STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in

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 popu ...

, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and radio; after completing a restructuring in 2010, STV Group is active in broadcast television, video-on-demand and television production. The company is a constituent of the

FTSE SmallCap Index The FTSE SmallCap Index is an index of small market capitalisation companies consisting of the 351st to the 619th largest-listed companies on the London Stock Exchange main market. The index, which is maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of ...

History

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

began broadcasting in August 1957. The company changed its name to Scottish Media Group in 1996 when it acquired Caledonian Publishing, owners of Glasgow-based newspapers '' The Herald'' and ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.ITV licence holder for the North of Scotland,

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William a ...

in June 1997. In August 1997 the company acquired a 15% stake in UTV, Northern Ireland. In September 1998, VCI Video Publisher Kingfisher sold its 31% stake to SMG. In 1999 it launched a new Sunday broadsheet newspaper, the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

''. The company was renamed "SMG plc" in 2000, by which time it had expanded further through the acquisitions of Primesight (outdoor advertising), Pearl & Dean and Ginger Media Group, which included Ginger Television and the original

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

UK radio station. Talks were also held which could have led to

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

and

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1) is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc an ...

being bought, but they came to nothing. On 24 March 1999, Mirror Group sold its 18.6% stake in SMG to

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

. During the summer, the STV Group held talks about buying out the other shareholders in GMTV, with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

believed to be keen on the idea; many city observers believed this was a defensive move to fend off a takeover bid from Granada. By September an agreement had been reached to acquire Guardian Media Group's 15% stake in

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

for £20 million, but both Carlton and Granada objected to the deal. Guardian Media Group eventually sold its stake for £18m in January 2000, but STV Group only acquired 5% with the remaining 10% going to Carlton and Granada, resulting in each of STV Group, Carlton, Granada and Disney holding 25% of GMTV. In September 1999, the company acquired a 37.4% stake in Heart of Midlothian F.C. for £8 million. A few days later the company unveiled its interim results with its pre-tax profits up 2 per cent to £24 million on a turnover of £111.2 million. In December 2000, the group acquired a 14.9% stake in

Scottish Radio Holdings Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) was a Scottish media company which owned 22 radio stations, and around 30 local newspapers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History SRH had its origins in the 1970s when Glasgow was awarded the third licence for ...

, in anticipation of a relaxation of radio ownership rules and within four months increased this to 27.7%. By 2004 the company sold their 27.8% stake in Scottish Radio Holdings to

EMAP Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Rich ...

for £90 million in anticipation of consolidation in the radio market.

Flextech Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting. Living TV Group had several owned channels, available in the United K ...

owner Telewest sold its 16.9% stake in STV Group to an investment bank for £45 million as part of their plan to raise funds to help clear off debt. Throughout 2003/2004 rumours appeared about the company being broken up, with its ITV interests being sold off in an attempt to wipe out its £380m debt and boost its balance sheet. However, the group instead sold the Herald newspapers and its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings. In late 2003 Northern Ireland's UTV, in partnership with venture capital group 3i and Scottish Radio Holdings, sought to acquire SMG for £400 million, but they withdrew the offer as they felt the share price was too high. In 2004, Video Collection International merged with BBC Video to form 2 Entertain, which was 60% owned by STV Group and BBC Worldwide. In September 2004,

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on th ...

purchased STV Group's 25% stake in GMTV for £31 million, after being given the go ahead from the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic regu ...

, despite advertiser fears it could give ITV influence over pricing. SMG said "SMG are pulling out of GMTV because it did not want to hold a minority interest in someone else's media business". Andrew Flanagan unexpectedly resigned as chief executive in July 2006. Although he helped create the company since 1998, his spell in charge will be remembered by many in the television industry as a period which saw a dramatic decline in the amount of programmes made by the company for transmission within Scotland alone. Rob Woodward became the new chief executive in 2007, and started a major reconstruction of the group by instigating a sell-off of poorly performing assets, starting with Primesight being sold for £62m to a private equity firm. SMG said in a statement that the price GMT Communications Partners paid represented a "clear uplift" on offers previously received for Primesight. Primesight have been prosecuted a number of times for the display of advertisements without consent which is an offence under UK Planning Acts. The lack of consent for many of Primesight's displays is said to have reduced the selling price by up to £30 million. Further major changes occurred when STV Group sold Virgin Radio to a group led by

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

on 31 May 2008. In June 2008, SMG plc announced plans to change its name to ''STV Group plc''. The company said the proposed name change was to highlight its renewed focus on television, encompassing the

STV Central Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

and STV North franchises, as well as the company's TV production business. This name change was approved at an

extraordinary general meeting An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...

in September 2008, along with a new deal resulting in Pearl & Dean handling advertising for

Showcase Cinemas Showcase Cinemas is a movie theater chain owned and operated by National Amusements. It operates in a total of four countries: the United States (flagship), Brazil, the United Kingdom and Argentina. Locations Showcase operates more than 950 i ...

