Television in Scotland mostly consists of UK-wide broadcasts, with regional variations at different times which are specific to Scotland. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and ITV networks both began broadcasting in the country during the 1950s. There were further expansions in the early 1960s with the arrival of

Grampian Grampian () was one of nine local government regions of Scotland. It was created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and took its name from the Grampian Mountains. The regional council was based in Aberdeen. The region was abol ...

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

and

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

television. ITV services operate as STV in the country, owned and operated by the

STV Group 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 ...

based in Glasgow.

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

language broadcasts are aired on the

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

channel. Distinct and separate channels relating to Scotland include

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

and That's TV Scotland, which is made up of five different broadcasting licences for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

following the closure of the

STV2 STV2 was a British local television network in Scotland, operating five city-based TV licences serving Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Ayr. It was owned and operated by STV Group plc. Initially broadcast as two separate stations � ...

channel in 2018. Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) represented the main source of demand, financing and commissioning for television programmes in Scotland. The output of PSBs primarily focus on drama, documentary, factual (specialist and entertainment) and current affairs programme productions. Television production in the country is benefited by having a number of regional PSBs around the country, including BBC Scotland and BBC Alba, whilst

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

has a production hub located in the country. Scotland is the only country of the United Kingdom to have its own affiliat of the ITV network, STV. Television production in Scotland generated an estimate £184.7 million in

Gross Value Added In economics, gross value added (GVA) is the measure of the value of goods and service (economics), services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy. "The ''gross value added'' is the Value of output (economy), value of output minus t ...

(GVA) in 2022, and spent an estimated £196.6 million in television broadcasting production in the country in 2019. The experience of commercial expansion of television services in Scotland since has been broadly similar to that in the UK generally. Terrestrial television is available through DTT platform

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

along with various other channels. Cable services are available to limited parts of the country with

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

, satellite television is provided by

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

services are available with

BT TV EE TV (formerly BT Vision and then BT TV until 2023) is a subscription IPTV service offered by EE; a brand of British telecommunications company BT Group. It requires the signing up to and use of the EE Broadband internet and phone service, w ...

and

TalkTalk TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group. It originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television and ...

History

Television transmissions in Scotland first began on 14 March 1952 when Britain's sole state broadcaster of the time, the BBC, started broadcasting from the transmitting station at Kirk o'Shotts using the

405-line television system The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture. It ...

. These early transmissions offered no significant separate content; all BBC programming came direct from London with only very occasional Scottish variation made using an outside broadcast unit. With time, BBC television in Scotland gradually accrued some limited rights to "opt out" of the UK network, particularly after the entry of the Independent Television (ITV) network into the picture, but it was well over 60 years before the corporation allowed an autonomous BBC television channel for the country when it finally launched a still relatively limited

TV service in February 2019. ITV's

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

(STV) began transmissions on 31 August 1957.

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

, the ITV service for the North-East of the country, was launched in the Spring of 1960.

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, the ...

, with its headquarters in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

, transmitting across the south of Scotland and north of England, followed suit on 1 September 1961.

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

arrived in Scotland in 1966, two years after its initial launch in London. At first this was a black and white service on 625-lines

CCIR System I CCIR System I is an analogue broadcast television system. It was first used in Ireland starting in December 1961 as the 625-line broadcasting standard to be used on VHF Band I and Band III, sharing Band III with 405-line System A signals r ...

from the Black Hill transmitter. In 1967, when BBC 2 upgraded to

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

colour across the UK, this included Scotland. Although BBC One UK network programmes upgraded to colour in 1969, local output at first was still in black-and-white. STV likewise made the upgrade to colour in December 1969, and BBC Scotland's Queen Margaret Drive Studio "A" in Glasgow followed suit in 1971, one of the first of the regional BBC studios to make the upgrade. STV, now legally known as "STV Central Ltd", is currently the largest of the three ITV network franchises in Scotland and the second oldest active franchise holder in the UK (the oldest being

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

Terrestrial channels

and STV have the largest media operations in Scotland in the field of television. BBC Scotland, STV and

have the most broadcasting support operations between them which include both terrestrial and digital operations. At a United Kingdom wide network level (not including local spending via BBC Scotland and BBC Alba), the BBC and Channel 4 account for roughly 54% of content spending of Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) in Scotland. BBC television services and Channel 4 accounted for 87% of expenditure in Scotland in 2019. Viewers in Scotland receive seven public terrestrial television stations: *

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland. It is the Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One network and is broadcast from Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History The BBC Television Service sta ...

