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BBC Scotland bosses renew calls for Scottish Six o'clock news slot

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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

November 13, 2015 | 3 min read

BBC Scotland bosses say a Scottish Six news will help the corporation keep pace with accelerating devolution and address complaints about lack of Scottish coverage.

BBC Scotland bosses call for Six Scottish news

BBC Scotland bosses are pressing the corporation to commission a Scottish Six News programme to help temper complaints about the broadcaster’s weak coverage of Scottish affairs and keep pace with devolution.

The proposal will be put forward to BBC director general, Tony Hall, when he attends a meeting of its governing body, the BBC Trust, in Glasgow next week.

The executives will lobby Hall to increase the yearly programme-making budget from £35m to £100m and will call for a third national radio service for Scotland.

BBC Scotland executives had initially wanted an extra digital television channel and new online programming however the plans were shelved in the wake of spending cuts.

Calls for a Scottish Six News slot on BBC1 initially surfaced in the 1990s when former first minister Alex Salmond advocated the idea. The idea has since garnered a new lease of life in the wake of the Scottish Independence referendum which has accelerated devolution and mounted pressure on the BBC to decentralise its programme-making and decision making.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon renewed the demands to increase spending and output at the Guardian International TV festival in Edinburgh, saying that Scottish viewers felt “frustration” at the quality and scope of its output in Scotland.

BBC Scotland controller Ken MacQuarrie, who led the formal investigation into Jeremy Clarkson’s assault of a Top Gear producer, has backed the proposal which will ask for more of a Scottish voice across the BBC UK and global news coverage.

A BBC Trust spokesperson told the Guardian that “the trust has been consulting widely on BBC charter review over the past few months and trustees will, as you’d expect, be talking to the BBC executive, BBC Scotland management and stakeholders on a range of topics related to this”.

It is understood that the issue is currently being debated which talks likely to conclude in early 2016 when BBC Scotland’s new head of news and current affairs, Gary Smith, takes up his post in January.

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