, which meant that the Pearl & Dean titles would appear in just under half of UK cinema sites. The new ''STV Group'' branding was introduced on 1 October 2008. By 2010 the group had sold off all non-television assets, including selling cinema advertising company Pearl & Dean for £1 to Image Ltd, a newly formed company backed by

Empire Cinemas Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 14 Empire Cinemas across the country, with 131 screens in total. Ownership and management The ultimate beneficial owner of Empire Cinemas Ltd is Irish entrepreneur Thomas ...

director Thomas Anderson, with STV still recouping £9.1m from the business due to a 2010 payment from Vue Cinemas. This action helped reduce the group's debt and allowed it to concentrate on its core television businesses. As a result of this, STV Group largely reverted to its Scottish Television plc days, but with the addition of the former Grampian Television and Ginger Productions businesses (the latter retained from the Ginger Media acquisition).

Merger proposals

In September 2006, STV Group (then SMG) officially rejected a merger offer from Northern Irish ITV franchise holder UTV. The merger approach would have given SMG shareholders a 52% stake in the combined company. The Scottish group said its board had examined a revised merger proposal from UTV, but did not believe it reflected the value of the company. In 2006

considered making an offer for STV Group, according to ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

''. The newspaper quoted an ITV source as saying John Cresswell, acting chief executive at the broadcaster, was most interested in the group's television franchises, but that any deal would have been for the whole group. SMG warned that its 2006 profit would be materially behind expectations, sending its shares down more than a quarter in value to a 15-year low. On 10 January 2007, SMG and UTV agreed details of a merger, including a revised share split between the two. UTV would own 54% of the group, with SMG owning the remaining 46%. This merger was finally rejected at the end of February 2007, and a new board and management team were introduced at SMG shortly afterwards.

Relationship with ITV plc

In September 2009, ITV plc announced it was to launch legal proceedings against STV for a claimed unpaid debt of £38 million from network programming contributions, following STV's practice of dropping a number of network programmes on the STV franchise. At the same time, STV claimed it was also following procedures against ITV plc, for up to £40 million owed to STV under its advertising sales agreements.

Television

STV

STV Group plc owns two Scottish ITV licences:

, which covers Central Scotland, and

, covering Northern Scotland. On 2 March 2006, it was announced that Scottish Television would revert to using its former brand name of "STV", which it previously used from the start of colour broadcasting in 1969 until 30 August 1985, and which the station was still informally known as in parts of Scotland. Scottish Television became known as ''STV Central''. At the same time, Grampian Television would also become known as ''STV North'', with the one main identity of ''STV'' serving the two licences. The rebrand took place on 30 May 2006.

Other channels

The former SMG plc ran its own digital channel, S2, throughout the Scottish and Grampian ITV regions. S2, which aired on the Digital Terrestrial platform, was launched on 30 April 1999 and was replaced by

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

just over two years later – as part of a deal with

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners ...

– on 27 July 2001.

Sky Scottish Sky Scottish was a short-lived satellite television channel operating on the analogue service broadcasts between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. History The service was a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and ITV franchise Scottish Televisio ...

was a satellite television channel operating on the analogue Sky TV service between 1 November 1996 and 31 May 1998. The service was a joint venture between

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

and SMG. It initially broadcast between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. The channel was closed due to poor ratings. A high-definition channel,

STV HD STV is a Scottish free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the STV Group. It is made up of the Central Scotland and Northern Scotland Channel 3 public broadcaster licences, formerly known as Scottish Television (n ...

, launched on 6 June 2010. On 11 January 2013, STV were awarded two local TV licences by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

to operate digital terrestrial television channels in Glasgow and Edinburgh for up to 12 years. The two channels, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh, were to be delivered 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. STV Glasgow launched on 2 June 2014, and STV Edinburgh launched on 12 January 2015. In March 2015, STV were awarded local licences for the Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee areas. In April 2017, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh were re-branded as STV2. Just over a year later in May 2018, STV announced that it would be closing STV2 on 30 June 2018.

Production

STV Studios

STV Studios (previously STV Productions, SMG Productions) forms part of the network television production arm of STV Group plc, producing drama, factual, entertainment and children's output from its bases in Glasgow and London for all UK terrestrial networks as well as key satellite and cable channels.

Ginger Productions

Ginger Productions (founded by the presenter Chris Evans), alongside STV Productions, is part of the network production arm of STV Group plc. Based in Waterhouse Square in London, its output focuses on Entertainment and Factual Entertainment. Ginger was acquired as part of SMG's acquisition of the Ginger Media Group in 1999.

STV Creative

STV Creative is the company's commercial production division, based in

Solutions

Solutions is STV's production resources division, providing facilities for studios, outside broadcasts, post-production, corporate events and commercial productions.

Studios

STV Group's headquarters in Glasgow are at Pacific Quay, a 2006 development next to the River Clyde, alongside

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...

's studios and the Glasgow Science Centre. STV Group's Aberdeen studios moved to a new purpose-built site in the city's Tullos area in 2003, from their previous location (a converted tram shed), which they had occupied since Grampian launched in 1961. STV also has studios in Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness, providing regional news coverage in their particular area.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stv Group Plc 1957 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1957 Companies based in Glasgow Mass media companies established in 1957 Mass media companies of Scotland Mass media in Glasgow Mass media in Scotland Television in Scotland Virgin Radio (UK)