The BBC Scotland television channel is to be taken off air next year as part of sweeping cuts at the corporation.

The dedicated Scottish channel will stop broadcasting as a conventional television service in spring 2027, eight years after it was launched.

BBC Scotland will continue as a channel on BBC iPlayer, while programmes made for Scottish audiences will also be shown on BBC One Scotland and BBC Two in Scotland.

The move is part of a major BBC cost-cutting programme designed to deliver £500 million in savings by 2028.

BBC Three will also disappear from linear television, while BBC Radio 4 Extra is being closed as a broadcast service. Around 100 jobs are also expected to be cut across BBC News.

In Scotland, around 10 further posts are expected to close as a direct result of the changes, on top of 60 role closures previously announced by BBC Scotland.

The closure will also mean the end of Reporting Scotland: News at Seven, the channel’s nightly Scottish news programme.

News at Seven launched in January 2025 when it replaced The Nine, the hour-long programme which had been one of the centrepieces of the BBC Scotland channel since its launch.

The BBC confirmed News at Seven will not transfer to iPlayer when the television channel closes.

BBC Two in Scotland will instead be given a more distinctive Scottish schedule and will become the home of the BBC’s Friday night SPFL Championship coverage.

BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine said: “Against the backdrop of significant financial challenges, we must focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact for audiences.”

BBC Scotland TV channel scrapped as cuts reshape broadcasting

She said changing viewing habits meant more people were now choosing to watch BBC Scotland programmes through iPlayer rather than the traditional television channel.

Valentine added that BBC One Scotland and BBC Two in Scotland would continue to provide a “strong and distinctive Scottish presence” on conventional television.

The decision comes after years of pressure on the audience figures for the standalone channel.

BBC figures for 2025/26 show around 12% of Scotland’s population used the BBC Scotland television channel in an average week, down from 13% a year earlier.

The wider reach of BBC Scotland content is substantially greater. Around 54% of adults in Scotland consumed BBC Scotland programming across television, iPlayer, radio and online during an average week in 2025/26.

The BBC Scotland channel launched on 24 February 2019 as a new home for Scottish news, drama, comedy, documentaries, entertainment and sport.

Its launch was seen as one of the BBC’s most significant expansions of its Scottish output, with The Nine providing an hour of Scottish, UK and international news each evening.

The Nine was sdropped in 2024 and replaced by the shorter News at Seven from January 2025 as the BBC increasingly shifted resources towards digital journalism.

The corporation has continued to commission Scottish programmes including comedy, factual series and documentaries, while moving some of its biggest Scottish productions on to BBC One and BBC Two across the UK.

BBC director-general Matt Brittin said the corporation needed to “make every pound work harder for audiences” as it dealt with financial pressures and rapidly changing viewing habits.

The BBC expects the linear BBC Scotland channel to disappear from television schedules in spring 2027.