BBC Alba As deidh bliadhna (BBC Alba one year on)

BBC Alba Logo

“Tha e doirbh a chreidsinn gu bheil BBC ALBA air a bhith air an eadhar airson bliadhna a-nis agus bu math le MG Alba, as leth na buidhne, taing a thoirt airson an taic a tha a h-uile duinne air a’ thoirt dhan sianal agus MG Alba mar bhuidhean”.

BBC ALBA has been on air for a year now – something that is hard to believe. The channel has enjoyed success with Scottish audiences, with the media and with Gaelic speakers despite only being available on satellite television and on the iPlayer, and we are hugely indebted to you for the part you have played in that
and for the support you have given.

These are the words from a recent press release from MG Alba – the main funder of the Gaelic Channel, who run it in partnership with the BBC Alba. Good news for the Channel this week was that the channel will now be shown live on the iPlayer. However one year in, there is still a huge hill for the channel to climb.
A recent article in the West Highland Free Press however raised a whole set of issues that the channel needs to overcome – many not of its own making -  its budgetary constraints of £14m per year, compared to the £90m of the Welsh Channel S4C, plus the continual frustration of not being available on the BBC’s Freeview platform – it being necessary to have SKY or Freesat to watch it. Currently only a third of viewers in Scotland have access to it, but 200,000 viewers watch it per week – well in advance of the 59 thousand fluent Gaelic speakers registered in the last Census. Surely a case of democratic deficit here, when Gaelic speakers pay the same taxes as non-Gaels and pay their BBC licence as well.