STV Group

STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and radio; after completing a restructuring in 2010, STV Group is active in broadcast television, video-on-demand and television production. The company is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.

History

Establishment and early broadcasting

Scottish Television began broadcasting in August 1957. The company changed its name to Scottish Media Group in 1996 when it acquired Caledonian Publishing, owners of Glasgow-based newspapers The Herald and Evening Times (both of which have since been sold). It went on to acquire the ITV licence holder for the North of Scotland, Grampian Television, in June 1997.[3] In August 1997 the company acquired a 15% stake in UTV, Northern Ireland.[4] In 1999 it launched a new Sunday broadsheet newspaper, the Sunday Herald

Granada acquisition

On 24 March 1999, Mirror Group sold its 18.6% stake in SMG to Granada.[7] During the summer, the STV Group held talks about buying out the other shareholders in GMTV, with Disney believed to be keen on the idea;[8] many city observers believed this was a defensive move to fend off a takeover bid from Granada. By September an agreement had been reached to acquire Guardian Media Group's 15% stake in GMTV for £20 million, but both Carlton and Granada objected to the deal.[9] Guardian Media Group eventually sold its stake for £18m in January 2000, but STV Group only acquired 5% with the remaining 10% going to Carlton and Granada, resulting in each of STV Group, Carlton, Granada and Disney holding 25% of GMTV.[10][11]

In September 1999, the company acquired a 37.4% stake in Heart of Midlothian F.C. for £8 million. A few days later the company unveiled its interim results with its pre-tax profits up 2 per cent to £24 million on a turnover of £111.2 million.[9] In December 2000, the group acquired a 14.9% stake in Scottish Radio Holdings, in anticipation of a relaxation of radio ownership rules[12][13] and within four months increased this to 27.7%.[14] By 2004 the company sold their 27.8% stake in Scottish Radio Holdings to EMAP for £90 million in anticipation of consolidation in the radio market.[15]

Flextech owner Telewest sold its 16.9% stake in STV Group to an investment bank for £45 million as part of their plan to raise funds to help clear off debt.[16] Throughout 2003/2004 rumours appeared about the company being broken up, with its ITV interests being sold off in an attempt to wipe out its £380m debt and boost its balance sheet. However, the group instead sold the Herald newspapers and its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings. In late 2003 Northern Ireland's UTV, in partnership with venture capital group 3i and Scottish Radio Holdings, sought to acquire SMG for £400 million, but they withdrew the offer as they felt the share price was too high.[17][18]

Television

STV

STV Group plc owns two Scottish ITV licences: Scottish Television, which covers Central Scotland, and Grampian Television, covering Northern Scotland. On 2 March 2006, it was announced that Scottish Television would revert to using its former brand name of "STV", which it previously used from the start of colour broadcasting in 1969 until 30 August 1985, and which the station was still informally known as in parts of Scotland. Scottish Television became known as STV Central. At the same time, Grampian Television would also become known as STV North, with the one main identity of STV serving the two licences. The rebrand took place on 30 May 2006.[41]

Other channels

The former SMG plc ran its own digital channel, S2, throughout the Scottish and Grampian ITV regions. S2, which aired on the Digital Terrestrial platform, was launched on 30 April 1999 and was replaced by ITV2 just over two years later – as part of a deal with ITV Digital – on 27 July 2001.[42]

Sky Scottish was a satellite television channel operating on the analogue Sky TV service between 1 November 1996 and 31 May 1998. The service was a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and SMG.[43]

A high-definition channel, STV HD, launched on 6 June 2010.[44]

On 11 January 2013, STV were awarded two local TV licences by Ofcom to operate digital terrestrial television channels in Glasgow and Edinburgh for up to 12 years.[45] The two channels, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh, were to be delivered in partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh Napier University respectively.[46] STV Glasgow launched on 2 June 2014,[47] and STV Edinburgh launched on 12 January 2015. In March 2015, STV were awarded local licences for the Aberdeen, Ayr and Dundee areas.[48] In April 2017, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh were re-branded as STV2. Just over a year later in May 2018, STV announced that it would be closing STV2 on 30 June 2018.[49]

Other channels

A high-definition channel, STV HD, launched on 6 June 2010.[44]

On 11 January 2013, STV were awarded two local TV licences by Ofcom to operate digital terrestrial television channels in Glasgow and Edinburgh for up to 12 years.[45]

type	Public
traded as	lse: STVG
foundation	1957 (as Scottish Television)
area served	Scotland
location	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
key people	Rufus Radcliffe (CEO) Paul Reynolds (Chairman)‡R1R‡
industry	Media
products	Broadcasting Television production
revenue	£176.9 million (2025)‡R2R‡
operating income	£11.6 million (2025)‡R2R‡
net income	£(4.0) million (2025)‡R2R‡
divisions	STV Studios

History

Establishment and early broadcasting

Granada acquisition

GMTV withdrawal

STV Group plc

Merger proposals

Relationship with ITV plc

Studios

Television

STV

Other channels

Other channels

Radio

Production

STV Studios

Ginger Productions

STV Creative

See also

References