S4C

All the political parties in Wales had an explicit role in bringing S4C into existence. The Nationalist Gwynfor Evans threatened to fast to death unless a Welsh language channel was created. In 1980 the former Labour Secretary of State for Wales Cledwyn Hughes together with the Archbishop of Wales and Sir Goronwy Daniel pushed Willie Whitelaw as Home Secretary not to renege on his promise to legislate for S4C. And the Conservative Government finally brought S4C into existence in 1982.

That cross-party support remains fully intact, notwithstanding the very significant three challenges the channel faces today.

1. Audiences

S4C’s share of all viewers at all times of day has fallen dramatically in the last 12 years – from 9.3% to 3.6% - and in peak hours it has fallen from 6.2% to 3.4%. The last couple of years has seen a 15% increase in the peak times viewing, against the trend for most terrestrial broadcasters, but S4C has lost a lot of its audience.

S4C’s share in peak time has risen very slightly in the last year, but its total reach (including English language programming) has continued to fall – this time from 36% to 34%.

S4C has a weekly reach of 24% for its Welsh language hours, but 34% for its total output – taking it to 864,000 rather than 601,000.

All of these trends are likely to continue when digital switchover comes as all rather than most viewers have a choice of S4C and Channel 4.

2. Programming

When S4C was the enforced fourth channel in the vast of majority of Welsh homes, it was in Channel 4’s interest to provide S4C with English language programming (and it was their statutory obligation). That way they could guarantee higher UK-wide audience figures for their programmes – and could therefore command higher advertising revenue.

This is no longer the case. Where once Welsh viewers could only watch Big Brother on S4C, in the majority of digital Welsh homes they can now watch the programme on Channel 4 (even though it does not enjoy the 104 position on the Sky Electronic Programme Guide) and since S4C Digidol is monolingual, Channel 4 now provides very little programming to S4C. The fall in viewing figures for Big Brother on S4C is dramatic – between 2006 and ‘07 a 55% fall from 46,400 to 20,800.

The one constant, however, is the contribution that the BBC has to provide, which is laid down by section 29 of the Broadcasting Act 1996 as 10 hours a week. In 2006 the BBC provided 524 hours of S4C programming, valued at £20.6m. Under the BBC/S4C Strategic Partnership, there is a joint planning framework under which the two broadcasters discuss and agree which programmes the BBC contributes to S4C. The programme plan that results is then sent to both the BBC Trust and S4C Authority for approval. 

Even with such an arrangement it is unclear how S4C will be able to fill the gap in its programming.

3. Finances

S4C’s subsidy has grown according to a strict formula throughout the life of the channel. However, it also enjoyed a healthy growth in advertising and programme sales income during the 80s and 90s, reaching a peak of £13 million per annum in 2002. In recent years this figure has declined significantly. In 2006 it stood at £5,353,000, down from £5,849,000 the previous year. Most broadcasters are having to find ways of making savings, but the pressure on S4C finances is acute.

International Comparisons

S4C is not unique. Many other countries have invested in channels that might otherwise have proved economically unsustainable.

In Spain there are two Catalan TV channels, a Valencian channel (in Catalan), a Basque channel (64 hours a week), a Galician channel and an Asturian channel – as well as several radio stations. In every instance they are funded by a mixture of advertising and public subsidy.

Catalan is spoken by roughly 9 million people, Galician by 3 million, Basque 1 million. 52% of Television de Catalunya (founded 1983) comes from public sources.

These are by no means inconsiderable challenges but S4C has had some considerable recent successes. After years of rapidly declining audiences, it has regained some ground in the last two years. It has had considerable artistic success and there is no reason why, if the correct decisions are taken now, it cannot continue to play just as important a role in Welsh and British life as it has across the last 25 years.

