S4C
Encyclopedia
S4C currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff
. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking
audience, it is (after BBC One
, ITV
, BBC Two
and Sky1) the fifth oldest British television channel (Channel 4
was launched in the rest of the United Kingdom one day later).
The channel - initially broadcast on analogue television - was bilingual (Welsh and English) with most of its English-language programming being either simultaneous or deferred broadcasts of Channel 4
programmes (analogue reception of which was unavailable in most of Wales). When digital television
arrived several years later, a second channel was added: a 100% Welsh-language service, branded (S4C Digital). The analogue version of S4C closed on 31 March 2010, when the Wenvoe transmitter completed the digital switchover. After this, S4C Digidol became the default S4C channel available across Wales available to Welsh viewers on cable, satellite and Freeview, broadcasting only in the Welsh language.
A high definition
service called S4C Clirlun (clear picture), simulcast
ing S4C Digidol, began broadcasting on 30 April 2010 on Freeview channel 53 in Wales. By the end of 2012, S4C has indicated that it plans to produce all of its programming in high definition.
and HTV Cymru Wales (the ITV
franchise in Wales), usually at off-peak or inconvenient times. This was unsatisfactory for Welsh speakers, who saw the arrangement as a sop, and also an annoyance for non-Welsh speakers, who found the English programmes seen in the rest of the UK often rescheduled or not transmitted at all.
In 1962 the ITV
network had 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 the station was taken over by its neighbour Television Wales and West.
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
. Both the Conservative and Labour parties promised a Welsh-language fourth channel, if elected to government in the 1979 General Election
. 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.
In 1980, the former president of Plaid Cymru
, Gwynfor Evans
, threatened to go on hunger strike if the Conservative
government of Margaret Thatcher
didn't honour its commitment to provide a Welsh language TV service. The channel started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening. S4C appointed its first female CEO, Iona Jones
in 2005.
and independent producers (although the quantity purchased from ITV Wales has greatly reduced since the early years of S4C), and it has particularly developed a reputation for commissioning cartoons, such as SuperTed
, Sam Tân
(which became Fireman Sam in its English version on the BBC) and Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
.
BBC Wales
fulfills its public service requirement by producing programmes in Welsh, including , S4C's news bulletin, and a soap opera, , and providing them to S4C free of charge. It has also provided (or licensed) Welsh language versions of English language programmes e.g.: The Tweenies. On the analogue service, S4C showed programmes produced for Channel 4 in the rest of the UK outside of peak hours (usually a few days later). These programmes were provided to S4C by Channel 4, free of charge.
To make them more accessible to English speakers, all Welsh language programming carries English subtitles on Teletext
page 888, with Welsh subtitles on page 889. Both subtitle languages are also available on digital television platforms. For speakers of English who are learning Welsh, certain programmes, particularly children's programmes and , carry subtitles on page 889 of Teletext, featuring Welsh subtitles with additional English translations in brackets next to more difficult Welsh language words. TV movies produced for S4C have received some good foreign reviews; Hedd Wyn
was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1993 and Solomon & Gaenor
was nominated in 1999.
Those who have no interest in Welsh-language television have been known to point their aerials at the nearest English transmitters to avoid S4C, as well as BBC Wales and ITV Wales. However, this practice dates back before the start of S4C in 1982, when Welsh-language programming was included on BBC1 Wales and HTV Wales. S4C sports programme Sgorio
has been known to reverse this practice, with English football fans watching S4C as the only British terrestrial broadcaster of Spanish and German league football.
The S4C analogue signal also spilled over into southeast Ireland
. In the past it was rebroadcast in a number of areas there on UHF
terrestrial signals by so-called 'deflectors', however Channel 4 is now re-transmitted from satellite by the few remaining deflectors. Up until the 1990s, S4C was also carried by some Irish cable
and MMDS providers before being replaced by Channel 4.
Up until 2009, S4C ran its own teletext
service, Sbectel
' onMouseout='HidePop("57260")' href="/topics/TV_Times">TV Times
issues for the HTV Wales region. is also Welsh for "spectacles").
and Sky. A review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
in 2004 suggested that "S4C should operate a single core service after digital switchover".
In addition, S4C also operated a sister channel, S4C2
until 2010. It formerly broadcast coverage of the National Assembly for Wales
when in session. The programme content was provided by the BBC
who, from January 2010, now make it available online and via BBC Parliament
. Like the main channel, S4C2 was available within Wales on Freeview and throughout the UK and Ireland on Freesat and Sky. S4C2 had two audio feeds, allowing viewers to select between an untranslated version and an English-only version where all Welsh spoken is translated into English. Delayed coverage of Assembly proceedings is now broadcast overnight on S4C's main channel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday. In addition to the analogue TV signal transmitted throughout Wales, S4C, along with United News and Media, owned the company S4C Digital Networks
(SDN). SDN was awarded the UK-wide contract to provide half a digital multiplex worth of programming. The other half continues to belong to the broadcaster Channel Five
.
