STV content with figures for new Glasgow channel

Colin Stone, Storm Huntley, Jennifer Reoch and David Farrel are the presenting team for the new Riverside Show on STV Glasgow

STV has said its new channel aimed at Glasgow and the surrounding area is performing in line with expectations.

The company said nearly 575,000 people had watched STV Glasgow at least once during its first month on air. The station launched on 2 June.

This makes STV Glasgow one of the top 20 commercial channels within the west of Scotland.

The new channel is part of the UK government's proposed network of local TV stations.

STV was the only established broadcaster to apply for any of the licences.

'Positive reaction'

Its Glasgow station launched last month and a sister station in Edinburgh is due to go on the air before the end of the year.

STV said that during the first month almost 30% of all viewers within the transmission area tuned in at least once. The average viewer watched the channel at least three times across the month.

In addition to the TV audience, there have been an additional 50,000 live and catch-up streams on the STV Player.

Bobby Hain, director of channels at STV, said: "The reaction from viewers since launch has been extremely positive and the reach of STV Glasgow so far is very much in line with our expectations.

"The audience figures from the first month reflect the multi-platform strategy of STV Glasgow with viewers tuning in to watch on TV but also via live streaming and catch-up.

Break even

"The channel is complemented by the STV Glasgow app which engages with consumers across the city."

Some sceptics have questioned whether local TV stations can be commercially viable. STV expects its new stations to be breaking even within a year.

Although many people in the west of Scotland have tuned in to the station, viewing figures for individual programmes are modest compared to STV's main service.

According to BARB which compiles the TV ratings, in the week ending 29 June, the most popular programme - one edition of STV Glasgow's news bulletin at 22:00 - attracted 17,000 viewers.

Two episodes of Take The High Road also made the published Top 10 - attracting around 13,000 viewers.