I think there are four changes that could be made. These suggestions are aimed at sustaining S4C, guaranteeing its long-term future – and protecting the language it sustains and nourishes.

a) S4C should become again an all-Wales channel

Since its inception S4C has provided an essential service not only to the Welsh-speaking heartlands, nor just to Welsh speakers but to the whole of Wales. As Willie Whitelaw put it in 1982, it has acted as an ‘investment in social harmony for Wales’.

This has not been without controversy. Many Welsh households have resented being denied a full Channel 4 service and some people living in border areas where they had a choice of whether to watch the full package of England channels or the Wales channels, have pointed their aerials to England.

However, S4C has not traditionally been a monolingual channel. It has carried popular English-language programming like Friends and Big Brother (albeit time-shifted) ensuring a role in the viewing habits of the whole of Wales. This has changed in recent years, though. The decline in the number of original hours broadcast by S4C in English has been marked. Last year it fell again from 4,077 to 3,765 in 2006 (the figure for all English language programming including non-original fell from 6,136 to 5,967). And, more significantly, the version of S4C received in all digital homes, S4C Digidol (and S4C 2) is entirely monolingual in Welsh. This has meant that with many English-language viewers now able to choose between S4C and Channel 4, S4C has lost ground in many households where Welsh is not the first language. If S4C becomes a welsh-only channel there is a very real danger that it will be marginalised, that its audiences will continue to fall and the affection in which it is held in Wales will steadily diminish.

That is why it is vital that S4C remains a channel for the whole of Wales, predominantly in the Welsh language, but with programming that reflects the whole of Wales – and offers something to the whole of Wales. It also means that S4C’s news programmes should not just interview Welsh speakers but should try to show the whole of Wales, English-speaking and Welsh.

b) All S4C (and BBC Wales) sporting fixtures should be available with both Welsh and English commentary

S4C plays an important role in showing sporting fixtures – most notably rugby – that would otherwise never find a broadcast home. This provides both great entertainment for sports fans and a new source of income for many clubs. It also maintains S4C’s ratings. Digital technology should make it far easier for S4C to ensure that all matches are broadcast with an easy language option. Such re-versioning is relatively cheap (as S4C knows from its historic re-versioning in many other languages of the children’s animation programme, Superted).

Moreover, with the large Welsh diaspora living in England, there is an increased opportunity in a digital era where S4C is available on digital packages across the UK, for Welsh sports fixtures to gain an audience in England – but only if they are readily viewable in English as well as Welsh. Clearly this entails complex rights negotiations, but both BBC Wales and S4C should seek to make it as simple as possible for viewers to watch sports in whichever language they prefer. This is done on occasion already – but it should be a standard feature of Welsh broadcasting.

c) Broadcasting should remain a reserved matter but S4C’s budget should be devolved to the National Assembly for Wales

There are those who argue that broadcasting should be devolved. I am by no means opposed to further devolution, though I think the argument for devolving broadcasting is difficult to make. Spectrum allocation, including the allocations for security and emergency services, will always be best done at a national (and indeed international) level as will most rights negotiations. Moreover the universal service obligations that come with licence fee funding for the BBC mean that the biggest player in the British broadcasting mix, the BBC, will always be a UK body, guaranteeing quality and independence across the country.

However, there is a strong argument for devolving S4C’s budget to the National Assembly for Wales. At present S4C receives virtually no public scrutiny, despite disposing of more than £100 million of public money a year (£90,857,000 from DCMS last year plus the BBC’s contribution valued at £20.6million). The Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has little time to devote to it, nor does it or the Department for Culture Media and Sport have any Welsh language competence. Moreover S4C’s primary role is to promote and sustain the Welsh language, a policy area that is already devolved.

Some people are reluctant to see S4C’s budget devolved as they think that there would be increased pressure on its finances due to the competing needs of other policy areas. Of itself this is a weak argument. Every public body should be prepared to make its case for its ongoing public support within the context of competing demands. And if S4C can make a good case then its budget should increase.

