In the months leading up to opening night, Purdy pledged that the new channel would provide "first class entertainment" and "as much cultural programming as possible" as well as allowing "Scottish talent every opportunity to develop and be seen on STV".

In order to avoid similar chaos in Scotland, STV (in association with the television trade) arranged a series of 21 exhibitions in the principal towns and burghs in the reception area months ahead of launch.

[5] In July, it was announced that the Scottish actor James Robertson Justice, a Rank Organization film star, would introduce STV's opening programme, This is Scotland.

[citation needed] Scottish Television’s first sport-related programme was "Fanfare", which debuted on September 2, 1957 where, compered by Archie McCulloch, supporters of rival football club competed against one another each Monday.

[citation needed] The company broadcast musical entertainment, variety, documentary films presented by Dr John Grierson, and Scottish sports coverage.

[11] In 1965, the chairman of the Independent Television Authority Charles Hill paid a visit to STV's Glasgow studios during which he observed an edition of the popular daytime entertainment show The One O'Clock Gang.

Programmes were devised for the emerging countries in the British Commonwealth, and the Thomson Foundation was created to educate and train television producers, journalists and engineers, this operated from Kirkhill House – a bespoke studio complex near Newton Mearns.

[citation needed] Although the early days of the ITV network were a financial gamble, the STV service soon became profitable, resulting in Thomson's claim that "running a commercial television station is like having a licence to print money".

[citation needed] The following month, on 3 November, the Theatre Royal headquarters were badly damaged by a major fire started by an electrical fault, in which a firefighter, Archie McLay, died after falling through a trapdoor.

[14] Like many franchises within the ITV network, Scottish struggled through the late 1960s and early 1970s with the recession, increased transmitter rental fees, taxation on income (rather than profits), a decline in advertising revenue, and the costs of converting equipment for the launch of colour television.

In 1970, the company made a loss of £39,000;[15] a warning was given that regionalism would be abandoned, and a forced merger with Grampian Television would happen, unless the chancellor reduced the levy applied on advertising revenue.

[16] By late 1971, STV's fortunes recovered after a change in taxation rules reducing the company's payments from £466,000 to £234,000, and a general increase in advertising saw profits rise to £475,000 within the first six months of 1971.

This was in part to address criticism of the station's output, and included improved sports coverage, new dramas by Scottish writers, and enhanced local entertainment.

Managing Director William Brown remarked at the time: "One of the major factors in deciding to extend our activities, is the prospect of becoming nationally involved in the production of networked programmes for ITV2 if and when it begins".

[citation needed] In 1975, a short-term strike hit the ITV network in the spring, due to a dispute over the payments agreed before the government-imposed pay freeze came into force.

[citation needed] In October 1981, Scottish Television became the first ITV station to operate a regional Oracle teletext service, containing over 60 pages of local news, sport and information.

The company employed up to six film crews who could be assigned to providing daily local news coverage, football matches, or feature programming such as Redgauntlet or Weirs Way.

Local advertisements – where a single image was shown on screen whilst the continuity announcer read the promotional message 'live' – was sourced from a standard 35 mm slide.

This process often caused much annoyance to reporters and crews alike, as to ensure inclusion of a breaking news story for Scotland Today, film had to reach the labs no later than 4.30 pm.

[citation needed] By the early to mid-1980s, STV had followed the rest of the ITV network in dispensing with film and embracing electronic news gathering, with Sony's Betacam being the chosen system.

[citation needed] Throughout the 1980s, the company began gaining greater access to the national network, primarily through the soap opera Take the High Road and the long-running detective series Taggart, as well as programming for Channel 4.

[23] In 1990, Sir William Brown retired as managing director after 24 years of service, marking the longest serving chief executive in ITV history.

[26] When he transferred from the outgoing ITV company TVS, some of the station's children's programmes continued production under Scottish Television including Art Attack and How 2.

After retaining its franchise in 1991 unopposed with a bid of just £2,000 a year (just over £5 a day), plus 2% of their annual advertising revenue,[27][28] STV's production arm was placed into a separate company, Scottish Television Enterprises.

"[38] The new shows produced were Franklin, Anatole, The Dumb Bunnies, Flying Rhino Junior High, Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend and Birdz.

[40] Speculation followed in the summer of 1998 that STV's 20% stake in GMTV would be sold off to help raise cash for new acquisitions in England, since the company continued to have no debt and could easily afford new purchases.

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

Scottish's main base moved in 1974 to custom built facilities on Renfield Street in Cowcaddens on land opposite the Theatre Royal site.

Initially a static caption, an animated ident was introduced by 1965 in which the lion would spin inside a box, though this later modified as a simple zoom in following, according to some reports, a complaint from The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the man in charge of protecting Scotland's heraldry.

Glasgow-based animation company Liquid Image, working with the Scottish Television in-house design department, created the station's presentation packages in the 90s, first appearing on 1 January 1993 and 6 October 1996 respectively.