1998 in Scottish television

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

Events

January to April

• No events.

May

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

June

• No events.

July

• 29 July – British Digital Broadcasting rebrand as ONdigital.

August

• No events.

September

• 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.

October

• 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.

November

• No events.

December

• 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]

Debuts

BBC

• Unknown – Looking After Jo Jo (1998)

Television series

• Scotsport (1957–2008) ^[4]
• Reporting Scotland (1968–1983; 1984–present)
• Scotland Today (1972–2009)
• Sportscene (1975–present) ^[5]
• The Beechgrove Garden (1978–present)
• Grampian Today (1980–2009)
• High Road (1980–2003) ^[6]
• Taggart (1983–2010) ^[7]
• Crossfire (1984–2004)
• Wheel of Fortune (1988–2001)
• Fun House (1989–1999)
• Win, Lose or Draw (1990–2004)
• Machair (1993–1999) ^[8]
• Telefios (1993–2000)
• Only an Excuse? (1993–2020) ^[9]

Ending this year

• 15 July – Top Club (1971–1998)
• 7 December – McCallum (1995–1998)
• 24 December – The Baldy Man (1995–1998)

See also

• 1998 in Scotland

References

1. "Scots Sky Shuts". The Times. 8 April 1998.
2. "No-one gets the Choice BBC launches new channel". The Herald. 24 September 1998. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
3. "BBC rejects Scottish Six". BBC News. 11 December 1998. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
4. Haynes, Richard (17 November 2016). BBC Sport in Black and White. Springer. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-137-45501-7.
5. "Sportscene at 50: Famous faces back for anniversary". BBC Sport. 6 August 2025. Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
6. Brown, Ian (13 February 2020). Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities. Springer Nature. p. 194. ISBN   978-3-030-39407-3.
7. McElroy, Ruth (14 October 2016). Contemporary British Television Crime Drama: Cops on the Box. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN   978-1-317-16096-0.
8. 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.
9. "Hogmanay favourite Only an Excuse says cheerio. What did you think?". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 4 November 2021.