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S4C seeks change in BBC relationship 7/5/2004
In its response to the Government's review of the BBC's Royal Charter, the S4C authority is calling for the Welsh language channel's unique relationship with the BBC to be revisited in the light of changes which have taken place since it was first established.
Since S4C's launch in 1982, the BBC has provided ten hours a week of Welsh-language television programmes for the Channel, paid for from the licence fee.
These programmes, which include a daily news programme and soap opera Pobol y Cwm, one of S4C's most consistently popular shows, play a crucial role at the heart of the channel's programme schedule.
S4C's view is that the relationship should now be modernised, given that the stipulation that the BBC's contribution to the S4C service should be ten hours a week was made as part of the 1981/1982 Broadcasting Acts, when there were to be only four terrestrial channels operating in the UK.
Elan Closs Stephens, S4C's Chair, explains, "There are now over 300 English-language channels available to viewers and the BBC's own English-language output has increased dramatically on digital television with the introduction of new services such as BBC3, BBC4 and its children's channels.
"S4C wishes to strengthen the range, diversity and quality of its Welsh-language service to meet the expectations of digital viewers and we want the BBC's contribution to that service to be as appropriate in the digital age as it was when S4C was first launched. Ten hours a week was right in 1982. There needs to be a new definition now."
In its response, S4C confirms its view that the licence fee continues to be the best way to pay for the BBC. The authority also stresses that it believes it is essential that any increased provision associated with the BBC's Welsh-language programmes should not be at the expense of the BBC's local English-language output in Wales.
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