STV Studios (previously STV Productions, SMG Productions, and originally known as Scottish Television Enterprises) is the television production arm of the Scottish company

STV Group plc STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and r ...

. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, Scotland with an office in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

History

Founded in 1957 by Canadian newspaper magnate

Roy Thomson Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, (5 June 1894 – 4 August 1976) was a Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor who became one of the moguls of Fleet Street in London. He first came to prominence when he was selling radios in ...

, Scottish Television Enterprises initially served as the main content provider for the group's flagship ITV franchise, STV. In the 1960s, its productions were often criticised for perceived low quality. However, the 1970s saw an improvement, and the company became a major provider of religious content for the new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The ITV network also began showing ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

'' nationally, and in 1983, STV produced one of its most well-known programs, ''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries ''Killer'' from 6 until 20 Septe ...

''. In February 2019, STV Productions and Primal Media announced a two-year development deal to develop "large-scale entertainment formats" for the UK market. In August 2020, STV Productions was rebranded to STV Studios after one year of acquisitions and to expand its growing portfolio of businesses. In September 2020, STV Studios acquired factual entertainment producer Barefaced TV from production group Argonon. In July 2023, STV Studios acquired London-based Greenbird Media (including the 60% majority stake previously owned by

Keshet International Keshet International is the global production and distribution arm of Israeli media company Keshet Media Group (). Keshet International was established in 2012 and is now led by CEO Keren Shahar, who was appointed to the role at the start of 2023 ...

) for , giving it majority ownership of Crackit Productions and Tuesday's Child, among other studios.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1957 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Glasgow British companies established in 1957 Mass media companies established in 1957 STV Group Television in Scotland Television production companies of the United Kingdom