BBC Scotland TV channel to launch in 2019
Airing four hours a day, the brand new channel will begin broadcasting next year
BBC Scotland will launch next year, it has been confirmed, after broadcasting regulator Ofcom gave its final approval for the TV channel to go ahead.
Slated to begin transmitting in February 2019, the channel will be skewed towards Scottish programming and will air for four hours a day, between 7pm and midnight.
One of the major pieces of original output will be an hour-long news programme airing at 9pm each day.
Broadcast in high definition, the channel will have a budget of £32 million per year and will create 140 jobs – 80 in journalism and 60 in technology.
The BBC states that around 50% of the channel's programming will be repeats, although it will also provide a platform for comedy and drama premieres.
The proposal had been under consultation by Ofcom, but the BBC has now been given the green light for the new channel.
The BBC had initially been planned to start airing the channel this autumn, but BBC Scotland director Donalda MacKinnon has since said that "coming on air early in the new year was the best option for us, audiences and our suppliers".
