Director-general says audiences will be able to ‘interrogate’ key issues

The director-general of the BBC has pledged that its new Scottish channel will allow audiences to“interrogate things that matter to them.”

Lord Hall pledged the new channel would fully reflect the diversity of modern-dayScotland and help the country connect with the rest of the UK and the rest of the world.

Speaking at the launch of the new channel, he said it would open up opportunities for both the BBC and the creative sector to do brand new things in Scotland, as well as “reinvent public service media .”

The new channel was launched exactly two years after Lord Hall unveiled an additional £40 million in funding for the BBC and announced the creation of the channel, which has an annual budget of £32m. He described it as the biggest investment by the BBC in its output north of the Border for more than 20 years.

The new channel’s launch line-up includes a new Scottish“news hour” programme going out at 9pm Monday-friday and a Scottish equivalent of Question Time.

Addressing BBC staff and invited guests, Lord Hall said: “This channel is going to do great things for Scotland. It’s going to celebrate all of the nation and what it stands for.

“It’s going to allow audienc- es to interrogate the thing s that matter to them, it’s going to reflect the diversity of Scotland to day, and it’s going to reinvent public service media – it’s a TV channel, it’s on iplayer, and it’s on social media too, whenever you want it, wherever you are.

“It’s the most extraordinary thing to have the chance in television to create something new. It happens rarely. I know what a challenge and responsibility that is, but all of you have risen to that challenge magnificently. You’ve created something that feels very new and different.

“We hope the channel will get people talking more and laughing more.

“Speaking among friends, it could not have come at a better time. We want to champion the creative economy and have already worked with more than 70 independent production companies on the channel.”