S4C 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 2024, 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.
S4C has been described by as a "trailblazer" in European broadcasting for minority languages, going on air less than two months before Euskal Telebista (31 December 1982), TV3 Catalonia (test/trial broadcast on 11 September 1983, regular programming began in 1984) and Televisión de Galicia (24 June 1985), the first Spanish regional television stations to go on air, symbolically, in non-Castillan Spanish areas, and far ahead of other Celtic-language services, Ireland's TG4 (formerly TnaG) (31 October 1996), the ill-fated Scottish Gaelic TeleG (1999–2011) and BBC Alba (19 September 2008). Unlike similar broadcasters in Spain who have multichannel offers impulsed mostly by digital terrestrial television, S4C still broadcasts on a single channel after the shutdown of S4C2.Elain Price. Broadcasting for Wales: The Early Years of S4C Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2022.
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.
History 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 (on both of its channels) and HTV Cymru Wales (the ITV franchise in Wales), as well as its predecessors 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 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, coinciding with the push for a fourth national television channel in the UK, 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 consisting of the current level of programming produced by HTV Wales, the service should be the same as that offered in the rest of the UK.Serving Two Cultures 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.
By the time of the Annan report (Noel Annan, provost of University College London from 1966 to 1978), it was suggested that the fourth channel should be given to the Open Broadcasting Authority (OBA), which would not start operating until the early 1980s, with Siberry suggesting the channel to be a BBC-HTV joint venture before being handed over to the OBA. Siberry on the other hand recommended a service broadcasting content in Welsh for 25 hours a week, double the planned hours another group had suggested. The transfer of the channel to the OBA when it was operational was deemed "problematic", moving away from the concept of the creation of a Welsh-language channel and a separate Welsh Broadcasting Authority. The Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas ir Iaith) considered that "the aim of the Report seemed to be find a way of keeping Welsh language broadcasting within the grasp of British infrastructure".Teledu Cymru y Bobl Cymru pamphlet, Cymdeithas ir Iaith/Welsh Language Society
The government set up a Welsh Language Television Council, with members from the BBC, the IBA, ITV (limited to HTV Wales) and the OBA, with an OBA member acting as a chairman. This was proven to be a significant step for the campaign, creating an organisation overseeing broadcasting in Wales. By 1980, when the initial plans fell, there were plans to move Welsh-language programming to BBC2 Cymru Wales. The BBC thought the idea was unviable, as its schedule was not designed to receive a consistent series of opt-out slots for regions and nations, and the only programme with a fixed starting slot started at 9pm. This meant that there was no set time to leave the opt-out programming and easily rejoin the BBC2 network. This would also lead to the loss of certain programmes, including sporting events, and a dedicated teatime children's slot would disrupt the sport output the channel had at the time, if available in the timeslot.
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.
In October 1980, the government announced revised plans for the fourth channel in Wales. The Welsh Broadcasting Authority would be formed and be responsible for Welsh output on the new channel, broadcast mainly during peak hours, with as many Channel 4 programmes as possible appearing at other times. 22-25 hours of Welsh programming would be broadcast. The majority of the output would come from the BBC and from HTV Wales although independent producers would provide some programming. HTV was invited to produce the current affairs output with the BBC producing news. Serving Two Cultures
Early years The name S4C was the first thing to be decided at a meeting held in Gregynog on 31 January and 1 February 1981. No other names were considered for the new service. By year's end, when the IBA was adapting transmitters to enable the carriage of Channel 4 and S4C, no transmitters in northern Wales were converted, meaning that the population in an area with a significantly large Welsh-speaking population was to be deprived of the new service. Some transmitters were not scheduled to be adapted until 1985 at latest.
S4C started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, broadcasting around 22 hours a week of programmes, mostly during prime time (7 to 9:30pm) with a teatime slot for children; with English language programmes from Channel 4, rescheduled to fit around the Welsh programmes. The first night of the channel started at 6pm with a pre-recorded bilingual preview programme fronted by Owen Edwards, which also featured the first episode of SuperTed and excerpts of Channel 4's launch programme Preview, in anticipation for the latter's launch the following day. The launch programme was accompanied by Robin Jones, Siân Thomas and Rowena Jones-Thomas. SuperTed opened the floodgates for the development of animation in Wales, with or without S4C's support.
S4C's bilingual nature rejected that the Welsh language had to be directly translated to English, as the English and Welsh viewing demographics differed heavily. Over time, the price per hour of the independent producers increased.
Owen Edwards retired from his post at S4C in 1989, having just been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Later history To prepare for the then-upcoming digital switchover in Wales, S4C announced in 2004 that S4C Digidol would start airing three hours of uninterrupted children's programmes a day, increase the amount of current affairs programmes and continue its sustainability.
S4C faced an annus horribilis in 2010. Future prospects for the channel were seen with little optimism, owing to the change in the DCMS funding method, with S4C receiving £100 million, attached to the Retail Price Index. In 2013, it was announced that the DCMS would cut S4C's funding by around 93%. The funding has not exceeded the £100 million benchmark since then, with S4C reporting £74.5 million from the license fee in the 2020–21 fiscal year, and £6.851 from the DCMS. In 2022, the DCMS stopped funding S4C, freezing license fee contributions until 2024. This was considered to be an "existential threat" to the Welsh language from Professor Richard Wyn Jones.
As with other public broadcasters, S4C is facing the challenge of adapting to an increasingly mobile generation of viewers, coupled with competition from streaming services.
Relocation
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.