Ignore the naysayers, new BBC Scotland channel is outperforming expectations

I’ m afraid the letters from Dennis Forbes Grattan (“Time To Tune Out ,14 May ”) and Mary Thomas (“Born to Fail?, 15 May) don’t reflect the reality of the performance of the new BBC Scotland channel.

In the first nine weeks since launch, it has performed ahead of expectations. It is both the biggest digital channel in Scotland (outwith the top five), reaching around a quarter (24 percent) of Scotland’ s population each week, and is the most watched in its time slot with a share of 3.2 per cent.

We said from the out set that The Nine is in a highly competitive slot and is regularly up against either dramas or live sport, so its audiences do fluctuate.

That said, The Nine has attracted an average weekly reach of a quarter of a million viewer son TV and, reassuringly, is also attracting an increase in younger audiences via social media, with more than 250,000 engagements on Twitter since launch.

Investing in original journalism– with 80 new posts created – has allowed us to break stories such as the use of armed police, the pos sible impact of universal basic income and concerns over the levels of online gambling across the country, while we’ ve also provided more analysis of topics, including a special report on the rise of the far-right across mainland Europe.

That original journalism has enhanced the BBC News output beyond The Nine, both in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.

IAN SMALL Head of Public Policy & Corporate Affairs,

BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay, Glasgow I recall that Nicola Sturgeon was a strong advocate for a dedicated BBC Scotland channel and it will be for this reason that Mary Thomas, arch defender of all things SNP, seeks to justify the unfortunate viewing figures.

It is, however, particularly sad she should do soi na manner which must be really insulting to those involved in the progamme’s production.

Are we really to believe that the production team set out to spend £32 million knowing that failure was inevitable?

More credible by far is the, rather as many expected, lack of appetite amongst the public, including the supporters of our main political party, for such a channel.

MIKE DUNSMORE Lansdowne Crescent, Edinburgh

Mary Thomas seems to be somewhat ag in Question Time on BBC1. That must be because the SNP’S hit squads have been unable to penetrate the recent shows in Scotland, meaning that normal S cots have been in the audience.

Also, fewer Nats have been on shows south of the Border, where they are irrelevant in much the same way as they are becoming in Scotland. However, the new BBC channel is ignored by 99 per cent of Scots because it is an SNP vanity project forced on Auntie Beeb at a cost of millions.

Ms Thomas, in common with other nationalists, cannot understand why Scots, who are routinely deeved by constant car ping from the separatist clique, do not want to watch it. Well, let’s admit it ,4,000 souls do–allowing there st of us to watch interesting television, if only on catch-up.

ANDREW HN GRAY Craiglea Drive, Edinburgh