£5m would be 'a reasonable sum' to subsidise STV's regional news

THE managing director of broadcasting for STV has said £5 million would be "a reasonable amount" of subsidy to allow it to continue to produce regional Scottish news bulletins.

Bobby Hain said STV had warned the government that the five and a half hours of Scottish news programmes it broadcasts each week are under threat because of rising costs and falling advertising revenues.

The commercial television station is hoping to become one of the first in the UK to receive money from the licence fee to allow it to continue to produce regional news programmes.