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Local TV in Glasgow: GTV aiming for October 2013 launch

What’s new for Local TV in Glasgow?

GTV aiming for October 2013 launch

GTV could be live in Glasgow and surrounding areas as early as October. 

According to the application for the Local TV licence handed to Ofcom, GTV owners STV claimed that the station could be up and running by October 1, 2013 – the same time as ETV, Edinburgh’s equivalent is due to hit the airwaves.

Of course this is all dependent upon the Local TV multiplex operator Comux able to deliver the goods and make sure the infrastructure is ready in time.

Though subject to change, this at least gives those in Glasgow waiting for Local TV to arrive an idea of when GTV will land.

GTV will be available to watch on Freeview channel 45.

February 7, 2013

Previous news stories about Local TV in Glasgow

Who are GTV?

GTV is Glasgow’s Local TV station, coming to Freeview channel 45. Expected but not confirmed to launch from October 1, 2013 onwards, GTV will broadcast a range of local news, sports features and community-focussed content and entertainment.

STV, Scotland’s ITV, will run the channel, with select shows such as Glasgow Live Tonight being broadcast from STV’s Pacific Quay studios. Glasgow Caledonian University is a partner and will provide placements for university students to work in the newsroom and produce shows for GTV.


What will be on GTV?

Initially, GTV will only broadcast from 5pm to 10pm daily, with the majority of shows produced being 15 minute news bulletins.

Every weekday night GTV will broadcast an episode of The Big Conversation, an interactive current affairs discussion show where viewers at home can get involved via phone, email, social media and interestingly Skype video calls.

Front-facing cameras and Skype apps are commonplace in mobile phones now and Skype is also starting to make it’s way into smart TV sets. The Big Conversation looks set to be the centrepiece of GTV, inviting live comment and discussion from all over the city.

On Saturdays live sports coverage dominates the schedule but will be dedicated to covering local sports from amateur hockey to bowling to local school rugby leagues, as opposed to football which is already well served by mainstream media. Sundays will mainly consist of repeats interspersed with short news bulletins.

Other programmes GTV will play host to include This is Your City – Do Something! putting the spotlight on local volunteers and their work, the self-explanatory New Music from Glasgow and Glasgow’s in the Can, a showcase slot for locally produced programmes and documentaries.

Where will GTV cover?

Local TV in GlasgowGTV will be broadcast from three transmitters at Black Hill, Darvel and Rosneath, providing coverage for the city of Glasgow and Ayr, Greenock, Irvine, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. Click on the map thumbnails to the right to enlarge them and get a better idea of where GTV will be available.

When will Local TV be coming to Glasgow?

Pending the multiplex operator Comux giving the green light, GTV will be ready to broadcast from October 1, 2013.

What’s Local TV all about?

Local TV in Glasgow

Local TV is a new digital TV project aiming to bring an extra local channel to a number of UK cities over the next few yearsGlasgow is one of the first cities to be selected in the first phase of Local TV rollout.

Will I have to retune my Freeview box?

When Local TV arrives in Glasgow and the surrounding areas, you’ll have to retune your Freeview box in order to pick up GTV on channel 45.

Can I get Local TV on Sky, Virgin Media or Freesat?

Currently, Local TV is only slated to appear on Freeview as there’s a number of reasons, some technological, why Local TV won’t be launching on satellite or cable at the same time.

Sky is still in discussion with Ofcom as to where Local TV channels will appear on its programme guide, if at all. One proposal would see the yellow button on Sky’s remote providing access to a Local TV portal through where you’d be able to access GTV.

Virgin Media’s plans for Local TV include creating a smart TV app accessible through it’s TiVo boxes instead of sacrificing a spot on its channel guide.

Freesat hasn’t committed to giving up channel slots for Local TV, because broadcasting different channels to multiple regions across the UK would be an expensive and ineffecitient use of satellite capacity.

It’s possible therefore that Freesat and Sky will instead deliver local TV over IP, requiring viewers to have a decent enough broadband line capable of streaming TV content. Both the Sky+HD box and the more recent Freetime from Freesat products feature Ethernet connections and come with on-demand functionality built in – it’s possible that on Freesat and Sky, Local TV will be delivered in a manner similar to BBC iPlayer and ITV Player.

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