S4C - Newyddion

S4C have announced that their main news programme will move from 7.30 to 9pm from April.

I would think that short bulletins would continue at 6.55pm and possibly 8 or 8.30pm. (the current late bulletin is at 8.55)

I'm not sure it's an improvement - on most other channels, the 9-10pm slot is now well established as a drama or documentary slot. However the new slot will no longer clash with the big soaps. In the age of PVRs I'm not sure it matters but I think the later slot means that many viewers will no longer watch the news live.

While I'm here I should mention that presenter Dewi Llwyd left Newyddion in December after almost 30 years. Rhun ap Iorwerth is now the main presenter. After his final link there was a nice collection of archive shots (and spectacles).

Unbelievably they're moving drama Rownd a Rownd to 7:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays against EastEnders!

I'd imagine it's more about cutting the cost of output in the 9pm hour than any attempt to boost ratings. I wouldn't be surprised to see Heno expand to an hour, or perhaps move to 7.30pm as I don't think S4C would want the expense of an extra 30-minute show to replace Newyddion. (EDIT: Now read the article, Heno expanded Monday and Friday)

I'm not sure how much S4C consider their English rivals competition as I suspect although most Welsh speakers would watch many shows in English, if S4C has something they want to watch that would be first choice. Heno is head to head with The One Show for example - though perhaps S4C's best strategy is to put Welsh language equivalents of popular shows head to head with them.

No doubt about it though that losing the English speaking audience hasn't helped their Welsh language output at all. I used to watch quite a bit growing up partly because I was learning Welsh but also because S4C did promote their Welsh shows during English language shows, so they'd catch the eye.