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 incorporated into the united ITV plc. In January 2007, S4C announced plans to launch a Welsh-language children's service. The new service, in the form of a programming bloc, launched on 23 June 2008. Under the name "Cyw
" (Chick), it brings together a wide range of programmes for nursery-age children, and S4C plans eventually to extend the service to include the "Stwnsh" strand for older children and a third service for teenagers and young people. The service currently airs on weekdays from 7am to 1.30pm on S4C.
In 1988, the ident changed to a computer-generated ident featuring an animation of the streamlined S4C logo, the colours of the logo were blue, green and red and the new font was based on Bodoni MT. Other idents featuring a weather vane
with the S4C logo and a water based setting were used during the early 1990s.
, a new series of idents debuted. The new idents featured inanimate objects such as a red kite, a pair of scissors, a man in a dragon costume, a gas pipe, a garlic press, a fan, a Sousaphone
, and a standpipe representing a Dragon (specifically, Y Ddraig Goch
, the Red Dragon depicted on the flag of Wales) usually by trying to fly or breathe fire like a dragon. These idents carried on through 2006 (with a logo change in 1995, featuring a new Futura Heavy font and a tilde
representing the Dragon motif). The Dragon idents were retired in January 2007 alongside a wider relaunch of the channel.
On 17 January, s4c.co.uk was updated with the new look, with S4C channels adopting the new look from 18 January. The S4C logo used since 1995, often stylised as "S4C~" because of the "dragon"
design element which accompanied it, was replaced. The new design emphasises the channel's Welsh connection with the "C" for Cymru (Wales) separated from the "S4" (Channel 4) by a forward stroke
. S4C2
is now seen on screen as S4C Dau (Two), and listed as S4C2 on the broadcaster's website and on Sky. The theme of the new idents was the magnetism of the Welsh society, represented by many objects gathering in one place, such as shopping carts at a grocery store, balloons in a roof, buoys in a dock, the Penarth pier at Vale of Glamorgan, and golf carts at a golf course. These idents were produced by Proud Creative, a London based design firm. In 2007, another new set of live-action idents debuted, featuring live rendered dynamic elements which react to the voice of the continuity announcers, an effect similar to the initial idents of BBC Four
, but utilizing live-action footage instead of 3D rendered footage.
On 28 July 2010, S4C's chief executive Iona Jones left her post without explanation. Assembly members and Members of Parliament have asked for an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to her departure. The S4C Authority has refused to comment any further on the matter and commissioned a review into how the broadcaster is governed in August 2010.
(DCMS), receiving £94m of funding in 2007.
Additionally, some Welsh-language programming (including and ) is produced by BBC Wales
as part of the BBC
's public service
remit, and provided to S4C free of charge.
S4C is controlled by the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
( or ), an independent body unconnected to Ofcom
which regulates other UK television channels such as ITV or Channel 4.
From 2013, responsibility for funding S4C will begin to transfer to the BBC, with the DCMS reducing its funding by 94% by 2015. The BBC will provide around £76m of funding to S4C by this date, resulting in a cut of around 25% to S4C's annual budget. This decision has been challenged by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society), which wants the proposed transfer of responsibility for funding S4C from DCMS to the BBC to be stopped.
service provided by S4C. Clic offers a live streaming, signed
programming, a 35 day catch up service and archive programming. Clic is available across the UK but also contains a limited selection of worldwide programming. Clic's catch up service is split into seven categories: Cyw
, Drama, Entertainment, Factual and Arts, Music, Sport and Stwnsh
. A Clic app was release for Apple's iOS devices on 18 August 2011.
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
audience, it is (after BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
and Sky1) the fifth oldest British television channel (Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
was launched in the rest of the United Kingdom one day later).
The channel - initially broadcast on analogue television - was bilingual (Welsh and English) with most of its English-language programming being either simultaneous or deferred broadcasts of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programmes (analogue reception of which was unavailable in most of Wales). When digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
arrived several years later, a second channel was added: a 100% Welsh-language service, branded (S4C Digital). The analogue version of S4C closed on 31 March 2010, when the Wenvoe transmitter completed the digital switchover. After this, S4C Digidol became the default S4C channel available across Wales available to Welsh viewers on cable, satellite and Freeview, broadcasting only in the Welsh language.
