13-06-2023, 02:42 PM
In the event that de facto Scottish Independence occurs at some point (either before or after any ITV plc acquisition of either STV Group plc as a whole, or at least of the Channel 3 publisher-broadcaster franchisees STV Central Ltd and STV North Ltd), then who knows what the implications will be for the continued presence or otherwise of what is after all the *UK's* Channel 3 Network in a country that would no longer be part of the UK.
At the very least, it may necessitate the disbanding of the border-transcencing ITV Border region ("ITV News Tyne Tees & Cumbria", anyone? - Which is one syllable longer still than the already-cumbersome-enough "ITV News Tyne Tees & Border" name, which thankully ceased being used a decade ago).
Maybe STV could end up becoming a standalone Scottish broadcaster in such circumstances (i.e. unrelated to the remaining UK's Channel 3 Network), but which buys-in many of ITV's programmes to fill its own channel(s) with anyway - Effectively making it the Scottish equivalent of the Virgin Media Ireland channels (formerly known as TV3).
At the very least, it may necessitate the disbanding of the border-transcencing ITV Border region ("ITV News Tyne Tees & Cumbria", anyone? - Which is one syllable longer still than the already-cumbersome-enough "ITV News Tyne Tees & Border" name, which thankully ceased being used a decade ago).
Maybe STV could end up becoming a standalone Scottish broadcaster in such circumstances (i.e. unrelated to the remaining UK's Channel 3 Network), but which buys-in many of ITV's programmes to fill its own channel(s) with anyway - Effectively making it the Scottish equivalent of the Virgin Media Ireland channels (formerly known as TV3).