STV issued a statement last night after it dropped its usual Scottish news output in order to show a 90-minute news special on King Charles’s cancer diagnosis.
At 6pm on Monday, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles had been diagnosed with cancer, although information about the type and location were kept private.
STV consequently did not show its usual STV News at Six programme, instead broadcasting an extended UK-wide news programme focused on the developing royal story.
The broadcast took up the full 90-minute slot which would usually be split between STV News (30 minutes) and ITV Evening News (60 minutes).
Over on the BBC, a slightly extended 35-minute edition of the News at Six pushed back programming by five minutes. The corporation’s Reporting Scotland was then given its usual 30-minute broadcast.
An STV spokesperson said the decision to ditch the Scottish-focused news programme entirely was made because the news of Charles’s diagnosis was “deemed to be of national importance.”
The spokesperson added: “Given the late breaking news about King Charles, it was decided by all Channel 3 licences to run the live national news feed from ITN at 6pm, ensuring viewers across the UK were kept up to date with news that was deemed to be of national importance.
“The rest of the STV schedule was not impacted, with the late night regional news bulletin and current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight, airing in their usual slots that evening.
“Up-to-date Scottish news is also always available on the STV News website and social channels, including Facebook and TikTok.”
