£100m TV channel nobody watches
A WELSH language television channel funded with £100million of public money showed nearly 200 programmes in the last month which were watched by no one, it was revealed yesterday.
The lack of any audience for the programmes on S4C – the Channel 4 of Wales – meant that they failed to register on official viewing figures.
S4C officially recorded zero viewers on 196 of its 890 programmes.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These figures make clear that S4C is a huge waste of taxpayers’ money.
“It seems that even Welsh speakers aren’t interested in its output, which is a dismal failure.
“The whole public sector has got to make big cuts to balance the books, and a TV channel no one watches is something that should be first on the list to scrap.”
Not even the voice of Hollywood star Ioan Gruffudd could lift the figures for children’s cartoon Igam Ogam on the channel.
The viewing figures for three weeks in February and March were compiled by the Broadcasters Audience Research Board.
A zero rating means the 196 shows were watched by fewer than 1,000 people. Just 139 out of all the station’s entire programmes for the period were watched by more than 10,000 viewers.
The zero viewer shows include children’s cartoon Sali Mali and Tocyn, where presenters visit Celtic countries and regions.
A soccer show called Sgorio scored a zero with viewers when it screened highlights of European football.
Sgorio – Welsh for score – turned into a no-score draw on the night despite regularly pulling in tens of thousands of viewers on other nights.
It is a regular show featuring top matches from the German, Spanish and Italian leagues.
Former Conservative Welsh Office Minister Rod Richards, a Welsh speaker and broadcaster, said: “I am disappointed and saddened by these figures.
“It is shocking that so many of S4C’s programmes do not seem to resonate with the public and worrying for anyone concerned about the Welsh language.
“S4C gets a huge amount of public money and it’s time it was dragged into the 21st century, kicking and screaming if necessary.”
He called for the BBC to be given back responsibility for Welsh- language TV in Wales – as it did before S4C was created.
Cardiff-based S4C was set up by the Conservative Government in 1982 when Channel 4 was launched.
