00:03Channel 4 television should go on the air on time tomorrow, even though some union problems over advertising still have
00:09to be ironed out.
00:10Until they are, the ITV companies will lose advertising revenue of between a quarter and half a million pounds every
00:16day.
00:17And the IBA confirmed tonight that between six and seven million viewers won't be able to receive Channel 4 straight
00:23away.
00:24That's because many of the transmitters and relay stations still haven't been converted to broadcast the new channel.
00:30S4C, the Welsh version of Channel 4, started up earlier this evening.
00:34The station will carry some programmes in English, but all those at peak viewing times will be in Welsh.
00:39Michael Burke watched the birth of S4C in Cardiff.
00:47November the 1st, 1982. The Welsh language is in decline, but someone is coming to the rescue.
00:59Super Ted is the star and symbol of Chanel Pedwa Cymru, S4C for short, which slipped uneventfully onto the air
01:08at six o'clock tonight.
01:09The new channel is an expensive political gesture to the Welsh language and those who campaign on its behalf, a
01:16cultural lifeline that's costing 20 million pounds.
01:20Most Welsh people won't understand its programmes. Only one in five here speak the language.
01:25The half million or so who do will now have, per head, by far the world's most expensive television service.
01:33It's a mixed blessing. In the South Wales valleys, television will soon be piped in on a cable that can
01:38carry only four programmes.
01:40Everybody was polled. Did they want the Welsh or the new UK Channel 4?
01:45Nine out of ten demanded the London version, but the government is insisting they get the Welsh Channel whether they
01:51like it or not.
01:54Some programmes may end up with an audience of only 75,000.
02:00But S4C's director insists it's vital for those who will watch.
02:05We have our native language, the language of our homes. The language of my home is Welsh, and the television
02:10set is an extension of the family by now.
02:12And I expect, along with all the other Welsh speakers, that that new member of the family, the television box
02:18in the corner of the television set,
02:20should for however long in a week speak the same language as the rest of the family.
02:25There are other benefits. Down in what used to be called Tiger Bay, there's now a small-scale Hollywood.
02:32800 people are employed in dozens of new companies making programmes in Welsh.
02:37The monoglot English wryly call it the job creation scheme.
02:42Much new talent, it said, has been discovered, though there's talk of programmes running late and over budget.
02:50Nonetheless, the new channel is a personal triumph for the man whose threat to starve himself to death helped bring
02:55it about.
02:56Nationalist MP Gwynvor Evans.
02:58This is the biggest thing I've ever had a hand in, and I think it's going to enhance the chances
03:05of the language.
03:06I don't think this is going to save the language of itself, but certainly without this, the language would stand
03:10no chance at all of survival.
03:13Now, amongst programmes of undoubted cultural excellence, a new departure.
03:17Na Nog, or Welsh wrestling.
03:20Naturally, everybody speaks Welsh, even the wrestlers, though that's one skill they're rarely called upon to display.
03:26Thank you, along the line, and thanks to the bestdrower for signing up for all I've been simply etti.
03:28Hickey relationships, I hope you liked the thing.
03:29The USS I am turning redstone in an 1890 pan- BILLION hybrids have a good idea.