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

* ITV (Branded STV or

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

depending on location) *

* Channel 5

and

are dedicated channels, with

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and ITV being regional variants/opt-outs of British television channels.

, and Channel 5 are UK-wide channels.

BBC Scotland

Scotland has its own BBC services,

and the

channel.

BBC Two Scotland BBC Two Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland as a variation of the BBC Two network. It was broadcast via digital television and was the sister Scottish channel of BBC One Scotland and Gaelic-l ...

existed from 9 July 1966 until 17 February 2019, when it was replaced by the BBC Scotland channel. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such as news and current affairs programmes, and the Glasgow-based soap opera, ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera created by Stephen Greenhorn which has been broadcast on BBC One Scotland since September 2002. Since 2019, the show has aired episodes a day earlier on the new BBC Scotland channel. Set in ...

'', are intended for broadcast within Scotland, whilst others, such as drama and comedy programmes, aim at audiences throughout the UK and further afield. Sports coverage also differs, reflecting the fact that the country has its own

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

leagues and national teams, separate from those of the other United Kingdom constituent nations and other sporting interests unique to Scotland, such as

shinty Shinty () is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. It is played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the major cities of Scotland. The sport was formerly more widespread in Scotland and even played in Northern ...

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

. Viewers on the Freeview HD platform within the BBC Scotland broadcasting area can now re-opt into the BBC network when Scotland opts out via BBC One HD, extending choice to Scottish viewers which was only previously an option for satellite and cable viewers.

ITV in Scotland

ITV network microregions in Scotland map 2015

Three

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

stations (

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

STV Central Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

and

STV North Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 (UK), Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes th ...

) broadcast in Scotland. In the early 1960s, Grampian Television was created to provide commercial television services serving the Highlands and Islands, but in 1997 it was bought by STV Group plc, owners of the longer established Scottish Television. In May 2006, both channels were re-branded " STV" with newsrooms in Glasgow and Aberdeen retained to provide separate news services for their respective regions. Seven months later, STV launched news opt-outs for the East of Central Scotland (broadcast from Edinburgh) and Tayside & North East Fife (broadcast from Dundee). ITV Border has had a more complex position, as it also has to serve neighbouring areas across the border in England. Most of the independent television output equates to that transmitted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the exception of news and current affairs, sport, cultural and

language programming. The available

station depends on region: *

, branded "ITV1", which covers both the Scottish and English borderlands. It is owned and operated by

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

. Between 2009 and 2013 the station broadcast pan-regional news bulletins with

ITV Tyne Tees ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a convert ...

from Gateshead with dedicated opt-out for the Border region broadcast on weekday evenings. In 2013, separate bulletins for the Border region were restored, either broadcast live, or pre-recorded shortly before broadcast, but continuing to come from Gateshead. On 6 January 2014, the Scotland sub-region of the Border region was re-established.OFCOM sets out licence terms for ITV, STV, UTV and Channel 5
, OFCOM, 23 July 2013 *

(formerly ''Scottish Television''), branded "STV", which is based in

and covers the

Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demographics of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in ...

of Scotland. It is owned and operated by STV Group plc, a company which evolved from the station, and since became solely interested in its core TV business once again. On weekdays, the station provides two separate editions of its regional news programme ''

STV News at Six ''STV News'' is a Scottish news division produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. STV News programmes are produced from studios in Glasgo ...

'' for the West and East of the region. *

(formerly ''Grampian Television''), branded "STV", which is based in

, and covers

Tayside Tayside () was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named after the River Tay. History Tayside region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act ...

, the North East and

Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act o ...

. It is also owned & operated by STV Group plc, and carries the same regional programming as shown on STV Central but produces a separate regional news service, including opt outs for Tayside and North East Fife.

