STV2

About STV2

Overview

STV2 was a Scottish television channel operated by STV Group plc, broadcasting across Scotland from 24 April 2017 until its closure on 1 July 2018. Created by merging STV's local television channels for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Ayr into a single national service for Scotland, it combined Scottish news and current affairs with entertainment programming drawn from the STV archive and acquired shows. The channel's closure, announced in May 2018 with the loss of 25 jobs, was blamed on the challenging economics of local television and anticipated competition from the new BBC Scotland channel. Its broadcast licences were sold to That's Media, and it was replaced by That's TV Scotland in October 2018.

Though it lasted barely fourteen months, STV2 represented STV's ambitious attempt to build a second national channel for Scotland, with a primetime weeknight news programme, STV News Tonight, that combined Scottish, UK and international news. Its short life and closure became one of the defining episodes in the troubled history of local television in the United Kingdom.

STV's local television experiment

STV2's origins lay in STV's local television licences, awarded by Ofcom as part of the UK-wide local TV rollout. STV launched the first of its local channels with STV Glasgow on 2 June 2014, followed by STV Edinburgh on 12 January 2015, and in March 2015 it was awarded three more local licences covering Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee. These city-based channels carried local news and programming for their areas, operating as a chain of local services under STV ownership.

The local channels gave STV a presence in Scotland's major population centres beyond its main ITV-licensed service, but like local television across the UK they struggled to attract audiences and advertising revenue sufficient to sustain standalone city channels. The economics of producing distinct programming for each city proved challenging.

Launch as STV2

On 24 April 2017 STV merged its local channels and relaunched them as a single channel called STV2, creating a Scotland-wide service that retained local news opt-outs within a national schedule. The relaunch was accompanied by the launch of a primetime weeknight news programme, STV News Tonight, which combined news from across Scotland with UK and international news in an integrated bulletin.

The new channel's schedule mixed Scottish news and current affairs with entertainment programming, including popular archive titles from STV's programme library. The aim was to create a distinctive second channel for Scotland that could build audiences beyond what the fragmented city channels had achieved.

Programming

STV2's schedules featured a mix of news, entertainment and archive programming. Its news output included STV News Tonight, the flagship weeknight bulletin, alongside Scottish Politics This Week and other current affairs strands. Entertainment programming drew on much-loved Scottish titles including the soap Take the High Road and the crime drama Taggart, which had been staples of STV's archive.

The channel's programme list included The Late Show with Ewen Cameron, Peter & Roughie's Football Show and its Saturday edition, Live at Five, the cookery strands Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course and Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Home Cooking, Jak and Eddie's Scottish Kitchen, Weir's Way and On Weir's Way with David Hayman, The People's History Show, Off the Beaten Track, Scotland's City Safari, and acquired dramas including Black Widows, Bodo, Fair City, Medics of the Glen, Murder at 9, Royal Upstairs Downstairs, Secret State and Take Me, alongside factual series such as Britain by Bike and My Life in Ten Pictures.

Closure announcement

In May 2018 STV Group announced that STV2 would close at the end of June, as part of a strategic review led by new chief executive Simon Pitts. The company said the decision reflected the challenging economics of local television and anticipated new competition from BBC Scotland, the dedicated television channel the BBC was preparing to launch in February 2019.

The closure resulted in the loss of 25 jobs at STV2, with a further 34 positions cut in a reorganisation of STV's news output under a programme called STV News 2020. The announcement prompted a walkout by STV staff from the company's Glasgow headquarters, with prominent presenters including Bernard Ponsonby, John McKay and Raman Bhardwaj joining the protest. The company said the changes would save £1 million a year from the channel closure and £1 million from the news reorganisation, with £15 million redirected to new content, creative partnerships and the STV Player over three years.

Sale to That's Media

Commercial terms were agreed to sell STV's local television assets to That's Media, the company behind the That's TV network of local television stations in England. The sale transferred the five city licences covering Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Ayr to the English local TV operator, which planned to launch its own Scottish service.

STV2 closed on 1 July 2018 after midnight, ending its fourteen-month run. Its replacement, That's TV Scotland, launched on 15 October 2018 as the new local television service for the five Scottish cities, bringing the That's TV brand north of the border for the first time.

Legacy

STV2's closure marked the end of STV's local television experiment and illustrated the structural difficulties facing local TV in the UK: high production costs, limited advertising markets and competition from national broadcasters and online platforms. The channel's flagship innovation, the integrated STV News Tonight bulletin, was cancelled with the closure.

STV redirected its investment to its main channel and the STV Player, its streaming service, which became the focus of the company's digital growth strategy. The STV Player has since grown into a major streaming platform for Scotland, carrying STV's programmes alongside acquired content, fulfilling in part the digital ambitions set out at the time of STV2's closure.

The Scottish local TV licences today

The licences formerly held by STV2 are now operated by That's TV as That's TV Scotland, serving Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow on Freeview channel 8 in Scotland. The transition from STV's Scottish-owned service to the English-based That's TV network changed the character of local television in Scotland's cities.

The episode remains a cautionary tale for local television policy, demonstrating how quickly even a well-resourced operator's local venture can unravel when the economics do not work. For viewers, STV2 is remembered for its attempt to create a distinctive Scottish second channel and for archive favourites such as Taggart and Take the High Road returning to Scottish screens.

How to watch its successor

STV2 is no longer broadcasting. Its former licences are now served by That's TV Scotland, available on Freeview channel 8 in the Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow areas, offering local programming within the That's TV network's schedules.

STV's main channel continues to broadcast across Scotland with its news, entertainment and drama output, and the STV Player streaming service carries STV's programmes on demand. Archive programmes formerly shown on STV2 remain available through STV's platforms and other broadcasters. For viewers seeking Scottish local television, the That's TV Scotland services continue the local licences STV2 once held. The STV2 experiment remains a significant chapter in the story of Scottish broadcasting. Its archive favourites live on through STV's platforms. The channel's brief history remains instructive for local television policy. Its licences now serve viewers through That's TV Scotland. The STV2 story remains part of Scottish media history.