BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: BBC Alba) is the division of the BBC, and the publicly funded broadcaster for Scotland. Established in 1952, BBC Scotland is based in Glasgow and employs approximately 1,250 staff to produce 15,000 hours of programming for television and radio in both Scotland and the rest of the UK.

BBC Scotland has three TV channels (BBC1, BBC2, BBC Alba) and two radio stations. Some £320 million of licence fee revenue is raised in Scotland, with spend on local content by BBC Scotland set to stand at £86 million by 2016-17. The remainder of licence fee revenue raised in the country is spent on networked programmes.

BBC Scotland's TV channels compete with the ITV networks STV (covering central and northern Scotland) and ITV Border (covering south Scotland) for regional programming and services.

History

The first radio service in Scotland was launched by the British Broadcasting Company on 6 March 1923. Named 5SC and located in Glasgow, the services gradually expanded to include the new stations 2BD, 2DE and 2EH, based at Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh respectively. Around 1927, the new Corporation, as the BBC now was, decided to combine these local stations into regions under the generic banner of the BBC Regional Programme. When this was merged to form the BBC Home Service in 1939, national opt outs remained on the station and its successor BBC Radio 4 until the full separation of this opt out to become BBC Radio Scotland in November 1978.