Members of the National Union of Journalists working at STV are to be balloted for strike action over the proposed axing of the STV North edition of the News at 6, as well as associated compulsory redundancies.
The move could potentially see industrial action at the broadcaster before Christmas, and comes after the company began telling staff that their jobs could be at risk of redundancy.
In September, STV announced cuts across the business, including 60 proposed redundancies, of which half were expected to fall on the newsroom. An invitation to apply for voluntary redundancy has only resulted in around half of the cuts the company says it intends to make.
In addition, the company, which owns the two remaining channel 3 licences outside the ITV network, is asking Ofcom for permission to produce just one news programme covering both of its licence areas. It currently airs separate live 6pm newscasts presented from Glasgow and Aberdeen.
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STV’s two News at 6 programmes are extremely successful, regularly outperforming their rival, Reporting Scotland on BBC1, and often being the most watched programmes on linear television in Scotland throughout the day.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ Scotland organiser, said: “In the face of compulsory redundancies and deep cuts to programming, this strike ballot is about defending the integrity of public service broadcasting and the journalists who make it possible. Standing
together is the only way to protect the future of quality journalism at STV North, so we are asking members to vote in favour of industrial action.”
STV entered into new 10-year licences with Ofcom in January but is now looking to renegotiate those terms, blaming a fall in viewers of linear television and economic pressures caused by a fall in advertising. Ofcom has said it will open a consultation on the proposed changes later this year, and is expected to make a decision around March 2026.
However, the company has said it intends to make cuts regardless of Ofcom’s decision, including moving production and presentation of the STV North News at 6 from Aberdeen to Glasgow.
Last month, the STV chapel passed a vote of no confidence in management. It said: “The NUJ members at STV have no confidence in the chief executive Rufus Radcliffe and his leadership team to continue to lead us in light of financial mismanagement and the failure and abandonment of the strategy refresh in May.”
The NUJ has accused the company of a knee-jerk reaction to its own “financial mismanagement” and says the real cause for the cuts in public service broadcasting is to fund the company’s new commercial radio station.
Giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee in October, Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ Scotland organiser, said that as recently as March 2025, Rufus Radcliffe, STV chief executive, had told shareholders that “the foundations of the business are strong”. In May 2025, Lindsay Dixon, the chief financial and operating officer, told investors, “STV has proven itself to be a highly cash-generative business. We believe the strong cash-generative nature of the business is set to continue into the future.”
Two months later the company issued a profits warning, which was followed by a collapse in the share price that cut STV’s market value by around a half.
The company has also recently invested £500,000 in upgrading its newsrooms in Glasgow and Aberdeen, and committed a further £500,000 to setting up STV Radio. The new radio venture is not expected to make a profit until 2027.
The NUJ has also written to the Scottish Affairs Committee following the news that STV waited until the day after its appearance at Westminster before filing overdue financial accounts.
According to the union, since 2005 STV has always filed its annual accounts for STV North on time, apart from one year when they were filed three days late. By contrast, the 2024 accounts were filed almost a month after the deadline on 29 October.
In the NUJ letter, McGowan-Lowe said: “You will recognise the significance of that date as being the day after the Scottish Affairs Committee meeting on STV. It is our belief that this timing is not coincidental, and the effect was so that the company would not face questioning on the contents of those accounts when they appeared before you.”
The accounts show that in 2024 STV North Ltd made an increased profit of £9.2m (up from £7.4m in 2023) on an increased turnover of £22.3m (2023: £19.9m).
In the same letter, the NUJ disputed chief executive Radcliffe’s repeated evidence to the UK parliamentary committee that he did not know figures for the audience share of STV North’s News at 6, and the company’s denial that any such figures existed. The NUJ provided a photo showing him giving a presentation in June 2025 in front of a slide presentation showing the monthly audience share for STV North.
