missing the whole point.
As i have mentioned before, STV should out perform the ITV network average, as ITV has always done better the more north you go in ratings. At the same time STV has had the advantage that the scottish population seems to see the BBC as the EBC, so are always going to favour a local company STV. Thus STV SHOULD outperform the network.
However, even with the above situation for STV, time and time again we have seen that the majority of the opt outs have performed below the network average. Yes some will out perform, and good on STV for that, but alot havent. So i have to question if their rise in ratings is STVs programmes, or actually the ITV shows they are showing (the X-factors ratings have been on fire this year).
At the same time, how are the opt outs really helping the local tv community in scotland?, if they were investing in more local programming that wasnt just cobbled together archive material, Imports or specials (maybe an occational drama or documentary) then i would say good on them for helping the local tv industry in scotland.
Seriously, if STV were really interested in helping the scottish tv industry, they could have invested in just one new scottish drama this year, and launched it after the X-factor. Now yes this would have cost alot of money, but i believe them showing investment in even just one two part drama and giving it such a big platform really would have helped them back up there claims, and also have helped the scottish tv industry (They could have even tried a co-production with UKTV). They could have then used this as a way to get it on ITV later in the year.
As for the profits point, if you are showing a 30 year old movie instead of a quality UK drama time and time again, then of course your costs are going to decrease, and profits increase in the short term, but you are dented in the long term. You also have to remember that STV advertising revenue is also going to be boosted by RBS, which seems to be recovering and spending more on advertising, which IIRC was STVs biggest advertiser.
The above statement is highly inacurate. Just because there is a thread entitled the EBC and a few individuals are arguing the same points over and over again does not make your statement true. The BBC is supported a lot more in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK and on average BBC Scotland get's better viewing figures than it's English regions.
ITV has destroyed their regions and alienated their viewers. I have visited many ITV regions and heard nothing but complaints from locals about news and weather that is not even coming from their region but 20 sometimes 30 miles away. I have heard many talk about turning away from ITV in favour of the BBC and even many border viewers have said they would prefir STV's programming and News over what they are now being offered. The majority of Scottish Viewers don't care about ITV opt outs as before they rarely watched STV and now because of alternative programming like Underbelly they are now tuning in. STV are trying to keep PSB unlike ITV and many viewers in STV like that and many ITV viewers want ITV to do the same thing. If ITV did not spend obscene amounts of money on Simon Cowall, BGT and X factor or provide exclusive payouts to keep 2nd rate presenters they could afford to maintain PSB.
The only reason STV ever started with opt out was due to ITV trying to cripple STV finances and with holding money that was rightfully theirs.
Aren't ITV and STV still in the process of suing each other, or has it been settled in STV's favour?
If the Scottish population think of the BBC as the "EBC" then it is strange that traditionally BBC Scotland has always way outperformed STV on the biggest Scottish celebration, Hogmanay.
You get the odd moan about the BBC but it comes from a very narrow group, I come across far more thinking of STV as Glasgow Television.
Where are viewing figures for STV published? The BARB site just lumps the whole of ITV1 together. I am not seeing any evidence of a large increase in viewing of STV during the opt-outs from network programmes.
I'm as patriotic as the next Scot but aren't they preaching to the converted with this "Isn't Scotland Bonny/Great/Talented" style of programme?
And, as I said very early on in this thread, the reason I was given for the drama opt-outs (in an email reply from STV) was that these missing shows were "not relevent" to Scotland. Strange then that Midsomer, Frost etc are STILL used as fillers for the afternoon's by STV.
Maybe if they had been completely honest about the money situation from the start, viewers would be more understanding. But to claim things were not relevent, then replace them witn Australian/Irish/US buy ins was an insult to viewers.
BUT, on a plus note, the very enjoyable 6 hour long parts documentary series 'Vet School' is being shown in 10 minute 'bites' next week to fill the schedule. Can I hope for a second series - and for STV to sell this programme to other regions? It was interesting, involving and well put together. One of STV's success stories - if only there were more of them.
Those would be the key figures.
Perhaps Angus has them for us?
G
STV Part of General Drift of Viewers from Main TV Channels, Despite Rise in Home-produced Content
I read the whole article in the Mail where a media expert said that, generally, the audience share is the same on both sides of the border when they both show the same programme.
