S2 was a television station broadcast throughout the Scottish and Grampian ITV regions by SMG plc, the holder of the Scottish and Grampian region ITV franchises. The channel existed for two years, from April 1999 until July 2001.
History
SMG announced the creation of the channel in September 1997. The channel would take some programmes from ITV2, but would carry its own devolved schedule, with emphasis on Scottish sport, mainly football, horse racing and golf. Andrew Flanagan of SMG said on 8 September that Scottish did not set up its own service under concerns that it would "cannibalise" STV's advertising revenue.[1]
S2 launched on the digital terrestrial platform ONdigital (The channel was also broadcast on cable television services NTL and Telewest) on 30 April 1999. Broadcasting from 4pm and 2am, the channel was targeted towards a 15- to 34-year-old youth audience and aired a mixture of drama and documentary programmes from the Scottish and Grampian libraries and a spree of new programmes. The channel's flagship programme, an entertainment programme named S2 Live, aired every night, presented by Sarah Heaney. S2 also broadcast sports coverage, including Scottish rugby.[2]