Dundee LibDem parliamentary spokesperson condemns decision on Grampian TV
Dundee East Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson Dr Clive Sneddon today (Friday 3rd March) added his voice to the condemnation of the decision by SMG, the owners of Scottish and Grampian TV, to scrap the name of Grampian TV, the local broadcasting service for the North East of Scotland including Dundee.
Dr Sneddon commented, "By this decision, a commercial company is saying it cares more for its brand image than it does for the viewers of its stations. It is also saying that it regards Scotland as not requiring a service closer to the viewers than the nation as a whole, and thereby it risks simply replicating the BBC's Scottish service. If competition means anything in public service broadcasting, it means diversity, not conformity to the same brand. This is especially true in the digital age, which SMG wrongly claims as justification for their centralising policies.
"I believe there is a case for investigating the terms of the franchise which SMG holds for the Grampian TV region. The franchises have not been combined simply because the same company was successful in bidding for them, and if SMG ignores this fact, the Grampian licence should be taken away from it and put out to tender for a franchisee willing to maintain its separate identity," concluded Dr Sneddon