STV seeks to move beyond ITV

STV will provide more Scottish content both on its Channel 3 service and to other broadcasters as part of plans being executed by director of content Alan Clements, it has been revealed.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Clements - who joined STV six months ago after winning a protracted legal battle to release him from a "golden handcuffs" deal with independent production company IWC - said that with the need for Scottish shows to be commissioned by the BBC, Channel 4, Five and Sky, it was time for the company to move beyond making shows for ITV.

"We are thinking like an independent producer, rather than a production house of an ITV company," he told the paper. "We need to reach out to the BBC, Channel 4, Five and Sky; the BBC and C4 have a clear and present need to commission stuff from Scotland. We’re the biggest producer in Scotland. STV in the past did not have much of a relationship with the BBC or with C4. Part of what I’m here to do is build those bridges."

He added that STV would use its new-found focus on producing Scottish content beyond the demands of ITV1's national schedule to offer a more Scottish ITV service.

"We’re going to provide programming that works for our audience," he said. "Al Murray: Pub Landlord, about a wide-boy cockney, doesn’t work here. Neither does Moving Wallpaper, a satire inside the TV industry, which is very London.

“If you put really good Scottish content there instead, then you’re hopefully out-rating the network and providing a service to the Scottish public."