STV News at Six

STV News at Six is a Scottish regional news programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV Central (formerly Scottish Television) in the Central region and STV North (formerly Grampian Television) in the Northern region.

The programmes were launched on 23 March 2009, replacing Scotland Today in Central Scotland and North Tonight in Northern Scotland. As of 23 May 2011, three separate editions of STV News at Six are produced each weekday for the East and West of the Central region and for the entire North region (including an opt-out service for Tayside and North East Fife).

The three programmes are produced from studios in Glasgow (West edition), Edinburgh (East edition) and Aberdeen (North edition) with reporters also based at studios in Dundee and Inverness and political correspondents based at Holyrood and Westminster. Freelance correspondents and camera crews are based on the Orkney and Shetland Isles, Wick and Fort William with a permanent Western Isles correspondent based in Stornoway.

In addition to its daily bulletins, STV News also produces some non-news programming including current affairs (Scotland Tonight), sport (STV Rugby) and one-off feature specials and documentaries.

On air
STV News at Six airs on STV Central (West and East) and STV North each weeknight at 18:00.

The main evening programmes are supplemented by shorter STV News bulletins seven days a week. On weekdays, the lunchtime bulletin follows on from the ITV News at 1:30, giving a six minute round-up of the days developments at 13:55. The late night bulletin is incorporated into Scotland Tonight on Monday - Thursday nights at 22:30 with a separate bulletin also airing on Friday after the ITV News at Ten. STV News also airs short early evening bulletins on Saturdays and Sundays. Short bulletins taken from the main 18:00 programme also air during The Nightshift.

On weekdays, the lunchtime bulletin in the Central region are broadcast across both the West and East sub-regions while the North region receives its own lunchtime and late night bulletins. The weekend bulletins are broadcast across both the North and Central regions from Glasgow. All bulletins are broadcast one hour after their original airing on STV+1. Bulletins are also available for catch-up, 30 days after broadcast on the STV News website.

STV News bulletins are not transmitted during Daybreak (ITV Breakfast) - separate Daybreak Scotland bulletins for viewers in Northern and Central Scotland are provided by Macmillan Media.

On 25 August 2011, STV announced plans to introduce a 30-minute current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight, on Monday - Thursday nights at 22:30. The pan-regional programme, incorporating late news bulletins for STV's North, West and East regions, began on 24 October 2011, and is presented on alternate nights by John MacKay and Rona Dougall.

Sub-regional bulletins
On 8 January 2007, the former Scotland Today and North Tonight programmes launched sub-regional news bulletins.

In the North, viewers in the Dundee, Angus, Perthshire and north-east Fife area receive a 5-minute bulletin, within the main 18:00 programme - presented and produced from STV's studios at Seabraes in Dundee and directed from a technical gallery in Aberdeen. While the Tayside bulletin is broadcast, viewers further north see more news from the north-east, Highlands and Islands, broadcast from the main studio in Aberdeen. Separate weather forecasts for both areas are also broadcast after the ITV News at Ten on weeknights.

Previously in the Central region, viewers in both the West and East areas received 5-minute bulletins within the main 18:00 programme - STV News West covered the area from Tobermory to Falkirk, with the presenter based in the main studio in Glasgow. Meanwhile, STV News East covered the area from Anstruther to Dunbar and was presented and produced at STV's Edinburgh studios.

On 18 January 2011, STV announced plans to split the Central Scotland edition of STV News at Six into two full-length programmes for the East and West sub-regions, presented and produced locally. The new programme was due to launch on 16 May 2011 but was later delayed until 23 May 2011. Initially launched as a six-month pilot, the East service was made permanent in October 2011. The two programmes are supplemented by separate late night bulletins.

STV News Review
STV News Review, a short weekly programme reviewing the week's main stories on both STV News services is broadcast directly after the Sunday evening bulletin, signed for the deaf and hard of hearing by on-screen BSL interpreters.

In the Central region, the programme is signed by Morag Donnelly and Avril Hepner (on a rotating basis) and produced by one of the production journalists in the Glasgow newsroom. In the North region, the programme is signed by a rotating team of interpreters from the Aberdeen Deaf Society. The programme is narrated and produced by either Norman Macleod or Andrea Brymer.

The team
Currently, the STV News on-air team consists of the following:

Main anchors
West edition
 * John MacKay

East edition
 * Juliet Dunlop

North edition
 * Norman Macleod (Monday - Tuesday, alternate Wednesday)
 * Andrea Brymer (Alternate Wednesday, Thursday - Friday)

Camera operators
East
 * Matt Donnelly
 * Steve Kydd
 * Colin Maclean
 * Iain Maclean

North
 * Pat Duffy
 * Palvinder Jagpal
 * Alistair Macpherson
 * Alistair Watt

West
 * Fraser Cleland
 * Ross Leary
 * Danny Livingston
 * Neil Maclaren
 * Jennifer Wilson

The studios in which the news broadcasts from in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen are fully automated, the cameras are controlled from the gallery, the only people in the studio are the presenters.