According to Digital spy, and two newspaper articles, one from the Western mail, 200 of S4Cs shows last month got a zero rating, meaning less than 1000 people watched them. ratings were achieved for the other 139.
With digital switchover now complete in wales, s4C Digidol now only shows welsh/Cymraeg programming. However, channel four is now available on terestrial in wales, showing english/saesneg programming.
Which leads to a debate which I want to start. Is there a need for S4C? If so, what form or structure should it take? If not, what happens to all the programming it currently broadcasts, including thte 10 hours minimum per week that BBC Wales/Cymru is required to produce?
This is a debate that has been done to death before both here and on DS. As long as there are laws protecting the Welsh language and a public service remit for programmes to be broadcast in the language, there will be a TV channel.
And as long as there is rugby to be shown, long may it exist!
Both have a value which is worth more than their audience infers. The next Government will need to sort out the provision of Irish language programming in Northern Ireland in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement too,
The way I see it, as a PSB it is not there to compete as a large commercial broadcaster; PSBs shouldn't be chasing ratings. However, is there no way for S4C to continue as a purely commercial organisation? What is their advertising revenue?
I do wish that with Wales completely digital by the end of the month, that channel 4 is put on channel 4. S4C is only so called because of the valuable fourth channel space in the early 80s requiring it to replace channel 4. Now, there is no need for it to be called channel 4 wales - it can go on any channel number.
It is however dissapointing that Wales will miss out on channel 4 HD content. Just as you thought those days were gone.
S4C should continue to satisfy it's audience, regardless of it's size and reach.
But where do you draw the line?
Less than 500?
Less than 100?
You can only say you're satifying your audience, if you know that audience exists.
The problem is there's no way of accurately recording the viewing figures; they even estimate that zero is probably around 1000. I'm sure BBC 4 has just as low an audience share as S4C, but it can't be denied that it serves some, even if not the majority; a PSB.
Both have a value which is worth more than their audience infers. The next Government will need to sort out the provision of Irish language programming in Northern Ireland in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement too,
TG4 is an all-Ireland channel, available in NI, so I think it's already covered.
Aren't the ratings very unreliable when they get that low - as you are in the realms of degree of error and sampling noise? It only takes one BARB-home viewer to massively influence the ratings as you get to this low level?
(ISTR A few years ago Living TV questioned why their ratings were fluctuating so madly - and it turned out there was a long distance lorry driver who liked one of their shows. On days when he was driving and not watching their ratings plummeted...)
The multichannel ratings used to be deemed unreliable at figures below 50,000 - though numbers below this are still reported on the basis that "something is better than nothing" in data terms...
Both have a value which is worth more than their audience infers. The next Government will need to sort out the provision of Irish language programming in Northern Ireland in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement too,
TG4 is an all-Ireland channel, available in NI, so I think it's already covered.
Not post DSO it's not. There are possibilities that a seventh mux may be provided to carry a number of Irish services into the province.
