It has been suggested that the Celtic League has been taken in somewhat by the spin surrounding the voting of additional funding for Gaelic TV broadcasting.

Last week we reported that the Scottish Executive's Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, had confirmed an additional £3 million support to help the Gaelic Media Service (GMS) digital TV channel get on the air, a sum which had brought the total committed to this project to £20 million. So far so good!

However, we then went on to outline the various platforms (terrestrial, satellite and analogue) via which Celtic language TV broadcasting is carried and the impression may have been given that the new Scottish Gaelic service would automatically get a slot on the Freeview digital service. This apparently is not the case.

The position remains broadly as was outlined earlier this month in Celtic News (No 2117 NEW GAELIC DIGITAL TV SERVICE) when we said:

"According to news reports it will be available only on Sky and cable, due to current restrictions on spare capacity on Freeview. However if this is the case it will be a severe limitation on the reach of the service" (Although even carriage on cable services is now also uncertain.)

People may ask why does it matter? Surely the important thing is to get a Gaelic TV service up and running. However, Gaelic TV services must be given a a Freeview slot. We believe it is critical to the success and penetrative reach of Celtic language TV broadcasting that it has maximum scope and for this it needs to be carried on both satellite and all terrestrial services. Indeed, as we also pointed out in Celtic News No 2092 (TG4 DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL DELAY NOT JUSTIFIED) in relation to the Irish Gaelic service for the north of Ireland:

"a major omission in its roll-out (an integral part of the Belfast agreement) is the failure to make the channel on the digital terrestrial(Freeview) service."

It seems that the Celtic League will have to press the authorities both in Belfast and Edinburgh to meet more adequately their apparent 'commitment' to support the expansion of Gaelic TV broadcasting.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

26/03/07

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