So, if 25% of the available audience in England & Wales watch an ITV drama, 25% of the available audience in Scotland will do like wise. Obviously, there is a tremendous difference in the populations between countries, but on the whole the percentages come out roughly the same.
Why on earth did STV not at least give viewers the new series of Taggart last weekend? Why fill in with something over 10 years old, made by a rival channel?
Many years ago a friend tried to find how many were watching BBC North West rather than BBC Wales. The BBC denied that they had any figures so he went into W H Smith and asked how many copies of the North West issue of Radio Times they sold. It was quite a high figure but it would not be possible to use that method now because of the EPG.
I bet they opt out of the Bonnie Banks when there is quality drama on 'down south'.
This was explained by Herald Scotland, when ITV started overtaking STV after their opt-outs failed: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/stv-row-deepens-as-viewer-figures-drop-12-1.917998
Also, I don't believe your posts regarding STV's ratings increasing. We all know that you're biased and have a very pro-STV agenda, probably because you work for them. Here's an extract from the Guardian: Since STV opted out, at one stage their network share fell below ITV's which is shocking and rate of decline was DOUBLE ITV's. These are the facts from BARB, published by the Guardian, not lies made up by you.
Also, last Sunday's opt-out of Downton Abbey was a massive failure, yet again, for STV.
Downton Abbey managed a 30%. At the same time, STV's opt-outs of A Scot in the Artic had 17% and Cheetah Kingdom only had 10%! Once again, another STV opt-out failure, angus.
I am not defending STV, but they are now making a profit !!
AS we all know in today's world, that's what matters, not what the customer wants.....:(
It's easy to make a profit by buying cheap shows (which the viewers don't want) and ignoring crowd pleasing dramas many of which have previously been enjoyed North of the Border. We have laughed on here about re showing Glen Michael or Thingumijig (sp???) - but if profit is all that STV want, why not? At least viewers would have a bit of nostalgia rather than looking at our bonnie country from above, below and sideways or a brave attempt to celebrate the 'glory' years of Scottish football........
I meant to say that when the BBC Reporting Scotland gently interviewed an STV bod about the 'home grown' programmes, the bod said the reason so many had 'Scotland' in the title was because of the Year of the Homecoming.....
And we all know what a runaway success THAT was.
I have yet to see a single comment from a viewer in any newspaper or magazine in praise of any of the new STV offerings. But I regularly read about the anger and disappointment STV viewers face when they find that, once again, they are being left out.
Elderly viewers in particular are unlikely to have - or want - to access Sky, Freesat or Virgin - so they are missing out perhaps more than other age groups. If only ITV1 could be sneaked on to Freeview.......
I wonder what would happen if ITV network found a way of raising the profile of the other ITV areas available on satellite. Imagine if ITV1 was up in the EPG alongside BBC1, BBC2, STV, CH4 and CH5.
There must be many viewers who have no idea how to get network ITV.
Surely STV have nothing to fear if, as they claim, Scottish viewers want their low budget Scottish offerings.
I haven't bothered to watch Downton Abbey and I can watch endless American shows and every possible combination of reality TV on "cable" channels.
I like more locally based programmes and the ones I've seen have been much more entertaining and interesting than the majority of reality shows. They're also a haven from endless property shows or antique based ones.
And yes, I wouldn't mind repeats of classic series.
Glen Michael's Cavalcade would be better than Animals do the funniest of things, you've been framed etc. which seem to show the same clip(s) every 3 weeks or so in a different titled selection.
STV could also make me very happy if it re-ran Take The High Road right from the start and/or if it could get the rights to Prisoner From Cell Block H.
IF only STV were working on some good quality dramas of their own - and there is no shortage of excellent Scottish fiction just crying out to be filmed - then I suspect many of the complaints would die down.
And, of course, 'quality drama' can be SOLD to other countries, helping to raise more money.
Is any other nation likely to want 'Greatest Scot', 'The Scots Who Fought Franco' or 'Scotland From Above'?
'Vet School' has potential to sell in the rest of the UK - animal programmes are always popular and this one was of a high standard, showing the work of the Dick Vet School in Edinburgh - but are STV even trying to export their home grown shows?
Meanwhile, yes please to 'High Road', and 'Glen Michael'!!!!
Does Taggart sell well overseas? It always seems an acquired taste to me but I hardly ever watch any of the multitude of detective / crime series on TV.
Just that some of the other Scottish fiction might also have a limited audience but I never read any fiction either!