Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy applies to our digital products and services which include our website (stv.tv); our STV Player, our competition and prize draws, and our email marketing communications (the “Services”), with the exception of our News website and our News application. The Privacy Notice applying to our News website and News app can be found at news.stv.tv.

STV Central Limited (“STV” or “we”), a company registered in Scotland (company number SC172149), with registered office at Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1PQ (“STV”) is the data controller responsible for looking after your personal data in line with data protection and privacy laws.

We are committed to ensuring your privacy and protecting the data we hold about you. This Privacy Policy explains how we do this and describes how and when STV collects and processes your personal data.

Please note that on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you, we may provide additional privacy notices so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data (such as when you enter a competition or are invited to submit a Contribution).

By using the Services, you are presumed to have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Please note that we update our Privacy Policy from time to time, so please take a fresh read through every so often. If we make significant changes, we will make that clear on our Services, or by some other means of contact such as email.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 5 January 2026.

Contents

• WHAT DATA IS COLLECTED AND WHEN?

• COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

• WHY WE COLLECT DATA

• HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA SECURE?

• SHARING OF PERSONAL DATA

• MARKETING

• LINKS TO OTHER SITES

• YOUR RIGHTS

• DATA RETENTION

• CONTACT US

• STV RADIO PRIVACY POLICY

1) WHAT DATA IS COLLECTED AND WHEN?

The type of information that may be collected will vary depending on which of our Services you are accessing and includes:

Registration Data: When you join STV by opening an account with us, we require your name, title, email address (and a password), postcode, and date of birth. Your choice of subscription plan will also be part of the Registration Data. 

Subscription Data: If you subscribe to one of our paid-for subscription plans known as “STV Player+” and “STV Player+ with Access to Selected Premier Sports Content” (individually, a “Subscription Plan” and together, our “Subscription Plans”), we also collect information to set up and administer your account and to enable you to access the functionality and content associated with your Subscription Plan such as:

• your card payment details (although please note these will be collected directly by our third-party payment services provider, Stripe, and will not be visible to us other than the last four digits of your payment card number (if you subscribe to one of our Subscription Plans through our app via a third party (for example, an app store or platform), then you should read the privacy policy of the relevant third party for details of how they process your card payment details)); 

• your selected payment method (for example, if you choose to pay for your Subscription Plan using your PayPal account, Stripe will tell us that you have selected PayPal as your payment method); 

• your payment plan; and          

• your payment history for your Subscription Plan which may also be provided to us by Stripe.  

Note - the processing of your personal data, including card details is also governed by Stripe’s privacy policy, which can be accessed here: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy, and, in addition, where you choose PayPal as your payment method, PayPal’s privacy statement, which can be accessed here: www.paypal.com/uk/legalhub/paypal/privacy-full.

Event Data: information about your journey through our Services, which may be sent to Facebook, Google or TikTok for the purposes of STV promotions, as set out below. This may include an identifier or signal for certain subscription, registration, viewing or browsing actions.

Contact Data:

• Where you enter a competition, we will require your name and email address, we may also require your phone number and full address where we need to arrange delivery of the prize.

• Any personal data you provide if you get in touch with us via email, phone or post with any comments or questions.

• Data you provide when you contribute to our Services (such as submit videos or photos to us (your “Contribution”)).

Analytical Data: Information collected from cookies and other tracking methods about how you browse and use and interact with our Services and communications including, for example, the frequency of your visits; the time you spend viewing our content; behavioural data (interactions with our website/app such as clicks, taps, scrolls, accessibility needs) and what types of content you like most.  

Technical Data: Includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, device identifiers, device advertising identifiers, location, operating system and platform, referring website addresses, date/time of visits, page view data, Internet service provider, click data, and information about your device including make, model and data connection type.

Marketing Data: Includes your instructions as to whether or not you wish to receive email marketing from STV about STV Player, STV Radio, and our other STV Services.

Data from Other Sources: We combine information that you provide to us (and that we collect from time to time across different parts of our Services) with information that we receive from third parties. Companies such as advertisers you have bought a product or services from, who have obtained your permission to do, may share data with us. We also receive demographic profiling segmented information from Experian based on a combination of Experian proprietary, public and trusted third-party sources. We also use a third-party service to collect publicly available information from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, for example likes, shares, tweets and posts about STV and our programmes.

2) COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

When using our Services, Technical Data and Analytical Data will automatically be collected by us, browsing actions and patterns by using cookies and other similar technologies. Our reasons for doing this include: to operate and enhance the performance of our Services; distinguish you from other users; serve you with targeted ads and personalise our communications with you and your experience of our Services. 

If you opt-in to non-essential analytics and performance cookies, we and our technology providers may use additional non-essential cookies to measure, test and improve aspects of our Service. For example, we use Microsoft Clarity to create a better experience and to optimise our Services and your interaction with them. Microsoft Clarity is an analytics tool that helps us understand your online experiences by capturing information about how you use and interact with our Service(e.g., time spent on particular pages, which links they choose to click, click rates(to measure things like hesitation or frustration), etc.) through heatmaps to improve our Service. Website usage data is captured using first party cookies and similar technologies to visualise interaction and identify issues. We use this information for site optimisation. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

If you have opted in to STV Promotions, we may also use the Meta (Facebook) or TikTok Pixels or Google Tags to measure your response to our promotions on other websites and services you might visit. This helps us make more relevant programme and service recommendations to you. They’re based on unique identifiers of your browser and device. If you do not opt-in, you may still see STV promotions on these websites and services, but they may be less relevant to you. Note that for some versions of our Services, such as Apple TV, only essential cookies are used. Note that when you download or use our apps on your mobile device or TV, information will be accessed from or stored to your device. This is done by using technologies similar to web browser cookies. These technologies carry out similar functions to web browser cookies, e.g. to enable the app to ‘remember’ you or to provide you with the content you have requested.

Please see our Cookie Policy for further details and how to manage your cookies.

3) WHY WE COLLECT DATA

Data protection and privacy laws permit us to collect and use your personal data on a limited number of grounds. The key grounds upon which we rely are:

Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and/or those of third parties with whom we share your data as described in this policy, and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests (please see below for more info). For example, we have a legitimate interest in, personalising our services for you, showing you ads we think you will like, measuring and analysing the performance of our services and enabling us to improve them. As mentioned in more detail in sections 5 and 7, we work with ITV to provide and target some of our advertising. To do this, we share some of your personal data with ITV. This too is based on the legitimate interests of STV and ITV. 

• Where we have your consent. The only circumstance in which we rely on consent as our basis for processing your personal data is when you agree to receive email marketing from STV and for our use of certain non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

• Where we need it to perform the contract we have with you (including our Terms of Use or other applicable terms and conditions).

• In order to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation. This would include compliance with regulatory codes such as Ofcom, and other laws and regulations.

In the table below we have set out a summary of our activities which involve the processing of your personal data and our legal bases for doing so.

Most commonly, we process your personal data on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests to do so, or the legitimate interests of third parties with whom we share your data, and we explain what those interests are in the following table.

4) HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA SECURE?

The security of your data is important to us. We have technical and operational security measures in place internally within STV, and externally with our authorised suppliers to protect the data we collect, use and store, against unauthorised access or disclosure, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction or loss.

We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

However, please be aware that the sending of information through the internet is not completely secure. We do not guarantee the security of your data transmitted to and from our Services over the internet, and you accept the inherent security implications of using the internet.

5) SHARING OF PERSONAL DATA

We share your data in the following circumstances:

When we engage service providers and data processing companies to act on our behalf from time to time to process, store and otherwise help us manage your data, to provide analysis, to provide and measure performance of digital advertising and to deliver specific functionality. We require those we share it with to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law and our strict instructions. Please note that some of these companies may be either located and/or have servers which are located outside the UK (please see below for further detail).

If whilst entering one of our competitions or prize draws you have expressly agreed that you are happy for us to do so, we will share some of your details with the prize provider or competition sponsor of that competition or prize draw for marketing purposes. Please note that any shared data will then be subject to the privacy policy of any prize provider or competition sponsor. We may also share your Contact Data with the provider to arrange the delivery of a prize where applicable.

