S4C

video

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This article is about the Welsh-language public broadcaster. For the UK public broadcaster, see Channel 4.

Sianel 4 Cymru

S4C logo used from 10 April 2014
Country	United Kingdom
Broadcast area	United Kingdom (Wales only on Freeview)
Headquarters	Canolfan S4C Yr Egin, Carmarthen, Wales
Programming
Language(s)	Welsh
Picture format	1080i/1080p HDTV (downscaled to 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	S4C Authority
History
Launched	1 November 1982 (1982-11-01)
Links
Website	s4c.cymru/cy (in Welsh) s4c.cymru/en (in English)
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview (Wales only)	Channel 4 (SD) Channel 104 (HD)
Streaming media
S4C Clic	Watch live (UK and Ireland; with adverts)
BBC iPlayer	Watch live (UK only; without adverts)

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. It also has regional offices in Caernarfon and Cardiff. As of 2022–23, S4C had an average of 118 employees. S4C is the fourth-oldest terrestrial television channel in Wales after BBC One, ITV and BBC Two.

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.

Pre-launch

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 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 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.

On 14 September 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 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. 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. 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.

Relocation

S4C offices

File:Canolfan S4C Yr Egin (cropped).jpg

S4C headquarters in Carmarthen on the campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint Davids

File:BBC Cymru Wales (geograph 6226511) (cropped).jpg

Cardiff office within the BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House in Central Square

File:Doc Fictoria - Caernarfon Marina (geograph 7115219).jpg

Caernarfon office (top right) in Doc Fictoria (Victoria Dock)

In September 2013, S4C began a study into the possible relocation of its headquarters. S4C’s former headquarters, which opened in 1991, were located at Parc Ty Glas Industrial Estate, Llanishen, following a move from Cathedral Road and Sophia Close in Pontcanna, Cardiff. In January 2013, a new multi-use media centre was opened on its Llanishen site. In March 2014, it was announced that Carmarthen was the winner with a bid led by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). The university owns the land where the Canolfan S4C Yr Egin (S4C Yr Egin Centre) would be built. The building would also be home to other companies in the creative industries. There was a strong bid for relocation to Caernarfon, where the channel had a pre-existing office, but there was disappointment when that the bid was unsuccessful. In 2016, it was revealed that S4C was paying £3 million upfront rent to UWTSD, and that it would pay rent over the next 20 years. Concern was expressed about the arrangement and the lack of transparency around commercial payments between two publicly funded bodies. UWTSD applied for funding for the building work and received £3m from the Welsh Government and a further £3m from the Swansea Bay city deal.

In June 2018, it was revealed that more staff would be leaving the channel than moving to work in Carmarthen. S4C started relocating to the new building from September 2018, and 54 jobs moved to the new HQ. An office in Cardiff was retained for technical purposes until full changeover to the new BBC Wales Headquarters, with 70 staff there. A significant percentage of the technical posts were to transfer to the BBC. In September 2018, S4C committed to ten years of lease on its Caernarfon office at Doc Fictoria (Victoria Dock), which has 12 full-time staff, and was opened in 2008. In January 2021 S4C's Presentation, Library, Promotion and Commercial departments moved to BBC Wales headquarters in Central Square, Cardiff. The first programmes were broadcast from there on 27 January 2021, beginning with the channel's children's service, Cyw, at 6:00 a.m. Liz Scourfield's first live presentation aired later that morning, before the news bulletin at 12:00.

See also

• Fourth UK television service
• Timeline of television in Wales
• Timeline of S4C
• List of Welsh-language programmes
• List of Welsh-language media
• Celtic Media Festival

External links

• Cyw children's channel
• Learners' site
• S4C 2007 Annual Report - audience share
• S4C Authority: official website