S4C announce a judicial review following spending cut
Welsh broadcaster S4C is to launch a judicial review of the government’s decision to cut its funding and effectively “merge it with the BBC.”
Discussions between the BBC and the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, have happened over the past few days, resulting in a decision for the BBC to have effective control over the finances and operations of the Welsh language channel.
Chair of S4C, John Walter Jones says: “The effect of the financial cuts agreed between Jeremy Hunt and the BBC will have a disastrous effect for viewers across Wales, and this at a time when the BBC has already cut spending on both English and Welsh language programming in Wales,”
“Under such an arrangement it is inevitable that Welsh language television would have to compete with every other BBC service and the S4C Authority believes that this would pose a serious risk to the provision of Welsh language television,” he adds.
Hunt adds that the move shows that the government has “contempt for the Welsh people and indeed the language itself.”
The S4C chair has also been told that the deal is a non-negotiable agreement.
“This is no way to conduct public affairs and surely is an affront to the good conduct of public policy and the democratic process,” Hunt says.
The S4C Authority is will now seek a Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s decision and the lack of consultation with the broadcaster before the decision was made.