Some competitions and prize draws featured on our website are promoted by STV Audio Limited ("STV Audio" which operates as "STV Radio") (a company within the STV group of companies). If you enter a competition or prize draw that is promoted by STV Audio via our website, we will share your name, email address, and information you provide and we collect as part of your entry with STV Audio for the purpose of facilitating your participation in the competition or prize draw and to allow STV Audio Limited to operate the competition or prize draw. Please note that such shared data will then be subject to the privacy policy of STV Audio which you can access here: STV Radio Privacy Policy.

Where we are required or permitted to do so by law, or to protect or enforce our rights or the rights of any third party or our users (which may include steps taken arising from a breach of our Terms of Use or terms and conditions relating to our Subscription Plans). 

In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your data to the prospective seller or buyer, or new business partner.

If you subscribe to one of our Subscription Plans, we use a third-party payment services provider, Stripe, to process payments on our behalf. Stripe will process your payment card details on our behalf (unless you choose PayPal as your payment method, in which case PayPal will process your payment card details in accordance with the terms of your agreement with PayPal). The payment card data is sent directly to Stripe and is not visible to us other than the last four digits of your payment card number. If you select PayPal as your payment method for your Subscription Plan, PayPal has asked us to let you know that PayPal is an independent data controller for the purpose of processing personal data that (i) you provide to us and that we pass on to PayPal through our use of PayPal’s payment services and (ii) PayPal may collect from your device and browser through use by us of PayPal’s payment services. PayPal’s privacy statement can be accessed here: www.paypal.com/uk/legalhub/paypal/privacy-full . Stripe will provide us with your payment history for your Subscription Plan to allow us to administer your Subscription Plan and deal with any related queries you may have. Please note if you subscribe to one of our Subscription Plans through our app via a third party (for example, an app store or platform), then you should read the privacy policy of the relevant third party for details of how they process your personal data.

We share your Registration Data and certain data about your use of the STV Player with ITV Consumer Limited (“ITV”) for the purposes of advertising, as further described in section 7 below. We may also share your personal data with industry measurement bodies such as BARB(Broadcasters Audience Research Board) uses information collected about what is viewed to determine the size of the TV audience. For further information on this, please see our Cookie Policy.

We also promote STV content and services TikTok Facebook and Google. To do this, we will usually send an identifier to TikTok, Facebook and Google which they match with their records. If you are identified as a user of both services, we may send relevant STV promotions which you will see on TikTok, Facebook or Google. Where we have shown such promotions, and you have opted-in, we may use the TikTok Pixel, Meta Pixel or Google Tag (as applicable) together with related services to measure how you interact with the promotion. You can see more information about this in our Cookie Policy. Note that this does not apply to certain versions of our Services such as Apple TV. For these purposes, we may use TikTok Business tools, and share certain Event Data with TikTok to evaluate and improve our advertising. We are joint controllers with TikTok of the data shared for these purposes, meaning that we jointly decide on how and why the data is processed.  For this purpose, we enter into TikTok’s Joint Controller terms, which set out the responsibilities of us and TikTok in relation to the processing. In particular, TikTok is responsible for dealing with access requests relating to the joint processing.

For details about on how TikTok processes Personal Data, including the legal basis TikTok relies on and the ways to exercise your rights against TikTok, can be found in the relevant TikTok inventory privacy notice: https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/eea/privacy-policy/en?selection=true

We also make use of certain Google products to evaluate and improve our advertising on Google (including understanding the actions that you take on our website) by sending them Event Data Google may use the information they collect as part of the processes described above for additional purposes, details of which can be found here along with the ways you can control what Google does with that information: https://business.safety.google/privacy/.

We may make use of the Business Tools provided by Meta (Facebook). These allow STV to send Event Data to Meta (including how you’ve interacted with our Services). This allows Meta to provide us with reports on our Facebook advertising, to allow us to evaluate and improve this. Meta processes data as a data processor on behalf of STV when it provides analysis and similar services through the Business Tools. STV are joint data controllers with Meta Ireland Limited when we share Event Data (relating to your use of our Services) with Facebook Ireland to help target and create our marketing campaigns. This enables us to evaluate our marketing campaigns and recommend more relevant programmes and services to you. For these purposes: 

• Meta Ireland Limited acts as a joint controller with STV. This is subject to Meta Ireland’s standard joint controller addendum, which can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum . 

