Bernard Ponsonby issued the bleak verdict on his former employer.
14:50, 10 Nov 2025Updated 15:07, 10 Nov 2025
Bernard Ponsonby
A top journalist who spent decades with STV has warned his former employer has no future amid a row over job losses.
Bernard Ponsonby, STV’s former Political Editor, predicted the current savings round was “just the start”.
Under proposals put forward by the company, 60 staff across STV are at risk and the dedicated news programme in the north of Scotland will be scrapped.
The plan was met with anger and concern across the political spectrum, with First Minister John Swinney among those voicing opposition.
Ponsonby, who was a regular fixture on STV during an illustrious career, told the “Ponsonby and Massie” podcast:
“It’s all rather depressing given that it’s a company I had an association with for 34 years. I don’t think STV has a future, simple as that.”
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“I think that the 60 job losses which the company are seeking at the moment is only the thin end of a wedge. It’s caught in an unbelievably bad financial storm. “
“You have the perfect storm. Your turnover is down, your profits are down, your advertising from linear advertising is down, and your ability to make money for making programs for other broadcasters is down as well.”
He continued: “They’re going to have a new chairman at the turn of the year, someone who specializes in turning around distressed businesses. And if I had to look ahead, I would say that the three million pounds of savings is just to start. The 60 job losses is just to start.
“The new chairman that comes in to turn around this distressed business will probably [be] under pressure from institutional shareholders [and] will probably, I think, streamline the management structure.
“And it wouldn’t at all surprise me if the current chief executive of STV is fired next year.”
He said he based his sacking claim on a “hunch”.
Ponsonby added: “If Sky do take over ITV, then I think that Sky would simply mop up and buy STV because the current market capitalization of the company, I think last time I looked was about £55m.”
STV declined to comment.
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