A high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
service called S4C Clirlun (clear picture), simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing S4C Digidol, began broadcasting on 30 April 2010 on Freeview channel 53 in Wales. By the end of 2012, S4C has indicated that it plans to produce all of its programming in high definition.
Pre-history
Before the launch of S4C, Welsh speakers had been served by occasional programmes in Welsh broadcast as regional opt-outs on BBC WalesBBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
and HTV Cymru Wales (the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise in Wales), usually at off-peak or inconvenient times. This was unsatisfactory for Welsh speakers, who saw the arrangement as a sop, and also an annoyance for non-Welsh speakers, who found the English programmes seen in the rest of the UK often rescheduled or not transmitted at all.
In 1962 the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network had 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 the station was taken over by its neighbour Television Wales and West.
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
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru is BBC Cymru's Welsh-language radio station, broadcasting throughout Wales from studios in Cardiff, Bangor, and Aberystwyth on FM since 1977. At the time of its launch it was one of the few FM-only radio services in the UK...
. Both the Conservative and Labour parties promised a Welsh-language fourth channel, if elected to government in the 1979 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
. 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
Television licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
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.
In 1980, the former president of Plaid Cymru
History of Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales originated after a 1925 National Eisteddfod meeting, held in Pwllheli, Gwynedd. Representatives from the Army of the Welsh Home Rulers and The Welsh Movement , both founded only the previous year, agreed to meet and discuss the need of a "Welsh party"...
, Gwynfor Evans
Gwynfor Evans
Dr Richard Gwynfor Evans , was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. President of Plaid Cymru for thirty six years, he was the first Member of Parliament to represent Plaid Cymru at Westminster ....
, threatened to go on hunger strike if the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
didn't honour its commitment to provide a Welsh language TV service. The channel started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening. S4C appointed its first female CEO, Iona Jones
Iona Jones
Iona Jones is a Welsh television executive, the former head of Welsh language channel S4C.Born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, she was brought up in Lampeter, Ceredigion, before moving to Cardiff with her family when she was six. Jones graduated in economic and social history from Exeter...
in 2005.
Programming
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 CymruBBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
and independent producers (although the quantity purchased from ITV Wales has greatly reduced since the early years of S4C), and it has particularly developed a reputation for commissioning cartoons, such as SuperTed
SuperTed
SuperTed is a Welsh teddy bear who has magical super powers. He along with his friend Spotty try to do good. SuperTed was a series of stories created by Mike Young who eventually created a television series based on those stories.-Creation:...
, Sam Tân
Fireman Sam
Fireman Sam is a Welsh animated children's television series about a fireman called Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other townspeople in the Welsh town of Pontypandy . The original idea for the show came from two ex-firemen from Kent...
(which became Fireman Sam in its English version on the BBC) and Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Shakespeare: the Animated Tales
thumb|right|[[Banquo]] and [[Fleance]] from the "Macbeth" episode. Shakespeare: The Animated Tales comprised two six-part television series, first broadcast in 1992 and 1994...
.
BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
fulfills its public service requirement by producing programmes in Welsh, including , S4C's news bulletin, and a soap opera, , and providing them to S4C free of charge. It has also provided (or licensed) Welsh language versions of English language programmes e.g.: The Tweenies. On the analogue service, S4C showed programmes produced for Channel 4 in the rest of the UK outside of peak hours (usually a few days later). These programmes were provided to S4C by Channel 4, free of charge.
To make them more accessible to English speakers, all Welsh language programming carries English subtitles on Teletext
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
page 888, with Welsh subtitles on page 889. Both subtitle languages are also available on digital television platforms. For speakers of English who are learning Welsh, certain programmes, particularly children's programmes and , carry subtitles on page 889 of Teletext, featuring Welsh subtitles with additional English translations in brackets next to more difficult Welsh language words. TV movies produced for S4C have received some good foreign reviews; Hedd Wyn
Hedd Wyn (film)
Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh anti-war biopic, written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.Based on the life of Ellis Humphrey Evans , killed in the First World War, the cinematography starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native Meirionnydd with the bombed-out horrors of Passchendaele...
was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1993 and Solomon & Gaenor
Solomon & Gaenor
Solomon & Gaenor is a BAFTA Awarded and Academy nominated Welsh film released in 1999 and directed by Paul Morrison. It was filmed twice, once with principal dialogue in English and again in Welsh.-Plot:...
was nominated in 1999.
