This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Scottish Television (now known as STV Central). It provides the ITV network service for Central Scotland.

The timeline also includes events for the merged STV channel after STV began covering Northern Scotland in 2006.

1950s 1952 14 March – Television becomes available in Scotland for the first time following the switching on of the BBC service on VHF ch3 from the Kirk o'Shotts transmitting station.

1957 31 August – At 5:30 pm, Scottish Television starts broadcasting on VHF ch10 from the newly built transmitter at Black Hill, close to the BBC's mast at Kirk o'Shotts and becomes the first ITV company to broadcast seven days a week. 18 September – Scottish launches a sports programme called Sports Desk which was soon renamed Scotsport. The programme would be broadcast for the next fifty years.

1958 No events.

1959 No events.

1960s 1960 No events.

1961 No events.

1962 May – Scottish Television's weekly listings magazine is renamed from TV Guide to The Viewer.

1963 No events.

1964 Scottish is given a three-year extension to its licence. This is later extended by a further year. 15 August – Scottish launches Scotsport Results to provide Scottish viewers with a round-up of the day's Scottish football. It is broadcast on Saturday teatimes at around 5pm during the football season.

1965 The chairman of the Independent Television Authority Charles Hill pays a visit to STV's Glasgow studios during which he observed an edition of the popular daytime entertainment show The One O'Clock Gang. He was so appalled by it, he personally axed the programme with the words My God, how long have you been getting away with this?.Cherry, S, ITV: The People's Channel, Reynolds and Hearn, London 2005 Consequently, Scottish no longer broadcasts programming at lunchtime. September – The final edition of Scottish TV's listings magazine The Viewer is published. Subsequently, Scottish's listings are carried in the magazine TVTimes.

1966 Scottish Television is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

1967 Scottish Television retains its franchise, despite strong competition from a consortium led by the future BBC Director General Alasdair Milne and strong indications that the company would lose its franchise. Lord Thomson is forced by the ITA to reduce his stake in the station from 80% to 25%, effectively ending the company's standing as a subsidiary of the Thomson Group.

1968 August – A technicians strike forces ITV off the air for several weeks although management manage to launch a temporary ITV Emergency National Service with no regional variations. 30 August - A television relay of Black Hill opens for Rothesay on VHF ch8. 13 December - a further relay station opens at Rosneath, improving reception of Scottish Television for viewers in Dunoon and the Firth of Clyde areas, on VHF ch13.

1969 31 January - a third and final VHF relay broadcasting Scottish on ch12 opens at Lethahill, improving reception in the Girvan and Ayr areas. October – Scottish starts producing programmes in colour and marks the occasion by opening new secondary studios at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh. November – A major fire badly damages Scottish's Glasgow studios.It was a night of real drama as fire and death hit Glasgow theatre, Evening Times, 12 March 2013 13 December – Scottish starts broadcasting in colour, using the 625 lines PAL system from the Black Hill transmitter on ch43.

1970s 1970 Scottish launches a brand new ‘’STV’’ logo with the words Scottish Television displayed below the actual logo.TV-Live: Scottish Television

1971 27 September - a second high-power UHF transmitter opens broadcasting Scottish Television from Craigkelly on UHF ch24. The tower, at Burntisland, improves Colour television for much of Edinburgh and parts of Fife.

1972 Scottish begins the construction of its new purpose-built complex in Glasgow, at Cowcaddens. 11 September – Scotland Today is launched, although the programme is only broadcast for ten months each year. Magazine programmes are shown during the summer break. 16 October – Following a law change which removed all restrictions on broadcasting hours, ITV is able to launch an afternoon service. 1 December - Colour television reception is improved south-west of Glasgow with the opening of the Darvel UHF transmitter on ch23.

1973 No events.

1974 The 1974 franchise round sees no changes in ITV's contractors as it is felt that the huge cost in switching to colour television would have made the companies unable to compete against rivals in a franchise battle. 12 December – The official opening of Scottish Television's new studios by Princess Alexandra takes place.

1975 23 May-9 June – A strike over the payments agreed before the government-imposed pay freeze came into force results in many ITV companies being unable to broadcast.The Times, Saturday, 24 May 1975; pg. 2 Blackout of most ITV programmes by technicians' strike By a Staff Reporter All of the companies affected by the strike were fully back on air by the end of May, apart from at Scottish where the dispute dragged on for a further fortnight.

1976 1 April – Following ITV wanting to have a Scottish soap for its daytime line-up, Scottish launches Garnock Way. 11 June - The Torosay transmitter broadcasting on UHF ch25 opens, extending Scottish TV in colour to the Oban and Fort William areas.

1977 No events.

1978 Scotland Today’s annual summer break is scrapped and consequently the programme is now on air all year round. 7 October – Following a 21.8% increase in profits for the first six months of 1978, Scottish announces an increase in local programming.Glasgow Herald, p.11, 7 October 1978

1979 10 August – The ten week ITV strike forces Scottish Television off the air. The strike ends on 24 October. Scottish ends production of soap opera Garnock Way due to a lack of interest from the English companies - only one English region (Southern Television) had ever broadcast the show, and only did so for just over one year.

