S4C
From Free net encyclopedia
S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru - 'Channel Four Wales') is a Welsh-language television channel broadcasting in Wales, United Kingdom, which was established in response to demands for a channel to cater for the native Welsh-speaking population in Wales. It is the equivalent of Channel 4, which broadcasts to the rest of the United Kingdom. The channel started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening.
S4C's remit is to provide a service which is in the Welsh language in peak viewing hours. Previously Welsh speakers had been served by occasional programmes in Welsh broadcast as regional opt-outs on BBC Wales and HTV (the ITV station in Wales), often at obscure times. This was not only unsatisfactory for Welsh speakers, who saw them as a sop, but also an annoyance of the non-Welsh-speaking community which found the English programmes seen in the rest of the UK often rescheduled or not transmitted at all.
During the 1970s, Welsh language activists had campaigned for a TV service in the language, which already had its own radio station, BBC Radio Cymru. This led to acts of civil disobedience, including refusals to pay the television licence, thereby running the risk of prosecution or even a prison sentence, and sit-ins in BBC and HTV studios. Some took more extreme measures, including attacking television transmitters in Welsh-speaking areas. In 1980, the former president of Plaid Cymru, Gwynfor Evans, threatened to go on hunger strike, if the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher did not honour its commitment to provide a Welsh language TV service.
S4C does not produce programmes of its own, instead it commissions programmes in Welsh from the BBC and independent producers (although the quantity purchased from HTV has greatly reduced since the early years of S4C), and it has particularly developed a reputation for producing cartoons, such as Superted, Fireman Sam (Sam Tân, "Sam the Fire", in Welsh), Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, etc. BBC Wales fulfills its public service requirement by producing programmes in Welsh (including Newyddion - S4C's news bulletin with the normal BBC News logos and English subtitles, and the soap opera Pobol y Cwm) and providing them to S4C free of charge. For that part of the day outside the peak period, S4C shows programmes produced for Channel 4 in the rest of the UK (though often several days later and often at unsociable hours).
To make Welsh language programmes accessible to English speakers they all carry English subtitles which are viewed as a Teletext page (888, promoted as transl888); the usual Welsh subtitles are also available.
S4C is financed from its advertising revenue and a fixed annual grant from the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). According to a report by the Scottish Executive's Cultural Commission on the possibility of mirroring the Welsh experience with a Gaelic channel, S4C is funded by the government to the tune of £85m per annum (as at June 2005). Many have suggested this makes the channel one of the most heavily subsidised in the world.
S4C is controlled by the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (in Welsh Awdurod Sianel Pedwar Cymru or Awdurdod S4C), an independent body unconnected to the bodies which regulate the other UK television channels such as the BBC, ITV, or Channel 4.
TV movies produced for S4C have received some good foreign reviews — Hedd Wyn being nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1993 and Solomon and Gaenor being nominated in 1999.
Those who have no interest in Welsh-language TV have been known to point their aerials at the nearest English transmitters to avoid S4C, as well as BBC Wales and HTV Wales. However it is true that this practice dates back before the start of S4C in 1982, when Welsh-language programming was included on BBC1 and HTV Wales.
The S4C signal also spills over into southeast Ireland, where it is retransmitted on UHF terrestrial signals by so-called 'deflectors', although those who watch it only do so because Channel 4 is not available via cable or MMDS in rural areas.
On analogue and digital satellite, S4C runs its own teletext service, Sbectel ("Sbec" being both Welsh for "a peek" or "a glimpse", and a pun on the pronunciation of "S4C", which is "es pedwar ec" in Welsh).
Digital channels
In addition to the analogue TV signal transmitted throughout Wales, S4C, along with United News and Media owned the company SDN (S4C Digital Networks). SDN was awarded the UK-wide contract to provide half a digital multiplex worth of programming. The other half belonged, and still does belong to the broadcaster Five on digital terrestrial).
- S4C Digidol is an exclusively Welsh language service (S4C Digital), broadcast by S4C within Wales on DTT and throughout the UK on digital satellite broadcasts. S4C's Welsh programming generally airs simultaneously on S4C Digidol.
- S4C2 (S4C~2, S4C-2, S4C 2) broadcasts sessions of the National Assembly for Wales when it is in session. The programme content is provided by the BBC. The channel is available in the UK on Freeview in Wales and nationwide on Sky Digital. It has two audio feeds, allowing viewers to select between an untranslated version and an English-only version where all Welsh spoken is translated into English.
On 27 April 2005 S4C sold its share of SDN to ITV plc for approximately £34 million, though it still has the half-multiplex as of right in Wales. ITV already owned some of SDN due to the consolidation of the ITV industry - Granada bought UNM's stake in SDN, and this was then incoporated into the united ITV.
One benefit of DTT in Wales is that Channel 4 can now be broadcast alongside S4C, thereby placating disgruntled English speakers who have often had to put up with Channel 4 programmes aired hours or days later on S4C. It remains to be seen what impact the availability of Channel 4 will have on S4C, as both channels share a significant proportion of their English output. However, by launching its all-Welsh digital service, S4C has essentially conceded that its future will be in serving that language only, and not as a mixed-language service.