STV city channels announce live Festival coverage

STV Edinburgh and STV Glasgow will once again bring viewers the best of the Edinburgh Festival, broadcast live from Akva bar and cafe at Edinburgh Quay from Wednesday 3 August.

Building on the success of last year’s festival programming, STV will significantly boost its coverage of Edinburgh Festival 2016. Key programmes in the schedule include:

·         Edinburgh Festival 2016:  A one-hour live show on STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh, every weekday at 5pm. Live from the heart of Edinburgh, Jennifer Reoch, Hayley Matthews and David Farrell bring viewers the biggest guests, best chat, live performances and top ticket tips from the Edinburgh Festival 2016.

·         Edinburgh Festival Extra: Catch up with the best of STV’s coverage of the festival, weeknights at 8.30pm on STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh from Monday 8 August.

·         Edinburgh Festival Late Show:  Ewen Cameron’s late night sofa chat show with the best of the guests visiting Scotland for Edinburgh Festival 2016. Like the festival itself, expect the unexpected from these late night shows. Weeknights at 10.30pm, sponsored by Heritage Roofing.

·         Edinburgh Festival Catch-Up:  On Thursday nights at 11.10pm on STV, there’s a chance for viewers to catch up on the week in Edinburgh.

The core of STV’s coverage will be presented by Ewen Cameron, Jennifer Reoch, David Farrell, Hayley Matthews and George Ward.

As well as a broad mix of guests and performances, viewers will see the return of popular regular features including Shameless Punts, where performers are given a chance to promote their acts on screen, and brand new Rickshaw Live, where George is joined by one of the festival’s many thousands of performers for a very entertaining ride round the Scottish capital.

Last year’s festival programming was a big success with guests including actors Brian Cox, Juliet Binoche and Hayley Mills, comedians Al Murray, Ed Byrne andPatrick Kielty, writer Alexander McCall Smith and musical talent including Glasvegas and The Flaming Lips.

The coverage reached 800,000 viewers, with 600,000 tuning in across STV’s channels in Scotland and an additional 200,000 across the UK after 11 Local Television Network channels acquired the shows in locations from Brighton to Belfast.

Paul Hughes, channel editor for STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh said: “The popularity of last year’s festival coverage created an unparalleled platform for the city and the festivals. This year we’ll bring viewers even more of what the festivals have to offer, from live guests and performances to features and reviews. Our coverage will set out to reflect the Edinburgh Festival the way that audiences experience it, capturing not only the broad spectrum of shows on offer but also the fun and unbeatable atmosphere of this world famous event.”

STV’s coverage of the Edinburgh Festival is sponsored by Visit Barbados and Barrhead Travel.

All festival programmes will be available for catch-up on the STV Player.

STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh are available on Freeview channel 8, Sky channel 117 and Virgin channel 159 in their broadcast areas.