Page:S4C 2010Statement AlunFfredJones.pdf/1

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Title: S4C

Date: 22 September 2010

By: Alun Ffred Jones, Minister for Heritage

I am pleased to be able to make a statement today on S4C. I am grateful for the opportunity to reiterate the Welsh Assembly Government’s support for S4C. It provides an essential component of United Kingdom public service broadcasting and is at the heart of the creative industries in Wales.We are concerned to ensure that changes to its current funding model should only be contemplated after appropriate consideration and consultation.

S4C’s television programmes are at the heart of our public life. From their very earliest days, they have demonstrated that the public broadcasting mission to inform, educate and entertain is as relevant and important for Welsh-speaking viewers as it is to those viewing in English. In approaching 30 years of operation, S4C has played a leading role in promoting and safeguarding the Welsh language by bringing it into people’s homes every day. This model has been followed in Scotland and Ireland as a way of promoting their own Celtic languages.

S4C has a key role to play in ensuring that the Welsh language continues to thrive. In that regard, its role is more than just as a broadcaster. S4C helps to establish Welsh as a modern language and as part of everyday life in Wales. It enlivens the language, and its services for children and young people make an important contribution to the task of increasing their use of Welsh. Through its factual, historical and cultural programmes, S4C enriches Welsh society. It has, and will continue to have, an important part to play in delivering the vision set out in the Government’s strategy for the Welsh language.

S4C has also greatly contributed to the growth in the independent media sector and to Wales’s wider creative economy. The creative industries make a vital contribution to our economy and have been recognised as a key sector 1