Independent Scotland would ditch BBC: leader

LONDON

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said Friday he would carve off the BBC's assets in Scotland to create a new public service broadcaster for the country if it voted for independence.

The pro-independence Scottish National Party leader plans to hold a referendum in late 2014 on Scotland leaving the United Kingdom.

He said splitting off from the British Broadcasting Corporation was part of the SNP's vision for an independent Scotland.

"We'd establish a national public service broadcaster based on the existing staff and assets of BBC Scotland," he told the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

"Further details on how that broadcaster would operate and its continuing relationship with the BBC will be published next year."

He said the new broadcaster would take the share of the licence fee currently paid to the BBC by viewers in Scotland.

All British households with a television must pay the fee, which is currently £145.50 ($230, 184 euros) per year.

Salmond said any future level of the new licence fee would be up for "discussion".

The devolved Scottish government currently has powers over some policy areas such as health and education, but other powers remain in the hands of the British government, such as foreign affairs and defence.

Jackson Carlaw, deputy leader of Scotland's pro-union opposition Conservatives, said of Salmond's speech: "This is another nonsensical outburst about how everything will be better in a separate Scotland -- the only things missing, as usual, are the evidence and the detail."