SMG's last logo before rebrand

On June 24 2008, shortly after the sale of Virgin Radio, SMG plc announced another name change - this time to STV Group plc. The company says the name change is to highlight its renewed focus on television, encompassing the STV Central and STV North franchises and the company's production business.^[2]

ITV plc held a 16.9% stake in the business, which was reduced to around 5.5% following a Rights Issue.

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 is 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 SMG licences. The name change took place on 30 May 2006. The stations are the most popular peak-time stations in Scotland and broadcast a mix of network shows such as Coronation Street and The X Factor alongside local programming such as Scotland Today and North Tonight and one of the world's longest-running sports programmes, Scotsport, which ended its regular football highlights show in May 2008.

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 April 30, 1999 and replaced with ITV2 just over two years later - as part of a deal with ITV Digital - on 27 July 2001.^[3]

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 the Scottish Media Group. It initially broadcast between 6.00pm and 8.00pm in Scotland. The channel was closed due to poor ratings.

SMG Productions

SMG Productions is the network television production arm of STV Group plc. With bases in Glasgow and London, its output includes drama, factual/factual entertainment, entertainment and children?s programming. With a client list that includes all the UK terrestrial networks as well as the major satellite and cable channels, the company is one of the key programme suppliers to the UK television market.

Ginger Productions

Ginger Productions, alongside SMG Productions, is part of the network production arm of STV Group plc. Based in Waterhouse Square in London, its output focuses on Entertainment and Factual Entertainment.

Ginger was acquired as part of SMG's acquisition of the Ginger Media Group in 1999.

Radio

Up until May 2008, the company owned Virgin Radio, a British commercial music radio station based in London.

Virgin Radio was launched as 'Virgin 1215' nationally on 1215 kHz (although some regional transmitters used other frequencies) at 12.15pm on 30 April 1993 by Richard Branson as part of his Virgin brand. It has since been sold to Ginger Media (which was subsequently bought by SMG plc) but has kept the Virgin name.

On 12 April, 2007, it was announced that SMG planned to sell Virgin Radio, to enable the company to focus on its television station, STV.^[4]. Virgin Radio was finally sold to a group led by The Times of India for £53million on the 30 May 2008.^[5]

Advertising

STV Group plc formerly owned outdoor billboard advertiser Primesight and cinema advertiser Pearl & Dean, whose rival Carlton Screen Advertising is owned by ITV plc.

In 2006, SMG plc announced it plans to sell off Pearl & Dean and Primesight.^[6]

In August 2007, SMG finally sold Primesight for up to £62m to a private equity firm.^[7][8] SMG said in a statement that the price GMT Communications Partners is paying represents a "clear uplift" on offers previously received for Primesight.^[9] Primesight have been prosecuted a number of times for the display of advertisements without consent which is an offence under UK Planning Acts.^[10][11] The lack of consent for many of Primsights displays is said to have reduced the selling price by up to £30 million.^[12]

Internet

peopleschampion.com

peopleschampion.com is a consumer advice page with targeted on a wide array of subjects from choosing energy suppliers to getting mortgages.

smartycars.com

STV Group's car website.

stv.tv

The URL stv.tv is the address of the main website of STV. The website currently offers News, Sport, Weather, Entertainment, Competitions, Bingo, Romance, and STV programme information, and TV listings. The STV news teams also produce three exclusive video blogs for the website - The Real MacKay, Northern Exposure and Weather Blether.

A planned relaunch and expansion of the website is set to take place this summer.

scotlandontv.tv

STV Group operates a broadband television service Scotlandontv.tv. The service was launched in the autumn of 2006 and includes a mix of specially-produced videos and archive programming.

The Glasgow-based media company says the online channel makes use of a back catalogue stretching back 50 years.

Studios

STV Group headquarters in Glasgow.

STV studios in Aberdeen.

STV also has studios in Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness providing regional news coverage in their particular area.

Relationship with ITV plc

STV Group plc has had a turbulent relationship with ITV plc and both Carlton and Granada, the predecessor companies that merged to create it. ITV plc owns the ITV franchises in England, Wales and the Scottish Borders and operates, or has operated, several operations using the ITV name, such as ITV Digital and the ITV Sport Channel. The company threatened to take legal action over the use of the name 'ITV' because it is the name of the Independent Television network, which Scottish and Grampian are both part of. One of the problems facing the group is that ITV is the senior partner when it comes to its two TV stations, since London-based ITV effectively controls most of the scheduling and is also responsible for selling stv's advertising airtime. Rumours persist of a possible takeover of STV Group plc by ITV plc (see below).

Merger proposals

In September 2006, the then-known SMG officially rejected a merger offer from Northern Irish ITV franchise holder UTV. The merger approach from would have given SMG shareholders a 52% stake in the combined company. The Scottish group said its board had examined a revised merger proposal from UTV, but did not believe it reflected the value of the company.^[14]

ITV is considering making an offer for STV Group, according to the Mail on Sunday. The newspaper quoted an ITV source as saying John Cresswell, acting chief executive at the broadcaster, was most interested in the group's television franchises but that any deal would be for the whole group, including Virgin Radio, which SMG also owns. An ITV spokesman declined to comment on the report.
SMG said earlier in the month that its 2006 profit would be materially behind expectations, sending its shares down more than a quarter in value to a 15-year low.^[15]

On January 10, 2007, SMG and Belfast-domiciled UTV agreed the details of their merger, including a revised share split between the two. UTV, would own 54% of the group. SMG would take the remaining 46%.^[16]

This merger was finally rejected at the end of February, and a new board and management were introduced at SMG shortly afterwards. The company announced plans to concentrate on its core TV business, floating off Virgin Radio and selling Pearl & Dean and Primesight.

References

External links

• SMG plc smg.plc.uk
• SMG Television smg.tv