Government review to assess S4C’s future after 2010

Published Tuesday 16 March 2004 at 12:50 by Jeremy Austin

Welsh-language public broadcaster S4C is to undergo an independent government review to assess how it can continue to operate after the compulsory switch to digital transmissions planned for 2010.

Already the broadcaster, set up in 1982 as a platform for a mixture of Channel 4 and specific Welsh-language programmes, has conducted an internal review. It hopes this will be taken into account in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport-commissioned analysis, conducted by Bournemouth University Media School head Roger Laughton and Welsh language assessor Meurig Royles.

At the forefront of S4C’s concerns is its funding formula. Created in 1998 under the 1996 Broadcasting Act, its grant-in-aid was linked to the Retail Price Index, which, according to the S4C Authority, means the grant has reduced in real terms during the subsequent years as wages outgrow inflation. This has had an affect on the amount available for programme-making - drama spend, for example, has fallen from £183,000 per hour in 1995 to £161,400 per hour in 2002. By way of comparison the BBC spent £562,700 per hour on drama in 2002.

Of its programme budget, 8% was spent on digital programmes in 2002 but this is likely to have fallen in 2004. However, the report claims that efficiency savings have meant that every pound invested in programmes today generates more than twice the hours broadcast on analogue. Virtually all Welsh language programming is produced outside the organisation and the report states the government must consider the impact on the Welsh television community overall in its assessment of S4C’s future.

The report continues: “S4C’s funding formula was designed to support an analogue service broadcasting for three hours every evening during peak. It was not intended to support a service making full use of the digital capacity gifted to S4C under the 1996 Broadcasting Act. S4C has not, therefore, been able to invest in new programmes for the digital service in the manner it would have wished.”

S4C’s review also looks at strengthening its core service, developing its interactive capabilities and extending its children’s services. It also points to the need for the broadcaster to develop new creative partnerships. Among the conclusions is a call to strengthen its relationship with the BBC. It ceases to broadcast Channel 4 programmes in 2010.

Chair of S4C Elan Closs Stephens said: “We hope that the DCMS review will build on the conclusions of our own internal review, helping us plan for a future that holds many changes and exciting possibilities. We believe it is the government and the public’s wish to see a Welsh language television service that is as strong and successful as possible.

“The review will help us identify what is needed to maintain and develop that service. The review is about being transparent, as a public service broadcaster should be, and about involving all those that have a part to play in helping us face the challenges that lie ahead.”

Announcing the terms of the review, media secretary Tessa Jowell said it would look at the efficiency with which S4C utilises its resources, the extent to which other sources of funding - including efficiency savings - could make a greater contribution and the effectiveness of the current strategic plan.

Jowell added: “The government is committed to supporting the authority and the key part it plays in promoting high quality Welsh language and cultural services.”