Those who have no interest in Welsh-language television have been known to point their aerials at the nearest English transmitters to avoid S4C, as well as BBC Wales and ITV Wales. However, this practice dates back before the start of S4C in 1982, when Welsh-language programming was included on BBC1 Wales and HTV Wales. S4C sports programme Sgorio
Sgorio
Sgorio is a Welsh football television programme broadcast in Wales on S4C and produced by Rondo Media. It is currently presented by Nic Parry...
has been known to reverse this practice, with English football fans watching S4C as the only British terrestrial broadcaster of Spanish and German league football.
The S4C analogue signal also spilled over into southeast Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. In the past it was rebroadcast in a number of areas there on UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
terrestrial signals by so-called 'deflectors', however Channel 4 is now re-transmitted from satellite by the few remaining deflectors. Up until the 1990s, S4C was also carried by some Irish cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and MMDS providers before being replaced by Channel 4.
Up until 2009, S4C ran its own teletext
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
service, Sbectel
Sbectel
Sbectel is the name of S4C's former ancillary teletext service. It was named after the Welsh language S4C programme magazine called Sbec which was originally a pull-out of the TV Times in the ITV Wales area.-Content:...
' onMouseout='HidePop("57260")' href="/topics/TV_Times">TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
issues for the HTV Wales region. is also Welsh for "spectacles").
Digital channels
Following the switch off of analogue terrestrial signals on 31 March 2010, Wales became the first fully digital nation in the UK with both S4C and Channel 4 now available to all homes. As a result, S4C now broadcasts solely in Welsh language and, as well as on Freeview in Wales, is available throughout Britain, Ireland and the rest of western Europe on FreesatFreesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...
and Sky. A review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
in 2004 suggested that "S4C should operate a single core service after digital switchover".
S4C2
S4C2 was a free-to-air British television station owned by S4C which, until 2010, broadcast coverage of the National Assembly for Wales at the Senedd....
until 2010. It formerly broadcast coverage of the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
when in session. The programme content was provided by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
who, from January 2010, now make it available online and via BBC Parliament
BBC Parliament
BBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
. Like the main channel, S4C2 was available within Wales on Freeview and throughout the UK and Ireland on Freesat and Sky. S4C2 had two audio feeds, allowing viewers to select between an untranslated version and an English-only version where all Welsh spoken is translated into English. Delayed coverage of Assembly proceedings is now broadcast overnight on S4C's main channel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday. In addition to the analogue TV signal transmitted throughout Wales, S4C, along with United News and Media, owned the company S4C Digital Networks
S4C Digital Networks
SDN is a company that operates Multiplex A, one of the six groups of channels on digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom...
(SDN). SDN was awarded the UK-wide contract to provide half a digital multiplex worth of programming. The other half continues to belong to the broadcaster Channel Five
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
.
On 27 April 2005 S4C sold its share of SDN to ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
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 incorporated into the united ITV plc. In January 2007, S4C announced plans to launch a Welsh-language children's service. The new service, in the form of a programming bloc, launched on 23 June 2008. Under the name "Cyw
Cyw
Cyw is the name of a Welsh language Children's television block from S4C , which launched on 23 June 2008....
" (Chick), it brings together a wide range of programmes for nursery-age children, and S4C plans eventually to extend the service to include the "Stwnsh" strand for older children and a third service for teenagers and young people. The service currently airs on weekdays from 7am to 1.30pm on S4C.
1982–1993
S4C's on-air appearance has always been a representation of the Welsh society and people, but this representation has changed several times. Initial idents featured clips from the natural landscapes of Wales with a basic logo animation and fanfare, with the logo forming as WALES4CYMRU.In 1988, the ident changed to a computer-generated ident featuring an animation of the streamlined S4C logo, the colours of the logo were blue, green and red and the new font was based on Bodoni MT. Other idents featuring a weather vane
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
with the S4C logo and a water based setting were used during the early 1990s.
1993–2006
In 1993, designed by Lambie-NairnLambie-Nairn
Lambie-Nairn is an international branding agency within the WPP Group, headquartered in London with offices in Munich, Madrid, Abu Dhabi and Prague...
, a new series of idents debuted. The new idents featured inanimate objects such as a red kite, a pair of scissors, a man in a dragon costume, a gas pipe, a garlic press, a fan, a Sousaphone
Sousaphone
The sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the musician and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried...
, and a standpipe representing a Dragon (specifically, Y Ddraig Goch
Y Ddraig Goch
The Welsh Dragon appears on the national flag of Wales . The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 820, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders...
, the Red Dragon depicted on the flag of Wales) usually by trying to fly or breathe fire like a dragon. These idents carried on through 2006 (with a logo change in 1995, featuring a new Futura Heavy font and a tilde
Tilde
The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics....
representing the Dragon motif). The Dragon idents were retired in January 2007 alongside a wider relaunch of the channel.