But even more importantly, S4C’s subsidy has been established by statute since 1996 with a formula linked to the grant received by S4C in 1997 increasing in line with the Retail Price Index. This has meant that since 1998 S4C’s grant has increased by nearly a fifth to £88.9 million in 2005. So too the BBC’s required contribution to S4C is established by statute – so S4C’s finances would be guaranteed whether it was accountable to Parliament or to the Assembly.

d) The proposal to create a virtual S4C Children’s channel should proceed

Clearly any channel needs to build its future audience and S4C is no different. However, it is just as important that there is Welsh children’s programming in English as in Welsh and whilst the S4C plan for further children’s programming is to be welcomed they should look at ways of re-versioning in English and Welsh.

ITV

At present ITV and ITV Wales enjoy a privileged and important place in the landscape of Welsh broadcasting. Although ITV Wales’ evening news programme only receives about half the audience of BBC1 Wales (in part thanks to the fact that the BBC has its national news before the Welsh news) it has a very different style and approach to Welsh news. In the run-up to the last Assembly elections, for instance, it was the only broadcaster to run opinion polls on Welsh voting intentions. It has a more direct engagement with many working class constituencies in Wales and it runs informative (and often combative) current affairs programming as well as the well-respected consumer affairs programme The Ferret. Since July ITV Wales’ news can also be watched online at www.itvlocal.com/wales/news.

As things stand ITV’s licence requirements are explicit. ITV must provide a total of 9 ½ hours per week (495 hours per year) of Wales programming, broken down as follows:

• News: 5 hours, 30 minutes/week 287 hours/year
• Current Affairs: 47 Minutes/week 41 hours/year
• Other: 3 hours, 13 minutes/week 167 hours/year

ITV has made it clear that it already finds these requirements onerous and would like to see them cut. However, ITV’s role in the national life – and the respect in which it is held – is not just the result of its most popular programming. The regional news and current affairs programmes may not attract vast audiences but they are an essential part of what viewers value in ITV. Further cutbacks would almost certainly lead to a diminution in national affection for the channel.

Moreover, the people of Wales enjoy Coronation Street and X Factor every bit as much as the rest of the UK – but they also value the fact that ITV Wales regularly takes a different take on Welsh life from the BBC. In particular, since the BBC provides all S4C’s news gathering, it is vital that a strong ITV Wales news gathering team is maintained, able to challenge the BBC monopoly and hegemony. The plurality of our news gathering is increasingly important – not less so. In a small nation where the clique of journalists and broadcasters can be very incestuous, maintaining this plurality is all the more vital.

For these reasons ITV Wales’ public service requirements should be seen as an absolute minimum and Ofcom should refuse to countenance any diminution in them.

Channel 4

Although Channel 4 has not been available in many Welsh homes until the advent of digital, it has always held a remit to represent Wales. Since it now has a significant share of Welsh viewing in its own right, it is important that Channel 4 reflects the whole of the UK, including Wales, in its news, its current affairs and all its other programming. It is, for instance, surprising that Channel 4 News rarely carries Welsh news stories or has a facility for filming in or from Wales. Channel 4 is currently re-assessing its remit and purpose. It should make a specific new commitment to Welsh coverage and programming.

BBC Wales

The BBC is by far the dominant player in Welsh broadcasting. It employs some 1,200 people in Wales, based at Broadcasting House in Llandaff in Cardiff and in a series of smaller outposts. It produces BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, as well as opt-outs for BBC1 Wales and BBC2 Wales. It also produces more substantial opt-outs for BBC2W, the digital BBC2 in Wales. It produces S4C’s news and 10 hours of S4C programming a week. It also produces some programming for the national network, most notably Doctor Who and Torchwood and has commissioned other network shows such as Life on Mars from independent producers.

Digital switchover will provide a significant challenge for BBC Wales, not least the fact that, as the Controller, Menna Richards has recently announced, there will not be enough spectrum available for BBC2W. Since this has been the major home for English language Welsh programming and since BBC2 Wales is unlikely to be able to host such significant opt-outs, this will almost certainly lead to a new strategy for Wales programming. The natural home for some of this programming is a primarily Welsh language, but bilingual S4C.

