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Nicola Sturgeon to call for new BBC for Scotland Nicola Sturgeon calls for enhanced BBC Scotland
(about 9 hours later)
Nicola Sturgeon will call for the BBC in Scotland to have more power, more money and its own TV channel, when she addresses the Edinburgh TV Festival. The Scottish first minister has called for the BBC to greatly enhance its presence in Scotland.
Scotland's first minister will call for "bold and ambitious" reforms to the way the corporation operates. In a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Nicola Sturgeon said BBC Scotland should be given more influence and a greater slice of the licence fee.
Ms Sturgeon will say she accepts the BBC will continue to serve the whole UK, after Scotland voted against independence last year. And she called for a new BBC Scotland TV channel to be created alongside a second English-language radio station.
But she will propose it adopts a federal structure. Ms Sturgeon also said the corporation had not been institutionally biased during the independence referendum.
She wants to see a separate board for each home nation - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - under a UK-wide board. But she said there had been "occasions when its coverage - through oversight, apparent ignorance of the detail of an issue or as a result of simply following the agenda of openly partisan print media - lapsed from the objective output the referendum deserved into what could seem partial and, at times, pejorative."
Ms Sturgeon said the current structure no longer reflected the realities of the UK The first minister argued that the old model of public broadcasting no longer reflected the "varied and rich political and social realities of the UK", and that the BBC Charter renewal process presented an opportunity for bold change.
Size and scope Federal structure
The Scottish first minister is to become the first British politician to deliver the Alternative MacTaggart lecture when she goes head-to-head with the Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The BBC is expected to publish its own proposals for Charter renewal in the next fortnight. The next Charter will form the basis for BBC operations over the next decade.
The first minister will say she wants BBC Scotland to have a bigger share of licence fee cash to set up its own dedicated TV channel and a sister station for Radio Scotland. Speaking as she became the first politician to deliver the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture, Ms Sturgeon called for the BBC to adopt a federal structure, with a separate board for each home nation under a UK-wide board.
She will say this is about catching up with the consequences of devolution. And she repeated the SNP's calls for broadcasting in Scotland to be devolved from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament, but stressed it was "vital" that the BBC continued to have editorial independence.
At the Guardian Edinburgh Television Festival on Wednesday, the UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale stressed that the BBC was a "British" institution. Ms Sturgeon said that a new and distinct BBC Scotland TV channel would be the best way of ensuring a "wider, richer" range of content was available to viewers in Scotland.
The UK government is currently consulting on the corporation's future size, scope and governance. She added: "Radio Scotland currently has an almost impossible job - it's one station trying to reflect the life of an entire nation. And it does it well.
The BBC is expected to publish its own proposals in the next fortnight. A new Royal Charter will underpin how the BBC operates until 2027. "But a second English-language radio service would provide a greater variety of programmes. And because the two channels could specialise more than Radio Scotland does, they would have stronger and more distinct identities."
Ms Sturgeon argued that the UK had changed dramatically since devolution, but broadcasters were still catching up with its consequences.
And although that posed questions for all public service broadcasters, the issue was perhaps most acute with the BBC, she said.
'Great value'
The first minister added: "Scotland, the BBC and all the nations and regions of the UK have the right to expect something truly radical from the charter review. A tight financial settlement cannot be a reason not to do things differently.
"A BBC that puts forward a bold proposal for Scotland, for the nations and regions, and for the UK, will have in us a strong and willing ally. A BBC that offers piecemeal solutions will fail to meet the demands or restore the trust of Scottish audiences."
A BBC Scotland spokesman said: "Audiences across Scotland get great value from the licence fee, and are some of the highest users of BBC services.A BBC Scotland spokesman said: "Audiences across Scotland get great value from the licence fee, and are some of the highest users of BBC services.
"The licence fee funds much loved services across the UK - like BBC One and Radio Two - but also specific services, like Radio Scotland and BBC Alba. Services for smaller audiences clearly cost more to provide, and that is why we spend more in the nations per head than the rest of the UK - that's the right thing to do. "The licence fee funds much loved services across the UK - like BBC One and Radio Two - but also specific services, like Radio Scotland and BBC Alba.
"We recognise that there is audience demand for greater representation and portrayal of Scottish audiences on all BBC services and we want this to be part of our response in Charter Review. "Services for smaller audiences clearly cost more to provide, and that is why we spend more in the nations per head than the rest of the UK - that's the right thing to do.
"The BBC's funding has now been set for the next five years and this will mean cuts across the BBC - we will have to balance our investment on pan-UK services with dedicated services in the nations. We will aim to protect spending in the Nations so that content investment is cut less than in other parts of the BBC." "We recognise that there is audience demand for greater representation and portrayal of Scottish audiences on all BBC services and we want this to be part of our response in Charter Review."
Meanwhile, comedy writer Armando Iannucci has called for a defence of the BBC and British programme-makers, from across the entertainment industry.
Speaking at the annual MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, he said: "It's more important than ever that we have strong, popular channels... that act as beacons, drawing audiences to the best content."
The SNP won 56 out of the 59 seats in Scotland in May's election.The SNP won 56 out of the 59 seats in Scotland in May's election.
Its election manifesto argued Scotland should receive an extra £100m in BBC funding to "more accurately reflect licence fee revenue raised in Scotland" and called for the Scottish government to play a substantial role in negotiations over the renewal of the BBC charter.Its election manifesto argued Scotland should receive an extra £100m in BBC funding to "more accurately reflect licence fee revenue raised in Scotland" and called for the Scottish government to play a substantial role in negotiations over the renewal of the BBC charter.