jj20x

I don't see that happening to be honest, the ITV Network regions still generate a substantial amount of cash for the licence holders and STV, as a company, is there to make a profit. The local tv franchises cover relatively small service areas and are unlikely to make a large profit, if any profit at all. They would work better as not for profit operations.

Also, there's no guarantee that STV will bid for or be granted any further licences.

There was always going to be a second phase of local tv locations and if you look further back through Ofcom documents, there were also other areas identified for local tv which haven't even been included in the second phase.

If DTT is cleared from the 700 MHz range (for 4G / 5G mobile data), there are currently no suggestioned frequency allocations for local tv. The Arqiva documents only looked at the PSB and COM multiplexes. With no guaranteed lifespan after the initial licence term, I can't see STV gambling with their future on local tv franchises.

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Should it become independent, it should be relatively simple for BBC Scotland and STV to break away from the UK. The ITV Border region would be a major headache.