Television programming

News

There have been claims that

British television Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transm ...

news (which is the main source of news on Scottish television) does not cater to Scottish needs: in 2005, Dr Douglas MacMillan, of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

found that Scottish news was "peripheral" compared with English stories. His six-month study into the

showed 34% of all news focused on England while just 2% was dedicated to Scotland, despite having 10% of the population. One of the longest running controversies regarding

news broadcasting News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either video production, produced local programming ...

in Scotland has been over proposals for an early evening, weekday BBC television news programme, containing international, UK and Scottish items, produced and edited in Scotland. This proposed show is referred to as the Scottish Six. In November 1998 Professor Lindsay Paterson resigned from the BBC's broadcasting council for Scotland in protest, after it emerged that the BBC was hostile to allowing Scotland its own news programme at 6pm. In May 2006 Mark Thompson, the

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The post-holder was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period 1927 to 2007) and then the ...

, ruled out any prospect of a Scottish Six news bulletin to replace that produced in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. STV announced similar plans in September 2009 to launch an hour-long edition of ''

'', incorporating Scottish, national and international news with local ten-minute opt-outs for six sub-regions. The pan-regional programme would have replaced the two separate programmes for northern and central Scotland, however the plans were later dropped in favour of a retained North news service and the launch of two separate news services for the West and East of Central Scotland. A late night current affairs programme, ''

Scotland Tonight ''Scotland Tonight'' is a Scottish news and current affairs programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV News. The programme is presented by ''STV News at Six'' Central anchor John MacKay on ...

'', was launched in October 2011. Stealing a march on its traditional rival, STV used the opportunity of its

channel to launch an hour-long news programme, ''STV News Tonight'' airing each weeknight at 7pm and incorporating Scottish, UK and international news. The half-hour programme, presented by Halla Mohieddeen, was produced in partnership with

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

. Due to the constraints of the channel's broadcasting arrangements - as a patchwork network of notional 'local TV' channels, mostly centred on the country's traditional cities - this was not quite national coverage. STV2 shut down in June 2018. In February 2017, the BBC announced plans for a bespoke part-time television channel to serve Scotland, replacing the existing regional feed of BBC Two; as part of these plans, it was announced that the proposed service would feature an hour-long news and public affairs programme broadcast and produced out of Scotland, echoing the Scottish Six proposals. The channel officially launched as

on 24 February 2019; as promised, the channel features a nightly primetime newscast, ''

The Nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

''.

Entertainment

Scotland produces a number of television shows and series, mostly

soap operas A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originated from radio dramas original ...

and

sitcoms A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home ...

. Notable soap operas include ''

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 (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

'' (1980–2003) and ''

'' (2002–present). Popular sitcoms to have been filmed, set and produced in Scotland include ''

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scotland, Scottish sitcom produced by Effingee Productions, The Comedy Unit and BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, ...

'' (2002–2007; 2016–2019), '' Rab C. Nesbitt'' (1988–1999, 2008–2014), '' Burnistoun'' (2009–2019), '' Two Doors Down'' (2013–present), ''

Chewin' the Fat ''Chewin' the Fat'' is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show among other actors such as Tom Urie. ''Chewin' the Fat'' ...

'' (1999–2005), '' Gary: Tank Commander'' (2009–2012) and ''

Scot Squad ''Scot Squad'' is a Scottish television mockumentary series about a fictional Scottish police force, made in a fly on the wall style. The show first aired on 27 October 2014 on BBC One Scotland. The show has aired seven series, including specia ...

'' (2014–2023). The 2024 BBC drama ''

Nightsleeper ''Nightsleeper'' is a six-part British television series made for BBC One, starring Joe Cole and Alexandra Roach and written by Nick Leather for Euston Films. It was released in September 2024. Synopsis A real time drama, the series is set on ...

'' was filmed and set primarily in Scotland. Other notable television series filmed in Scotland include ''

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

'' (2024–present), '' Life of Riley'' (2009–2011), '' The Chief'' (2025–present), ''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American synchronized sound film, sound romance film, romantic comedy drama, comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a ...

'' (1984–1991) and '' Monarch of the Glen'' (2000–2005). Although not set in Scotland, the BBC comedy series '' Mrs Brown's Boys'' (2011–present) is filmed at

BBC Pacific Quay BBC Pacific Quay is the headquarters of BBC Scotland, serving as its main television and radio studio complex, situated at Pacific Quay, Glasgow, Scotland. Opened by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 20 September 2007, the building was des ...

studios in Glasgow, as was its spin–off series '' All Round to Mrs. Brown's'' (2017–2020). A variety of critically acclaimed television series have been filmed and set in Scotland including '' Outlander'', '' Katie Morag'', ''

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

'', ''

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 Septe ...

