STV2 was a British local television network in Scotland, operating five city-based TV licences serving

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Dundee,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

. It was owned and operated by

STV Group plc STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and r ...

. Initially broadcast as two separate stations – STV Glasgow and

STV Edinburgh STV Edinburgh was a British local television channel based in Edinburgh which launched on 12 January 2015. It was owned and operated by STV Group plc in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University. The channel was closed on Sunday 23 April 2 ...

– the launch of three local licences in

, Dundee and

led to the launch of a single networked service on 24 April 2017. In May 2018, it was announced that STV2 would shut down at the end of June 2018 as part of a strategic review. It closed on 30 June 2018.

Overview

In January 2013, the broadcast regulator Ofcom announced STV had been awarded two licences to broadcast local TV services in the

and

areas for a twelve-year period. The broadcaster pledged to run the channels in partnership with

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

and

Edinburgh Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

respectively. Coinciding with a group-wide revamp, STV Glasgow began broadcasting at 6.30pm on Monday 2 June 2014, with the first edition of its flagship evening magazine programme, ''The Riverside Show''.

followed at 7pm on Monday 12 January 2015, launching with the first edition of ''The Fountainbridge Show''. In March 2015, STV won three further local TV licences for the Aberdeen, Dundee and Ayr areas under the working titles of ''Around Aberdeen'', ''View from the Bridges'' and ''Ayrshire Today''. No other bids were received for the three services. The majority of STV2's programming was produced and broadcast from STV's headquarters at

Pacific Quay Pacific Quay is an area south of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It is located at the former Plantation Quay and Princes' Dock Basin. The Princes' Dock Basin was the largest on the River Clyde when it was opened by the Clyde Navigation T ...

in Glasgow. Unlike the main STV channel, where transmission originates in-house, playout and presentation were provided by Comux, the local TV multiplex operator, at its operations centre in Birmingham.

Programming

The five local TV services under the ''STV2'' banner carried a single schedule of networked programming. STV News aired bespoke half-hour bulletins for STV2 at 1pm and 10pm alongside a simulcast of the Edinburgh edition of ''STV News at Six''. The network's flagship news programme, ''STV News Tonight'' aired each weeknight at 7pm and incorporated Scottish, UK and international news. The half-hour programme, presented by Halla Mohieddeen, was produced in partnership with ITN. Non-news programmes for the channel included the early evening magazine ''Live at Five'', ''Peter & Roughie's Football Show'', ''Scottish Politics This Week'', documentary series ''The People's History Show'' and chat shows including ''My Life in Ten Pictures'' and ''

The Late Show with Ewen Cameron ''The Late Show with Ewen Cameron'', (also known as ''The Late Show'') is a late-night talk show television programme that originally was broadcast in Scotland on the STV2 network channel presented by comedian and television personality Ewen C ...

''. Acquired programming included the Irish soap ''

Fair City ''Fair City'' is an Irish television soap opera which has been broadcast on RTÉ One since 1989. Produced by the public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), it first aired on Monday, 18 September 1989. It has won several awa ...

'' and Finnish drama ''Black Widows''. Archive content included popular Scottish soap ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV network daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in the ficti ...

'' and crime drama ''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...

''.

List of programmes

* '' Black Widows'' * ''Bodo'' * ''Britain by Bike'' * ''

'' * ''Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course'' * ''Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Home Cooking'' * ''Jak and Eddie's Scottish Kitchen'' * ''Julie and Jimmy's Hot Woks'' * ''

'' * ''Liberty's Great American Cookbook'' * '' Live at Five'' * ''Medics of the Glen'' * ''Murder at 9'' * ''My Life in Ten Pictures'' * ''Off the Beaten Track'' * ''On Weir's Way with David Hayman'' * ''The People's History Show'' * ''Peter & Roughie's Football Show'' * ''Peter & Roughie's Saturday Football Show'' * ''Scottish Politics This Week'' * '' STV News Tonight'' * ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Take Me'' * ''Royal Upstairs Downstairs'' * '' Secret State'' * ''Scotland's City Safari'' * '' Weir's Way''

Closure

STV announced in May 2018 that STV2 would close at the end of the following month due to low viewership and anticipated competition from the BBC Scotland channel set to launch in February 2019. The closure of STV2 resulted in the loss of 25 jobs with a further 34 cut in a reorganisation of STV's news output. The channel's broadcasting licences were sold to That's Media, owners of the

That's TV That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat and Freeview. That's TV started off as the owner of a number of local television licences in several conurbations, but even though regional news ...

network of local television stations. STV2 closed on 1 July 2018 after midnight, and its replacement, That's TV Scotland, launched on 15 October 2018.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{STV Group plc {{Television in Scotland {{Media in the United Kingdom, television {{Local television channels in the United Kingdom Local television channels in the United Kingdom STV Group Defunct television channels in Scotland Television channels and stations established in 2017 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2018