• Meta Ireland Limited is responsible for enabling certain rights as a data subject with regard to the personal data stored by Meta Ireland after the joint processing.

Further information on how Meta Ireland Limited processes personal data, including the legal basis that Meta Ireland Limited relies on and the ways to exercise data subject rights against Meta Ireland Limited, can be found in Meta Ireland Limited's privacy policy at their privacy notice can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.

As mentioned above, we rely on legitimate interests for promotions of this kind. You can opt out by adjusting your cookie settings. You may still see STV promotions while this is processed.

Note that STV promotions may appear on third party sites based on your behaviours on these sites, or the behaviours of those you connect with (for example liking and sharing on Facebook) This content is controlled by the third-party site, but you may be able to update your preferences to stop these messages appearing in future.

Services such as Meta and TikTok also act independently as a data controller when they combine the Event Data with the that from other advertisers to improve and refine its ad targeting algorithm to help it deliver more personalised ads to its users. Further information about this can be found on the relevant provider privacy policy.

Transfers of Data Out of the UK

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK to authorised suppliers providing functionality or other services to us, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries within the EEA or other countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Government.

• Otherwise, where we use service providers outside the UK or the EEA, we will only transfer your personal data using appropriate mechanisms approved by the UK Government (which may include specific contractual documentation) which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK. For example, STV use Stripe, who is based in the US, to process STV Player payment transactions using Standard Contractual Clauses. Stripe’s privacy policy can be found here: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy

Please Contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.

6) EMAIL MARKETING AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

We will only send you marketing emails about STV’s services where you have given us consent to do so. Some of these communications are issued regularly to keep you up to date, while others may be prompted by specific events, or your most recent activity on our STV Player. 

When you agree to receive email marketing from us we will send you personalised messages about our STV Player (TV, on-demand, radio), STV Radio, and other STV services provided by STV’s group of companies (including STV Audio Limited, which operates STV Radio). We will send you updates about our programmes, offers for our subscription services, and invitations so that you can participate in our competitions and surveys (including with our ScotPulse market research team) and more.

If you download one of our mobile apps then we may send you messages, including marketing messages, via push notifications. You can disable these at any time by altering the notification settings on your mobile device or by uninstalling the app. Please note that these communications may be personalised for you on the basis of information you have provided to us, and your use of our Services, including your Subscription Plan. Note that we may use your Registration, Technical, Subscription and/or Analytical Data to form a view on what we think may be of interest to you. 

You can unsubscribe at any time from email marketing communications. Please go to the Privacy page under “manage your account” where you can manage the communications you receive. You can also unsubscribe via the unsubscribe link at the foot of any email or contact us at enquiries@stv.tv.

Please note that if you unsubscribe from receiving email marketing from us, you will still receive service emails from us about your account or to update you on any material changes to our terms and conditions, privacy and cookies policies.

On occasion, when interacting with our Services, such as entering a competition or prize draw, you may be asked for your permission to share some of your details to a prize provider or sponsor for their marketing purposes. That will be your choice, and at your discretion. To subsequently opt-out of receiving any such communications from a prize provider or sponsor, you will need to contact them directly. Please note that STV is not responsible for the communications or the content of any communications you receive from any such third party.

7) PERSONALISED ADS

Our Services are generally funded by the sale of advertising and are free for our customers. The more income we generate from selling ads, the more we can invest in new TV programmes and services. We consider we have a legitimate business interest in using information we hold about you to help us promote our own products or services or to sell adverts (for example the adverts that appear during TV programmes you watch live or on demand) which may be of interest to you. 

In addition to showing you ads that may be of interest to you we may also limit the number of ads you may see. This is called frequency capping. We, and our advertising partners, have a legitimate interest in making sure that you don't see repetitive or less relevant advertising.

ITV assists STV with the provision of certain of the advertisements on the STV Player, including targeted adverts. To enable ITV to do this, STV shares  with ITV your Registration Data together with information about your use of the STV Player, including: the programmes you watch on the STV Player; information about how you watch programmes such as the device (e.g. on mobile or smart TV); your Personalised Advertising setting; which ads you have been shown, how long they’d been displayed and if you viewed or clicked them; and whether you subscribe to one of our Subscription Plans.  ITV then becomes a ‘data controller’ of that data for advertising purposes only. 

