S4C
S4C (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌɛs ˌpɛdwar ˈɛk], Sianel Pedwar Cymru, meaning Channel Four Wales) is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience. S4C's headquarters are based in Carmarthen, at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's creative and digital centre, Yr Egin.[1] It also has regional offices in Caernarfon and Cardiff. As of 2024, S4C had an average of 118 employees.[2] S4C is the fourth-oldest terrestrial television channel in Wales after BBC One, ITV and BBC Two.
This article is about the Welsh-language public broadcaster. For the UK public broadcaster, see Channel 4.Country
Canolfan S4C Yr Egin, Carmarthen, Wales
1 November 1982
- s4c
.cymru (in Welsh)/cy - s4c
.cymru (in English)/en
- Channel 4 (SD)
- Channel 104 (HD)[d]
Watch live (UK and Ireland; with adverts)
Watch live (UK only; without adverts)
As with Channel 4 (which launched the next day in the rest of the UK), S4C commissions all of its programmes from independent producers. BBC Cymru Wales produces programmes for S4C as part of its public service remit, including the news service Newyddion. From its launch until 2010, S4C also carried English-language programming acquired from Channel 4, which could not be received over-the-air in most of Wales; these programmes aired in non-peak hours and did not always air in pattern with Channel 4's scheduling.
On digital terrestrial television, S4C has broadcast exclusively in Welsh since the platform's launch in 1998, with the existing bilingual schedule continuing on analogue television. After the completion of the digital switchover in Wales on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became available on Freeview, and S4C ceased its carriage of English-language programmes. S4C offers translated, English-language subtitles for its Welsh programming. To this day, S4C remains the only Welsh-language television broadcaster in the country.
Pre-launch[edit]
Before the launch of S4C on Monday 1 November 1982, Welsh speakers had been served by occasional programmes in Welsh, broadcast as regional opt-outs on BBC Cymru Wales and HTV Cymru Wales (the Channel 3 franchise in Wales), usually at off-peak or inconvenient times. This was unsatisfactory for Welsh speakers, who saw the arrangement as a sop, and at the same time an annoyance for non-Welsh speakers, who found the English-language programmes seen in the rest of the UK often rescheduled or not transmitted at all.[3]
On 14 September 1962, the ITV network created a licence area for North and West Wales, which was awarded to Wales (West and North) Limited. This traded as Teledu Cymru and provided significant levels of Welsh-language programming. However, problems with transmission infrastructure and poor market research led to financial difficulties within two years, and after going bankrupt, the station was taken over by its neighbour Television Wales and the West.
During the 1970s, Welsh-language activists had campaigned for a television service in the language, which already had its own radio station, BBC Radio Cymru. Both the Conservative and Labour parties promised a Welsh-language fourth channel, if elected to government in the 1979 general election.[4] Shortly after the Conservatives won a majority in the election, the new Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, decided against a Welsh fourth channel, and suggested that, except for an occasional opt-out, the service should be the same as that offered in the rest of the UK. This led to acts of civil disobedience, including refusals to pay the television licence fee, 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.
On 17 September 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 television service.[5] S4C started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, broadcasting around 22 hours a week of programmes, mostly during prime time with a teatime slot for children with English language programmes from Channel 4, rescheduled to fit around the Welsh programmes.[6]
Programming[edit]
S4C's remit is to provide a service which features a wide range of programmes in the Welsh language. Like Channel 4, S4C does not produce programmes of its own; instead, it commissions programmes from BBC Cymru Wales and independent producers[16] (although the quantity purchased from ITV Cymru Wales has greatly reduced since the early years of S4C), and it has particularly developed a reputation for commissioning children's animation, such as SuperTed, Rocky Hollow, Fireman Sam (also broadcast by the BBC), The Blobs (also broadcast by Scottish Television), Wil Cwac Cwac (shown on ITV), Gogs, Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, Animated Tales of the World and the 1992–1996 French co-production Natalie.
BBC Cymru Wales fulfils its public service requirement by producing programmes in Welsh, including Newyddion, S4C's news bulletin, and a soap opera, Pobol y Cwm, and providing them to S4C free of charge. It has also provided (or licensed) Welsh-language versions of English-language programmes, such as the original Teletubbies. On the analogue service, S4C showed programmes produced for Channel 4 in the rest of the United Kingdom – either simultaneously or time-shifted – outside of peak hours. These programmes were provided to S4C by Channel 4, free of charge.[17]
To make content more accessible to English speakers, all Welsh-language programming carries English subtitles. Originally these were on Sbectel teletext page 888, with Welsh subtitles on page 889, with both subtitle languages now also available on digital television platforms. For speakers of English who are learning Welsh, certain programmes, particularly children's programmes Planed Plant Bach (now Cyw) and Planed Plant (now Stwnsh), carry subtitles featuring Welsh subtitles with additional English translations in brackets next to more difficult Welsh-language words. TV films produced for S4C have received some good foreign reviews; Hedd Wyn was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1994[18] and Solomon & Gaenor was nominated in 2000.[19]
The S4C analogue signal also spilled over on to the east coast of Ireland. In the past it was rebroadcast in a number of areas there on UHF terrestrial signals by so-called 'deflectors'. Up until the 1990s, S4C was also carried by some Irish cable and MMDS providers before being replaced by Channel 4.[20] The S4C channels continue to be available in the Republic of Ireland via the Freesat satellite service.
