Recommendations

  1. Ofcom should guarantee that every home in Wales has at least two options for digital TV reception.

  2. The BBC and ITV plans for Freesat, which have been in the gestation for more than three years, should be hastened – and should definitely not extend beyond March 2008. Channel 4, E4 and Channel 5 should be persuaded to be part of the Freesat platform.

  3. The price for a BBC/ITV Freesat box and installation should be kept below £100.

  4. In celebrating the 25th anniversary of S4C we should seek to ensure its future by confirming its financial settlement in statute before devolving responsibility for its budget to the National Assembly for Wales.

  5. S4C should remain a predominantly Welsh language service, but it should commit itself to providing a service for English language Wales as well.

  6. In particular it should ensure that all sporting fixtures can be viewed with either English or Welsh commentary.

  7. The proposal to create a virtual S4C Children’s channel should proceed.

  8. The programming the BBC supplies to S4C should include some English language programming of the type recently created for BBC2W.

  9. BBC Wales should seek to hold a mirror up to Wales so that we can see ourselves more clearly, but it also needs to ensure that Wales gets to see the whole of the UK. It is every bit as much a part of BBC Wales’s role to challenge parochialism and introversion in Wales as it is to foster a welsh identity.

  10. The BBC’s national network news and current affairs programmes need to ensure that they show the whole of the UK, including Wales.

  11. BBC Wales should further develop its online service so that viewers can watch genuinely local stories with high quality video and audio streamed online.

  12. The public service requirements for ITV Wales should not be weakened. In particular the requirement to provide 9 ½ hours a week of Wales-specific programming should remain.

  13. Channel 4, presently undergoing an internal review, should be required to take seriously its remit in Wales by producing news and current affairs programmes that cover Wales.

  14. Ofcom should consider means of making local community radio possible across the whole of Wales, with lower licence charges.

Have Your Say...
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john dean, Flintshire 2007-10-29 11:13:59

I agree 100%
catherine jones, mold 2007-10-29 14:35:45

What's stopping a S4C-style channel in English for Wales? It could be under the wing of a Welsh Broadcasting Authority that included both it and S4C. It's not an option to put English language programmes on S4C - they'd be off-peak and marginalised. Far better to create a dedicated channel for quality material about Wales.
chris bryant, 2007-10-29 17:21:19

The only thing that stops an english language welsh channel is the lack of space (or spectrum) and the cost. Channels have to compete with ambulances, police, armed forces, garage doors etc etc for spectrum and there just isn't enough for a dedicated channel except perhaps on cable and that would only reach a quarter of houses in wales.
Blewyn, Oman 2007-10-30 09:43:34

Cease all English-language transmissions in Wales. Within a generation Wales will have an unassailable internal economy based around the use of Welsh and our workers will enjoy a distinct advantage over their monoglot English competitors. We can always rely on the English to fail to learn any other language. Polyglots have a great economic advantage - ask any call centre worker in Bombay.
Elidir Jones, Cardiff 2007-10-30 10:55:09

"The programming the BBC supplies to S4C should include some English language programming of the type recently created for BBC2W." I assume, then, that Mr Bryant would approve of BBC2W creating some Welsh-language programming in return? Seems only fair. There are hundreds of English-language channels, and only one Welsh-language channel. Obviously one too many for some people.
gareth harrison, Denbighshire 2007-10-30 13:46:58

I don't agree that digital S4C should be forced to broadcast English language programmes. With the presence of BBC1 Wales, BBC 2W, News 24, BBC Parliament and ITV Wales it seems that there are enough English language channels to cater for English language programmes concerning Wales and Welsh matters. S4C is not the only Welsh channel, therefore why should it be forced to comprimise its status as a Welsh-language channel? It seems that only Welsh-language speakers or institutions are expected to operate bilingually from the recommendations you have made.
Craig Hughes, Newtown & Cardiff 2007-10-31 23:00:11

Chris, I think that you make some really good points in your pamphlet about the current state and the future of broadcasting in Wales. I agree with you that English language Welsh programming is extremely important to our country. However I disagree with you that S4C should be bilingual. English language programming from Wales should remain and be increased on the mainstream English language channels, BBC1 and 2 and ITV Wales. Welsh people do not want to make a conscious decision to watch programmes from Wales by tuning in to S4C. This would just make the BBC and ITV become London-based channels and leave us with only one Wales-based channel. It would also dilute S4C, taking us back 25 years when non-Welsh speakers were annoyed by Welsh programmes and Welsh speakers annoyed that they can't watch Welsh language programmes when they want to. I totally agree with you that S4C should make more use of digital technology by providing English language soundtracks on sporting events via the red button. The BBC and even Sky Sports have already provided this the other way round. However, we must also look to the challenges of the next decade. I believe that channels as we know them will become less important. WebTV and IPTV will become the norm and we will choose the programmes we want watch, rather than choosing the channels we want to watch. It imperative therefore, that the media in Wales keeps ahead of its game by thinking of innovative programming and methods of attracting viewers. Let's make sure that we still have a successful media industry in Wales in the next ten years.