'', ''

Vigil A vigil, from the Latin meaning 'wakefulness' ( Greek: , or ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word has become generalized in this sense and means 'eve' (as in "on t ...

'' and '' Waterloo Road''.

Factual and current affairs

Factual and documentary broadcast productions in Scotland include ''

BBC Scotland Investigates ''BBC Scotland Investigates'' is a current affairs programme broadcast in Scotland by BBC Scotland. It is broadcast regularly on BBC One Scotland on weekday nights, currently with varying timeslots. Previously known as ''Frontline Scotland'', t ...

'', ''

The Scheme ''The Scheme'' is a BBC Scotland BAFTA-award-winning Documentary film, documentary series which follows the lives of six families in the Onthank and Knockinlaw Council house, housing schemes in Kilmarnock. The series has been the subject of some ...

'', '' Scotland's Home of the Year'', ''Island Crossings'' and ''Inside Central Station''. Current affairs programming includes ''

'', ''

The Sunday Show ''The Sunday Show'' is a British entertainment show that was broadcast on BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is ...

'', ''

Debate Night Debate Night is BBC Scotland's flagship current affairs debate show, hosted by Stephen Jardine, which airs on Wednesdays nights. History Stephen Jardine was named as the host on 15 February 2019 ahead of the launch of the new BBC Scotland chan ...

'' and ''

Eòrpa ' (''Europe'') is a long-running Scottish Gaelic-language current affairs programme broadcast on BBC Alba. The series has been running since April 1993 and has covered political and social issues affecting Europe and Europeans over that time inc ...

'', whilst sports programming includes ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around ...

'' and ''

A View from the Terrace ''A View from the Terrace'' is a Scottish football magazine and factual television television series. It is broadcast on BBC Scotland and repeated on BBC One in Scotland. The show is produced by creative agency Studio Something and is adapted ...

''.

Scottish Gaelic Television

In 1999,

TeleG TeleG was established as the first daily digital Gaelic TV channel in Scotland on 31 October 1999, and was available on the Freeview platform until 23 May 2011. The channel was based in Stornoway. Programs were transmitted on TeleG between 6p ...

became the first channel to broadcast only Gaelic-language programmes. It aired for an hour every day and showed archive shows. It ceased to transmit in 2011. In 2008,

began broadcasting with its slogan being "A new channel for Scotland". It is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

MG Alba Gaelic Media Service (), operating as MG ALBA, is a statutory organisation created by the UK Parliament and funded by Scottish Ministers via Ofcom as a result of the Communications Act 2003, which gave it a remit to "secure that a wide and ...

, which produces many programmes for the channel. BBC Alba shows programmes of different genres, including general entertainment, news, documentaries, children's programmes, dramas, sport and films. As well as these, the following channels also broadcast some Gaelic language programmes:

and STV.

Scottish television personalities

* Seán Batty *

Andrea Brymer Andrea Brymer (born ) is a Scottish television presenter who is one of the main anchors for the Northern Scotland edition of ''STV News at Six''. Early life Brymer hails from the Angus town of Brechin. After attending high school, Brymer gra ...

Rona Dougall Rona Dougall is a Scottish broadcast journalist and television presenter. She currently acts as a main anchor on STV's current affairs programme, ''Scotland Tonight''. Brought up in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, she attended Lenzie Academy, befo ...

* John Mackay * Norman Macleod *

Sally Magnusson Sally Anne Stone (''née'' Magnusson; born 11 October 1955), known professionally as Sally Magnusson, is a Scottish broadcast journalist, television presenter and writer, who recently presented the Thursday and Friday night edition of BBC Scotl ...

* Laura Miller * Bernard Ponsonby * Kelly-Ann Woodland *

Lorraine Kelly Lorraine Kelly (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV and STV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), ''GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003–2005, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Television In Scotland

History

Terrestrial channels

BBC Scotland

ITV in Scotland

Television programming

News

Entertainment

Factual and current affairs

Scottish Gaelic Television

Scottish television personalities

See also

References