1998 in Scottish television

Overview of the events of 1998 in Scottish television

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This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1998.

Events

31 May – Sky Scottish closes after just over eighteen months on air, because the channel fails to meet its financial targets.^[1]

23 September – BBC Choice, the UK's first digital-only TV station, launches.^[2] The channel broadcasts around two hours each night of programming for Scotland as an opt-out from the main channel.

1 October – Digital satellite television launches in the UK, operated by Sky Digital. This sees the start of UK channels transmitting in 16:9 widescreen.

11 December – BBC governors reject a request to give Scotland its own Six O'Clock News bulletin. Instead an extra £20m will be spent on new jobs and programming in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.^[3]

Scotsport (1957–2008)
Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
Scotland Today (1972–2009)
Sportscene (1975–present)
The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
Grampian Today (1980–2009)
High Road (1980–2003)^[4]
Taggart (1983–2010)^[5]
Crossfire (1984–2004)
Wheel of Fortune (1988–2001)
Fun House (1989–1999)
Win, Lose or Draw (1990–2004)
Machair (1993–1999)^[6]
Telefios (1993–2000)
Only an Excuse? (1993–2020)^[7]

^ "Scots Sky Shuts". The Times. 8 April 1998.
^ "No-one gets the Choice BBC launches new channel". The Herald. 24 September 1998. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
^ "BBC rejects Scottish Six". BBC News. 11 December 1998. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
^ Brown, Ian (13 February 2020). Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities. Springer Nature. p. 194. ISBN 978-3-030-39407-3.
^ McElroy, Ruth (14 October 2016). Contemporary British Television Crime Drama: Cops on the Box. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-317-16096-0.
^ Berberich, Christine; Campbell, Neil (9 March 2016). Affective Landscapes in Literature, Art and Everyday Life: Memory, Place and the Senses. Routledge. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-317-18472-0.
^ "Hogmanay favourite Only an Excuse says cheerio. What did you think?". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 4 November 2021.