1980s 1980 19 February – The first edition of soap-opera Take the High Road is broadcast. Unlike predecessor Garnock Way, the new soap was carried by all ITV regions and they continued to do so until the late 1990s.

1981 October – Scottish Television becomes the first ITV station to launch a regional Oracle teletext service, containing over 60 pages of local news, sport and information.

1982 No events.

1983 1 February – ITV's breakfast television service TV-am launches. It is a UK-wide service and therefore contains no Scottish-specific content. Consequently, Scottish's broadcast day now begins at 9:25 am.

1984 8 October – Scotland Today is relaunched as a features-led magazine format with the news relegated to brief summaries before and after the programme.Kelly gets his eye in, Gavin Docherty, Evening Times, 8 October 1984

1985 4 January – Scottish Television's last day of transmission using the 405-lines system. 31 August – Scottish launches a new computer-generated ident and revives the Scottish Television branding.

1986 20 October – Following considerable criticism, including from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, the 1984 changes to Scotland Today are reversed and the programme once again becomes a news bulletin with the feature elements transferred to a new lunchtime programme called Live at One Thirty.

1987 7 September – Following the transfer of ITV Schools to Channel 4, ITV provides a full morning programme schedule, with advertising, for the first time. The new service includes regular five-minute national and regional news bulletins.

1988 13 February – Scottish launches 24-hour broadcasting. Scottish abandons in-vision continuity, apart from the overnight hours.

1989 1 September – ITV introduces its first official logo as part of an attempt to unify the network under one image whilst retaining regional identity. Scottish chooses not to fully adopt the ident although it does use it in conjunction with its own identity, which Scottish had refreshed earlier in 1989.

1990s 1990 No events.

1991 October – Scottish rebrands its overnight service as Scottish Night Time, and removes the overnight in-vision continuity.Ident Central Scottish Television Night Time 16 October – Scottish retains its licence to broadcast. It bids a nominal amount (£2,000 a year, plus 2% of their annual advertising revenue) for the licence due to there being no other applicants. Scottish is one of the backers of GMTV which is awarded the breakfast television contract. Scottish TV's production arm is placed into a separate company, Scottish Television Enterprises.

1992 No events.

1993 1 January – Scottish Television launches new idents and presentation. January – Scottish launches a 30-minute lunchtime edition of Scotland Today. May – Scotsport Results is axed after almost 30 years on air.

1994 Mirror Group buys a 20% stake of Scottish Television.

1995 September – Flextech sells its 20% stake in HTV to Scottish Television.

1996 June – Scottish launches a new political programme called Platform. July – Scottish renames itself Scottish Media Group (SMG), doing so to reflect its expansion into other aspects of the media following the acquisition of Caledonian Publishing – then-publishers of The Herald and the Glasgow Evening Times. and Scottish 6 October – Scottish updates its on-screen presentation. October – United News & Media buys Scottish Television's 20% stake in HTV. 1 November – SMG plc and BSkyB launch Sky Scottish as a joint venture. Broadcast for two hours each evening, the channel is aimed at Scots living in other parts of the UK.

1997 June – SMG buys Grampian Television, the ITV contractor for Northern Scotland, for £105 million.Scottish Media buys Grampian for 105m pounds, Cathy Newman, The Independent, 11 June 1997 Shortly afterwards, the company became SMG.

1998 31 May – Sky Scottish closes because the channel failed to meet its financial targets. 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place.

1999 24 March – Mirror Group sells its 18.6% stake in SMG to Granada. 30 April – S2 launches.

2000s 2000 28 February – Having decided not to adopt the 1999 ITV generic look, Scottish and Grampian launch a new on-screen logo.Ident Central: Scottish and Grampian 2000–2003 December – SMG acquires a 14.9% stake in Scottish Radio Holdings. and four months later it increases its stake to 27.7%.

2001 27 July – S2 closes and consequently ITV2 starts broadcasting in Scotland.

2002 No events.

2003 27 April – After 1,517 episodes and more than 23 years on air, the final edition of soap opera Take the High Road is broadcast. June – STV North's Aberdeen headquarters move to new smaller studios in the city's Tullos area in June 2003.

2004 January – SMG sells its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings to EMAP for £90 million in anticipation of consolidation in the radio market. 8 January – STV launches a new political magazine programme Politics Now. It replaces Platform and Grampian's politics and current affairs programme Crossfire. 2 February – SMG sells its stake in GMTV to ITV plc for £31 million. Autumn – The lunchtime edition of Scotland Today is axed.

2005 No events.

2006 30 May – Scottish Television is rebranded as 'STV' and the rebrand is rolled out across all of Scotland, thereby consigning the Grampian Television brand to history after 45 years. The area formerly covered by Grampian is now called STV North. STV moves from their Cowcaddens base to a new, smaller building at Pacific Quay alongside the headquarters of BBC Scotland.

2007 8 January – STV launches separate news services for the East and West of the STV Central region, initially as a five-minute opt out within the 6:00 pm edition of Scotland Today on weeknights.

2008