That is not to say that all BBC2W’s programming has been of an even quality. In particular comedy and light entertainment programmes designed expressly for a Welsh audience have on occasion been patronising and of such a rudimentary quality that their value is questionable. Both these genres are expensive in terms of presenters, design and production, which is why even the national networks with much larger budgets have found it difficult to produce successful new comedies and entertainment programmes. BBC Wales should be congratulated on its successes, but on occasion it stretches itself too far.

But there are two wider issues for the BBC in Wales.

Clear welsh water

The 2006 BBC Charter and Agreement set out six public service purposes for the BBC. Although these are designed to be complementary to each other, they often have to be held in creative tension. This is nowhere clearer than in Wales. So, one purpose is to represent the UK, its nations, regions and communities, whilst another is to bring the UK to the world and the world to the UK. In Wales’s case this pulls the BBC in two directions: both trying to help build a national Welsh identity and attempting to maintain a sense of national UK identity.

BBC Wales often feels a need to distinguish itself from the rest of the BBC – and to strengthen Wales’ uniqueness – rather than to foster stronger links with the wider BBC and the rest of the country. Such a policy of clear welsh water is a mistake. An over-emphasis on our difference is neither what audiences demand, nor what best delivers for Wales, not least because it has all too often led to a UK national BBC ignoring Wales on television and radio bulletins. In some border areas of Wales such an emphasis (and the fact that S4C is available instead of Channel 4) has led to some Welsh households deliberately tuning to English transmitters because they see English BBC programming as better quality or more interesting and relevant to them. Ofcom’s work has suggested that there are fewer such households today but there are still 39,000 Welsh households that receive only England channels and 74,000 that watch only or mostly England programmes.

So 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.

Equally the UK network news and current affairs programmes need to ensure that they show the whole of the UK, including Wales. It is particularly frustrating when watching a BBC network news story on health or education that it will rarely explain that this only applies in England. So too, it must be part of the BBC’s national remit to ensure that the rest of the UK knows what is happening in the devolved nations. Similarly BBC News should take particular care when one of its main national stories comes from Wales (or Scotland or Northern Ireland) that the regional news opt-out does not simply repeat the story with the same footage – as so often happens.

Genuinely local news

It would also be wrong to suggest that Wales is a homogenous entity so the BBC needs to make much stronger efforts to represent the whole of Wales. So BBC Wales has introduced a network of 20 community reporters across Wales and it has made welcome recent announcements regarding ten new local services, but its news output still seems very dominated by the metropolitan hub in Cardiff. It is not uncommon for people jokingly to refer to Good Morning Wales as Good Morning Pontcanna (despite one of its presenters coming live from Bangor) or to comment that BBC reporters seem to find it difficult to travel north of the M4. Equally, the BBC has few facilities for quality radio interviews in rural or non-metropolitan Wales, so interviewees tend to be metropolitan.

Some commentators have argued that the demand for Welsh news is so feeble that there is neither a commercial imperative for ITV to invest in news gathering or production, nor is there a moral imperative for the BBC to do so. They point to the death of the Welsh edition of the Mirror and the collapse in readership for the Western Mail. This seems particularly ironic against a background of devolution to Wales and the creation of the new Welsh political identity.

However, this is to miss a very important fact, namely the growth of local newspaper readership. The truth is that Welsh audiences want genuinely local news, not necessarily Welsh news. It is a common-place to state that the Valleys, the North Wales coast and the cities of South Wales have little in common with each other. But even more importantly, the individual valleys of Wales and the different towns of North Wales all have separate identities, interests and news focus – and so far these have been barely recognised by BBC Wales, which has focused far more on Cardiff Bay than on truly local news.

BBC Wales has attempted to enter this market, it has some interesting online material and its new local services as announced recently are to be welcomed but it should further develop its online service so that viewers can watch genuinely local stories with high quality video and audio streamed online.

© Copyright Chris Bryant MP, MMVII

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