BBC Scotland to scrap news programme The Nine – BBC News

BBC Scotland plans to scrap its hour-long TV news programme The Nine, five years after its launch.

The corporation is also cancelling two other programmes on the BBC Scotland Channel – entertainment news show The Edit and weekly news review Seven Days.

The Nine would be replaced by a 30-minute news programme at 1900 on the same channel.

A new topical current affairs podcast series will also be launched on BBC Sounds and iPlayer, as well as on TV.

Other BBC Scotland plans to reshape its news services include:

BBC Scotland said it wanted to “grow the impact of broadcast news services in Scotland” and that there would be no job losses as a result of the proposals.

The replacement of The Nine with a 30-minute news programme would require approval of Ofcom, the broadcasting industry’s regulatory and competition watchdog.

The Nine is broadcast from Monday to Thursday and The Seven airs on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Earlier this year, BBC Scotland director Steve Carson was questioned by MSPs about newspaper reports suggesting that one episode of The Nine was watched by 1,700 people and that The Seven had attracted an audience of 200 viewers on one day in January.

Mr Carson said that quoting figures in isolation did not represent the actual performance of the programmes.

He said The Nine reached more than 100,000 viewers every week and The Seven reached more than 20,000,

However, he added that BBC Scotland was “not complacent” and was constantly looking at whether it had the right balance of resources on its platforms and services.

The Nine started broadcasting in February 2019 from an open-plan studio space on the third floor at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay HQ in Glasgow.

It provides a mix of news from Scotland, the UK and around the world.

Gary Smith, head of news and current affairs, said 2024 was going to be a busy year for news.

“We need to make sure we keep changing our output as audience habits change, so that we provide the best possible service for our audiences in the formats and on the platforms they want,” he said.

“I’m very proud that The Nine has produced such great journalism and developed such great talent over the past five years, and I’m confident that our new offer to audiences will continue to meet those high standards.”

Mr Carson added: “These changes play to our strengths as an innovative broadcaster that delivers high quality journalism to audiences across all our platforms.”

BBC Scotland said it would maintain its six-and-a-half hours of weekday radio news programmes and invest in the work of the Disclosure investigations team.

It also plans to increase the frequency of live online reporting and explanatory articles on the BBC News website and app.

Scotland’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson described the cancellation of the Nine as “very disappointing”.

He said he would seek meetings with BBC director general Tim Davie and Ofcom to discuss the impact of the proposals.