For advertising purposes, ITV uses this data in the same way as it uses information about its own customers to create a ‘profile’ of you or your household to show you ads for third party products, brands and services which ITV thinks may be of interest to you. ITV may also get information about you from their trusted third-party partners who are allowed to share additional personal information or inferences about you or people considered to be like you. If you are an ITV registered customer and an STV Player registered customer, ITV will use the information it already holds about you, including your ITV registration data and ITV usage information (see the ITV Privacy Policy for an explanation about this information). and your existing ITV ‘profile’ for the purposes of enabling some targeted ads to you on the STV Player. 

Please see the ITV Privacy Policy: https://www.itv.com/terms/articles/privacy , for further information about how ITV processes the data shared by STV as data controller for the purposes of advertising and how to exercise your rights as a data subject.

To opt-out of receiving such personalised ads, you can do so by managing your privacy setting through your Profile. Note that you will still see ads, however they may be less relevant to you.

8) LINKS TO OTHER SITES

To inform and enhance your experience when on our sites, or using our Services, we provide a number of links to third party websites who apply their own privacy policies. Please note that this Privacy Policy will not apply to any such third-party website. We do not control such third-party websites or have any responsibility for them.

9) YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to:

• Request access to a copy of the personal data we hold about you (commonly known as a “data subject access request or “SAR””).

• Request correction of any inaccurate personal data that we hold about you. Note that you can do most of this by amending your details via your account profile page.

• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully, or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with a legal obligation. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information.

• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

• Make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us at privacyteam@stv.tv in the first instance.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. 

Always keep in mind:

• If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above or otherwise to make a complaint, please contact us by email at privacyteam@stv.tv or in writing at the address at section 11 below

• You can update your personal details or change your password at any time by going to Your Profile at stv.tv or e-mailing us directly at enquiries@stv.tv.

• Please make sure that you update your details as soon as possible with all relevant changes.

• You can close your account at any time by visiting Your Profile or e-mailing us directly at enquiries@stv.tv.

• We will process your requests as soon as reasonably practicable.

Note that Meta Ireland is responsible for enabling data subjects' rights with regard to the personal data stored by Meta Ireland after the joint processing referenced in section 5 above.

10) DATA RETENTION

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Generally, this means that we will hold your personal data on our systems for as long as you use the Services, and for a reasonable amount of time after you close your account, as detailed below:

• For the most part, we will retain personal data for as long as you are registered with us to use the Services. On account closure by you, your account will be closed and your personal data deleted or otherwise anonymised within 6 months. We remove all personal identifiers to anonymise information about the use of our services and retain it for management information and statistical purposes only. You can close your account at any time by selecting the close button on the personal details page within the manage account section of your profile, or by contacting us at enquiries@stv.tv.  

• We also review accounts from time to time and delete accounts that: (a) have been opened but have been active 12 months after registration; or (b) have not been used for over 5 years.  In each case, we will contact you by email to let you know your account will be deleted and you will have an opportunity to re-activate it. Otherwise, your account will be closed and all personal data deleted as above.

• If you have subscribed to one of our Subscription Plans and decide to cancel your subscription or we cancel your subscription due to non-payment, we notify Stripe of your account closure and to delete the information they process on our behalf. For details of how Stripe retain data, please see their privacy policy. We will keep your payment history for up to 7 years, to comply tax, accounting and financial reporting obligations. Please note if you subscribe to one of our Subscription Plans through our app via a third party (for example, an app store or platform), then you should read the privacy policy of the relevant third party for details of how they process your personal data. 

• In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

• For personal data you provide to enter a prize draw, the retention period will depend on the nature of the prize, generally it will be no longer than 12 months after the delivery of the prize, unless we inform you otherwise.

• Where you contribute content together with your personal information (User Generated Content or UGC) please refer to our Terms of Use for further information about how long we may store such material.

11) CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or you would like to exercise any of your legal rights, please contact STV's privacy team using the details set out below.

Privacy Team
STV Central Limited
Pacific Quay
Glasgow
G51 1PQ

e-mail: privacyteam@stv.tv 

Updated 5 January 2026