Up until 2009, S4C ran its own teletext service, Sbectel ("Sbec", Welsh for "a peek" or "a glimpse", and a reference to an S4C schedule insert formerly included in the TVTimes issues for the HTV Wales region).
In 2010 when the analogue signal for S4C was switched off all Channel 4 progammes stopped broadcasting on the channel and were replaced by its own programmes and some from the BBC Cymru Wales catalogue.
Viewing figures[edit]
6.3 million people throughout the UK watched S4C on television at some time during 2022–2023. The number of people who watched S4C on TV every week throughout the UK decreased from 602,000 in 2021–2022 to 509,000 in 2022–2023.[21] On an average week in 2022–2023, approximately 324,000 people in Wales watched S4C on TV – 8% higher than in 2021–2022 and the highest for five years. 150,000 Welsh speakers in Wales watched S4C on television each week during this period, which was 14% higher than in 2021–2022 and also the highest for five years. 20,600 was the average TV audience in the peak hours during 2022–2023.
The BARB rolling four-week viewing figures for January 2022 were 0.05% across the UK. If scaled up for Wales alone, this would be just a 1.0% audience share.[22]
Viewing sessions of S4C content on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer increased from 11.0 million in 2020–2021 to 11.3 million in 2021–2022. There were also 209 million impressions of S4C content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram within that period.
The programme that enjoyed the channel's highest viewing figures in 2022-2023 was Sgorio's coverage of Wales' UEFA Nations League match against Belgium in September 2022, which drew 456,000 viewers.[21]
Criticisms[edit]
S4C has faced criticism for poor viewing figures since its launch.[40] Leaked internal reports in March 2010 showed that 'over the 20-day period from 15 February to last Saturday, 6 March, as many as 196 of the 890 programmes put out by S4C were rated as having zero viewers'. The story was widely reported across the UK and was referenced in Parliament by the then Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.[41] In response, an S4C spokesperson stated that 90% of those programmes were aimed at pre-school children, and that BARB (the organisation that compiles television ratings in the UK) only takes into account viewers aged four years and over. The remaining 10% consisted of repeats and daytime news bulletins which did not attract the minimum 1,000 viewers necessary to register on a UK-wide analysis.[42]
On 28 July 2010, S4C's chief executive, Iona Jones, left her post without explanation. Assembly members and Members of Parliament requested an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to her departure. The S4C Authority refused to comment further and commissioned a review into how the broadcaster was governed in August 2010.[43] On 3 February 2011, it was announced that issues between Iona Jones and S4C had been settled.[44] Eight days later, the Shortridge Report on corporate governance was made public.[45]
Funding and regulation[edit]
From its inception, S4C was in part publicly financed: funding came both from its advertising revenue and a fixed annual grant from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), receiving £102m in 2010 and then £90m in 2011 after the Conservative Party won the general elections in 2010[50] which consequently made considerable cuts to its funding.[51][52] Additionally, some Welsh-language programming (including Newyddion and Pobol y Cwm) was produced by BBC Wales as part of the BBC's public service remit, and provided to S4C free of charge. There is an agreement in place until 2022 for 10 hours a week of programming to be provided to S4C, which is valued at £19.4m annually.
From 2013, responsibility for funding S4C began to transfer to the BBC, with the DCMS reducing its funding by 94% by 2015.[53] The BBC was to provide around £76m of funding to S4C by this date, resulting in a cut of around 25% to S4C's annual budget.[54] In 2016, it was agreed that the BBC would provide £74.5m a year funding to S4C from the licence fee until 2022.[55] The UK government announced in 2018 that it would continue providing £6.72m until 2020, with the aim of S4C being funded wholly from the licence fee from 2022.[56] This would see S4C's funding being decided as part of the licence fee settlement, for 10-year periods.[57]
Prior to 2011, S4C received ~£102m (which would be an estimate of ~£122.8m in January 2022 after inflation), with the new allocated funds of 2022 (which is £82m), the loss in 2022 alone compared with 2010 is estimated to be ~£40.8m and an overall loss of ~£450m between 2011 and 2022.
In addition to public funding, S4C generates around 2% of its income through commercial sources, such as advertising.[58]
S4C is controlled by the S4C Authority (Awdurdod S4C), an independent body unconnected to Ofcom. Ofcom are the regulator for S4C's content, as they are with other UK television channels such as ITV and Channel 4.[59]