STV job cuts expected after financial losses

Scottish broadcaster STV is expected to announce significant job cuts later.

The company has revealed that it lost £0.2m before tax in the first six months of the year.

Advertising revenue has fallen to £45m compared to £50m in the same period last year.

It is to seek £3m of savings, including £2.5m by next year. Any major changes to Scottish output would need approval from the regulator Ofcom.

In July, STV’s share price fell by a third after it warned that profits would be lower than previously expected.

The broadcaster said then that it was looking to make £750,000 of savings in addition to those already anticipated.

The company provides two distinct news services. One for the central belt based in Glasgow, the other for the north of the country based in Aberdeen.

Its other main Scottish output is a current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight, shown four nights a week.

Any compulsory redundancies are likely to be resisted by the National Union of Journalists.

The challenges facing STV reflect difficulties across the TV industry.

Advertising revenue is falling, partly because viewers are turning away from traditional broadcast TV and partly because of wider economic issues.

This also means that many commercial channels are commissioning fewer programmes.

The broadcaster’s production business, STV Studios, makes programmes for a wide range of broadcasters and streaming services.

The company is also expected to update investors on recently announced plans for a radio station and the ongoing development of its streaming service STV Player.

STV Radio – to be broadcast digitally and online – will be a music station and is due to go on the air in the next few months.