Welsh Affairs Committee
Wednesday 9th September 2026
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14:36
Ruth Jones
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Ruth Jones
Afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this oral evidence session of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. My name is Ruth Jones. I'm a member of Parliament for Newport West, and I'm chair of the committee today. Well, every day today, the committee is holding a one off session evidence session into broadcasting in Wales. And we have three short panels this afternoon with Welsh interpretation for those who require it, for members, witnesses and the public gallery. So can I ask the witnesses to.
But before I ask the witnesses to introduce themselves, can I just check. Do any members have any interest to declare today? No. Okay. Right. Let me move on. Can I ask the witnesses to introduce themselves very briefly, please? Shall I start with Delyth, please?
But before I ask the witnesses to introduce themselves, can I just check. Do any members have any interest to declare today? No. Okay. Right. Let me move on. Can I ask the witnesses to introduce themselves very briefly, please? Shall I start with Delyth, please?
14:36
14:36
14:36
Ruth Jones
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Ruth Jones
Brilliant. Thank you very much. And as I say, thank you very much for appearing before us in person this afternoon. It's much appreciated. So I just suppose between the two of you, could you set out the state of play for S for C in the current media landscape? Obviously we're here to talk about the charter, but could you give us a very broad brush, very brief sort of setting for it, if you like.
14:37
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
We're the only Welsh medium public service broadcaster in the United Kingdom. We serve audiences across Wales and outside of Wales, in all parts of the United Kingdom who wish to access our services. So we have a linear channel, but we also are increasingly moving towards digital platforms, and we have a presence on YouTube. We're on iPlayer, we have our own player called Clic. We're on all of the social media these days as everybody has to be, and we're increasing our younger viewing among on those platforms, which is obviously a key audience to us whilst also maintaining our linear services, which are also very important for older audiences.
14:38
14:38
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
Thank you. I think there's a threat and an opportunity and thanks for the opportunity to give evidence today, because I think we are at a critical time for the future of public service broadcasting in the UK and in Wales, because we have a number of things that have been passed, such as the Media Act . We've had. We're waiting, still waiting for the prominence Code from Ofcom, which should be here in a year's time or so.
So in the meantime, we're still having to compete for prominence on connected TVs. We have a new green paper now from the government, of course, which will be happy to discuss. And all of these things are coming together at the same time as charter review, which will decide on the future funding of sport. And that is the key thing for us. I mean, there are two key elements I think, that really do feel important for us.
One, one is the prominence so that we're able to compete on all platforms, on connected TVs with other broadcasters, and the other is the future funding. We were very pleased to see in the charter review that the Secretary of State is reinforcing, once again, that's needs to have sufficient funding. Very grateful to hear that. I think the question will be, what does sufficient funding mean and for what purpose? Because for ourselves, it has to be more than maintaining a linear TV channel.
Now, as already mentioned, we have to serve numerous platforms players as well as social media and YouTube, and that takes more money. So in our submission on charter, we very much made the case that's will need, at the very least, the same funding we have now with inflationary increases for , for a significant period to come. But more even if we're able to serve all audiences, younger people, and to really tackle the competition that we do face, because the competition now is from the streamers.
Yes, of course, it's from YouTube, where people are increasingly spending their time and people are not watching television as much anymore. So all of those things come together at a crucial point. And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that at this moment in time, it's as crucial a time for us as it was when people campaigned for this channel. Because without sufficient funding, the very future of s and Welsh language broadcasting is in jeopardy.
So in the meantime, we're still having to compete for prominence on connected TVs. We have a new green paper now from the government, of course, which will be happy to discuss. And all of these things are coming together at the same time as charter review, which will decide on the future funding of sport. And that is the key thing for us. I mean, there are two key elements I think, that really do feel important for us.
One, one is the prominence so that we're able to compete on all platforms, on connected TVs with other broadcasters, and the other is the future funding. We were very pleased to see in the charter review that the Secretary of State is reinforcing, once again, that's needs to have sufficient funding. Very grateful to hear that. I think the question will be, what does sufficient funding mean and for what purpose? Because for ourselves, it has to be more than maintaining a linear TV channel.
Now, as already mentioned, we have to serve numerous platforms players as well as social media and YouTube, and that takes more money. So in our submission on charter, we very much made the case that's will need, at the very least, the same funding we have now with inflationary increases for , for a significant period to come. But more even if we're able to serve all audiences, younger people, and to really tackle the competition that we do face, because the competition now is from the streamers.
Yes, of course, it's from YouTube, where people are increasingly spending their time and people are not watching television as much anymore. So all of those things come together at a crucial point. And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that at this moment in time, it's as crucial a time for us as it was when people campaigned for this channel. Because without sufficient funding, the very future of s and Welsh language broadcasting is in jeopardy.
14:40
14:40
14:40
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
Yeah, well, data is not a different ways. Now Steve, that is we measure our linear TV reach, which can be on an average week, around 300,000 people, the bulk of those within Wales. But we do reach audiences beyond Wales as well because of a Welsh speaking diaspora across the UK, but also sometimes because our content, particularly sports content, will appeal beyond our borders. So, so there is that reach in one sense, but also increasingly we're measuring the digital platforms and following recent development with BBC iPlayer, where we've got into a new deal with the iPlayer, so that content could be more prominent on the home page, whereas previously it was in a walled garden.
Where to go looking for it. We've seen The Reach and the monthly active users on BBC iPlayer increased quite significantly year on year from where it was last year. It's up from around 200,000 monthly users last year to 250,000 monthly users now. So we are seeing that growth, but again, it underlines the need for investment in platforms and negotiating deals for prominence.
Where to go looking for it. We've seen The Reach and the monthly active users on BBC iPlayer increased quite significantly year on year from where it was last year. It's up from around 200,000 monthly users last year to 250,000 monthly users now. So we are seeing that growth, but again, it underlines the need for investment in platforms and negotiating deals for prominence.
14:41
14:42