It will be ridiculous if you can't receive the Ednburgh or Glasgow versions at all and there is no alternative for the smaller towns or cities.

I originally thought you would receive either the Edinburgh version or Glasgow version depending on where you live. But it appears that if you are outwith the range of Edinburgh and outwith the range of Glasgow you get nothing in the way of an extra channel which is totally ridiculous.

So I've been having a look at the STV Glasgow schedule and how it's actually quite minimal compared to, say, London Live - I note Glasgow gets naught but a caption till noon, then clips with a ticker 'til 2.30, with a two-hour evening show, and some news content shared with STV 'proper': however, I reckon that if they swap the schedule around a bit, and punt part of the Riverside Show's time and budget to lunchtime, they could actually be on air longer in the day at relatively little extra cost. Indeed, they may well extend hours once the Edinburgh channel's on air. Anyway, here's my Sassenach suggestion for how they could swap-around STV Glasgow to give the city more of a channel:

0925-1200 the ticker and news/weather update with quarterscreen clips/video, as currently run 1200-1430
1200-1230 STV Glasgow Lunchtime - a lunchtime news/features magazine taking half an hour out of the current Riverside Show slot
1230-1300 STV Glasgow Lunchtime replay - instant repeat of preceding magazine (in the event of a breaking/developing story the channel may choose to stay live for the entire hour)
1300-1500 afternoon programmes including archive/replay shows, as currently broadcast 1430-1630
1500-1515 first of the two afternoon news bulletins
1515-1645 afternoon programmes including children's/family shows (On Safari, Get Wet), gameshows/light entertainment (Wheel of Fortune, Postcode Challenge et al), soaps/family drama
1645-1700 second of the afternoon news bulletins
1700-1800 early evening programming as now
1800-1830 STV News as now
1830-2000 The Riverside Show (reduced to 90min to free up half an hour for lunchtime show)
2000-2030 Evening entertainment, comedy, music, gameshows, features/food et al - original programmes (as per London Live's Food Junkies and so on) or archive shows
2030-2300 as now - Peter & Roughie, drama from 9, nightly Glasgow news, Scotland Tonight
2300-0000 late evening programmes as now
0000-0030 late news replay (rebroadcast of 2200 news show)
0030-0600 The Nightshift (simulcast with STV 'proper' - any content which STV is not permitted to include, e.g. ITV News bulletins, can be overlaid on Glasgow feed with clips of STV Glasgow content)
0600-0925 'programmes start at 9.25' caption - if STV isn't allowed to produce a breakfast show for their 'main service' (due to ITV Breakfast network arrangements), then it's little value to produce one just for their local channels, and anyway Scottish news bulletins are available within GMB as drop-ins.

The 'clips with ticker' from 0925 could start with a brief news summary, as it currently does at 1200, and use the 'Good Morning Britain' optouts presenter for this.

As with my other 'fantasy threads', I'm not saying this is gospel and there's probably something I've mucked up, particularly as down here I have access to the channel but not to full advance listings, but it's just a suggestion as to how STV could spread the channel's budget through the day a little more rather than parping it out as one bloc.

"Fantasy Threads" - problem full stop.

Watching STV Glasgow for the first time (been away). First impressions:

Ads and sponsorship - excellent. A good opportunity for local advertisers who have taken advantage. FirstBus, Shawfield Racing and M&Ds seen within one break.

Old Taggart in wrong aspect ration - oops! Stretched to 16:9 (at source, not my setup). DOG in the 4:3 safe area, I don't think that's necessary these days.

Archive content isn't Glasgow specific, so it's a shame it's not being shown elsewhere. I guess Ofcom's local TV agenda combined with STV/ITV agreements mean local TV is the best way for STV to expand digitally.

LCN 23 is OK, but LCN 8 would have been much better. I'd argue it'd be better to have BBC Alba further down (Gaelic speakers will seek it out, local TV is doubtless more reliant on 'passing traffic').

I have no idea of STV Glasgow's viewing figures, but I'm guessing they're not very good.

There can be no other reason for the promos for STV Glasgow that are now appearing in virtually every ad break on STV. Didn't mind them when the channel first started but their frequency seems to have rapidly accelerated in the last two or three weeks!

Don't know why STV have to broadcast these promos throughout Scotland anyway - surely they should limit them to STV Glasgow reception areas.