Current Idents
In January 2007, S4C announced that their digital channels would be refreshed by a new corporate logo and brand.On 17 January, s4c.co.uk was updated with the new look, with S4C channels adopting the new look from 18 January. The S4C logo used since 1995, often stylised as "S4C~" because of the "dragon"
Y Ddraig Goch
The Welsh Dragon appears on the national flag of Wales . The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 820, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders...
design element which accompanied it, was replaced. The new design emphasises the channel's Welsh connection with the "C" for Cymru (Wales) separated from the "S4" (Channel 4) by a forward stroke
Slash (punctuation)
The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:...
. S4C2
S4C2
S4C2 was a free-to-air British television station owned by S4C which, until 2010, broadcast coverage of the National Assembly for Wales at the Senedd....
is now seen on screen as S4C Dau (Two), and listed as S4C2 on the broadcaster's website and on Sky. The theme of the new idents was the magnetism of the Welsh society, represented by many objects gathering in one place, such as shopping carts at a grocery store, balloons in a roof, buoys in a dock, the Penarth pier at Vale of Glamorgan, and golf carts at a golf course. These idents were produced by Proud Creative, a London based design firm. In 2007, another new set of live-action idents debuted, featuring live rendered dynamic elements which react to the voice of the continuity announcers, an effect similar to the initial idents of BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
, but utilizing live-action footage instead of 3D rendered footage.
Controversy
Leaked internal reports in March 2010 showed that "over the 20-day period from February 15 to last Saturday, March 6, as many as 196 of the 890 programmes put out by S4C were rated as having zero viewers". An S4C spokesperson responded that 90% of these programmes were aimed at children, whose viewing isn't fully measured by BARB, the organisation that compiles television ratings in the UK, as they only take into account viewers aged four years and over. The remaining 10% consisted of repeats and daytime news bulletins.On 28 July 2010, S4C's chief executive Iona Jones left her post without explanation. Assembly members and Members of Parliament have asked for an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to her departure. The S4C Authority has refused to comment any further on the matter and commissioned a review into how the broadcaster is governed in August 2010.
Funding and regulation
S4C is financed from its advertising revenue and a fixed annual grant from the UK Department for Culture, Media and SportDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
(DCMS), receiving £94m of funding in 2007.
Additionally, some Welsh-language programming (including and ) is produced by BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
as part of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's public service
Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the term "public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. The communications regulator Ofcom, requires that certain television and radio broadcasters fulfil certain requirements as part of their...
remit, and provided to S4C free of charge.
S4C is controlled by the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
The Welsh Fourth Channel Authority regulates S4C , the Welsh-language television station of Wales. It is not connected to Ofcom, or any other regulator, and exists purely to ensure the quality of the channel. The Authority's Chair and members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture,...
( or ), an independent body unconnected to Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
which regulates other UK television channels such as ITV or Channel 4.
From 2013, responsibility for funding S4C will begin to transfer to the BBC, with the DCMS reducing its funding by 94% by 2015. The BBC will provide around £76m of funding to S4C by this date, resulting in a cut of around 25% to S4C's annual budget. This decision has been challenged by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society), which wants the proposed transfer of responsibility for funding S4C from DCMS to the BBC to be stopped.
Clic
Clic is a free online video on demandVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service provided by S4C. Clic offers a live streaming, signed
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
programming, a 35 day catch up service and archive programming. Clic is available across the UK but also contains a limited selection of worldwide programming. Clic's catch up service is split into seven categories: Cyw
Cyw
Cyw is the name of a Welsh language Children's television block from S4C , which launched on 23 June 2008....
, Drama, Entertainment, Factual and Arts, Music, Sport and Stwnsh
Stwnsh
Stwnsh is a strand of Welsh-language children's television programming, aimed at children between the ages of seven to thirteen...
. A Clic app was release for Apple's iOS devices on 18 August 2011.
See also
Related Welsh television services- S4C SportS4C Sport-Rugby Union:S4C's rugby coverage has been at the heart of the Saturday evening schedule for over a decade. S4C has joint rights, along with BBC Wales and Setanta Sports, to broadcast matches from the Magners League, which it does under the Y Clwb Rygbi brand. The Saturday night coverage starts at...
- CywCywCyw is the name of a Welsh language Children's television block from S4C , which launched on 23 June 2008....
- BBC 2WBBC 2WBBC 2W was a digital television channel run by the British Broadcasting Corporation in Wales until January 2009. It replaced the standard BBC Two broadcast on digital services in Wales — running on weekdays from 20:30 to 22:00. Launched on 5 November 2001, it had an initial reach of 1.1...
- List of Welsh-language programmes