Quality fears for channel taking over from STV2

THE TV company taking over from the failed STV2 channel has been criticised for substandard programmes, allegedly racist content and low viewer numbers.

That’s TV, which runs 14 local TV stations in England, bought the Scottish local TV broadcasting licence after the closure of STV2 last month.

Ed Simons, 72, a director of That’s TV based in Henley-onThames, Oxfordshire, told the Mail yesterday he was unable to disclose details of the company’s plans for Scotland – but insisted they were ‘very exciting’.

Expected to launch this autumn, That’s TV Scotland will be available in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayr, Dundee and Aberdeen on Freeview.

Last night Scottish Labour culture spokesman Claire Baker said: ‘Not only has the closure of STV2 led to scores of job losses, but it now appears the channel could be replaced by an operator with a reputation for using zero-hours contracts and other Dickensian working practices.

‘Local television in Scotland cannot become a vehicle for firms to ignore their responsibilities and simply milk money from the BBC.’

She called for an urgent review of the licence granted to That’s TV.

Last year the company’s chief executive, Daniel Cass, said: ‘We are committed to giving viewers the very best in British entertainment, alongside local news and information.’

But there has been strong criticism from several MPs of the standard of prothe

‘30 viewers per day’

grammes offered on its English TV stations.

In 2011, then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans for a nationwide network of local TV stations to broadcast quality local news, funded from the BBC licence fee.

That’s TV has since become the main player in UK’s local TV market, launching its first channel, That’s Solent – which covers the Southampton and Portsmouth areas – in November 2014.

It operates broadcasting licences covering much of England and Wales, with its head office in Manchester.

Critics say its channels attract tiny audiences, with claims that one of its stations recorded ratings of as low as 30 viewers per day.

That’s Oxfordshire was criticised earlier this month by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom for airing an allegedly racist cartoon.

That’s TV said the cartoon was ‘mistakenly marked as suitable for broadcast’.

The UK Government’s ambitious plan for ‘local TV’ was supposed to create a new era of local news, with the BBC providing financial support for the launch of 30 TV stations in the UK.

For each story the local stations submitted, the BBC would pay them £147.50, whether it ran them or not, and the companies were set quotas of 85 stories per month for each area.

As for claims that it uses ‘zero hours’ contracts, That’s TV said it ‘seeks to comply with all of its legal, regulatory and contractual obligations’.

STV2 was launched in a blaze of publicity last year but struggled to attract viewers and was axed after only 14 months on air.