Will Scotland Leave the UK?

[gba93]

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

Can Russel Howard, Dara Ó Briain, Hugh Dennis, Andy Parsons join in as well!

don't forget Milton Jones

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by gba93

don't forget Milton Jones

Along with Ian Hislop, Paul Merton as well!

[gba93]

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

Along with Ian Hislop, Paul Merton as well!

What a line-up - Bosnia & Herzegovina doesn't stand a chance

Well, I had my say on BBC Radio Scotland this lunchtime ... rather than re-typing it, I'll link to my question on the iPlayer once the edition goes up.

[Alan Fry]

What will happen to BBC, ITV and C4 if Scotland becomes Independent!

The SNP favours a state-funded broadcaster modelled on BBC Scotland, so it's possible they would seek to negotiate the splitting of BBC Scotland from the rest of the corporation. Given the amount of programming already made at Pacific Quay (BBC Scotland's HQ, in Glasgow), it's possible that the BBC in London would continue to commission material to be made there. That might help square the circle a bit, given that Scotland benefits more from the licence fee than it actually contributes.

The concept of 'Britain' isn't going to go away if Scotland goes independent (and that's still a mighty big 'if', by the way). It will just take on a somewhat different meaning. There's no reason why the BBC couldn't become a federation of broadcasters serving the nations of the British Isles. In fact, England is the only place where the continuity announcers don't refer to the channel at all times as "BBC (insert nation name here)" .... In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the channel is always named after the nation you are viewing in.

As for the others, well STV has never been subsumed by the single ITV1 brand that now operates across England and Wales so no change required there. The ITV network is already designed to operate as a network of independent local broadcasters. Channel 4 makes no effort to regionalise its output beyond varying its advertising slots from place to place. If it ceased to broadcast on Freeview in Scotland - and I see no reason why it should - then its English operation would still be free-to-air on satellite and probably on cable too.

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Chris

The SNP favours a state-funded broadcaster modelled on BBC Scotland, so it's possible they would seek to negotiate the splitting of BBC Scotland from the rest of the corporation. Given the amount of programming already made at Pacific Quay (BBC Scotland's HQ, in Glasgow), it's possible that the BBC in London would continue to commission material to be made there. That might help square the circle a bit, given that Scotland benefits more from the licence fee than it actually contributes.

The concept of 'Britain' isn't going to go away if Scotland goes independent (and that's still a mighty big 'if', by the way). It will just take on a somewhat different meaning. There's no reason why the BBC couldn't become a federation of broadcasters serving the nations of the British Isles. In fact, England is the only place where the continuity announcers don't refer to the channel at all times as "BBC (insert nation name here)" .... In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the channel is always named after the nation you are viewing in.

As for the others, well STV has never been subsumed by the single ITV1 brand that now operates across England and Wales so no change required there. The ITV network is already designed to operate as a network of independent local broadcasters. Channel 4 makes no effort to regionalise its output beyond varying its advertising slots from place to place. If it ceased to broadcast on Freeview in Scotland - and I see no reason why it should - then its English operation would still be free-to-air on satellite and probably on cable too.

So the BBC could become the holding company for EBC (English Broadcasting Corporation), WBC (Welsh Broadcasting Corporation) SBC (Scottish Broadcasting Corporation) and NIBC (Northern Irish Broadcasting Corporation)

BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four and BBC News Channel will be split under regional lines in the manner of:

EBC: EBC One, EBC Two, EBC Three, EBC Four and EBC News Channel

WBC: WBC One, WBC Two, WBC Three, WBC Four and WBC News Channel

SBC: SBC One, SBC Two, SBC Three, SBC Four and SBC News Channel

NIBC: NIBC One, NIBC Two, NIBC Three, NIBC Four and NIBC News Channel

BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 live, 6 Music, 1Xtra, 4 Extra, 5 Live Sports Extra and Asian network will be split under regional lines in the same manner as the TV stations

BBC Local Radio will be transfed to the regional braodcasters and renamed

They will also share resources andd co-ordinate their activities

The BBC Itself will run the childrens channels, The World Serivce, the International TV channels and co-ordinate the actvites of the BBC, EBC, WBC, SBC and NIBC

BBC Worldwide will now be resposible for the commercial activities of BBC, EBC, WBC, SBC and NIBC

Maybe that could be the new "Federated" BBC model!

Alan, calm down, calm down - you are planning for something that is very unlikely to happen.....

[Russ]

BBC England does exist.....it's called the BBC.

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Alan, calm down, calm down - you are planning for something that is very unlikely to happen.....

This could work even if Scotland stays in the UK, especially if the UK regions gain more powers from Westminster!

[LondonRoad]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Alan, calm down, calm down - you are planning for something that is very unlikely to happen.....

Agree totally. There's more chance of the Berlin Wall coming down....

Isn't 2014 supposedly when economically things are meant to be turning round or starting too in any real way so maybe the timing of it from salmonds point of view is scotland (and the rest of us of course) endures the worst of austerity and he can claim scotland was paying for englands debt or somesuch. He clearly is holding out till 2014 for some practical reason that he feels will give him best chance and elections don't really do that.

I still cannot see the scots ever voting to leave the union in my lifetime even much less in the next couple of years.

Originally Posted by LondonRoad

Agree totally. There's more chance of the Berlin Wall coming down....

The difference being that most Germans wanted the wall to come down and took it down at the earliest opportunity.

Arriving at the BBC Scotland OB this lunchtime, I was struck at just how disappointed some of the studio audience were that the programme had effectively become a referendum special. Among most Scots, not only is there little appetite for independence, I would say there's little appetite for even talking about it, or voting on it.

Of course that does open the disturbing possibility of a yes vote being carried narrowly on a low turnout, which was enough to inflict an Assembly on the reluctant/indifferent Welsh a little over 10 years ago.

[LondonRoad]

Originally Posted by Chris

The difference being that most Germans wanted the wall to come down and took it down at the earliest opportunity.

Arriving at the BBC Scotland OB this lunchtime, I was struck at just how disappointed some of the studio audience were that the programme had effectively become a referendum special. Among most Scots, not only is there little appetite for independence, I would say there's little appetite for even talking about it, or voting on it.

Of course that does open the disturbing possibility of a yes vote being carried narrowly on a low turnout, which was enough to inflict an Assembly on the reluctant/indifferent Welsh a little over 10 years ago.

You're right off course.

I'd be surprised if there was a majority of SNP voters who would vote for independence, never mind the majority of the electorate.

[nashville]

I am a Scot & I will be voting NO for definate. I think we should leave things as they are. Alex Salmon thinks he is Brave Heart & is actually trying to put the 2 countries against each other, we need one another to keep the UK strong. He is destroying Scotland with his soft touch in the justice system & also allowing to many people into the country. I for one want to keep the £ and not the Euro,. He only wants POWER.[COLOR="Silver"]

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