Agreement reached on S4C funding and governance

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The BBC Trust, the department for culture, media and sport, and the S4C Authority have announced that an agreement has been reached on the future funding and governance of Welsh-language TV channel S4C. The BBC yesterday outlined the level of licence fee to be provided to S4C for the final two years of the BBC Charter, set at £75.25 million in 2015/16 and £74.5 million in 2016/17.

The amounts for 2013/14 and 2014/15 had already been set at £76.3 million and £76 million.

The arrangements, announced today, follow last year's comprehensive spending review

which proposed that

S4C's funding move from a direct department for culture, media and sport grant to funding through the BBC licence fee.

A release published alongside the agreement today said the arrangement "will protect the editorial and managerial independence of S4C, whilst safeguarding appropriate accountability to the BBC Trust for licence fee funding spent by the service".

S4C Authority chairman Huw Jones added that the funding formula was "challenging" but will provide stability for the channel. Just last week Jones insisted that S4C's independence is not "all over" and that the agreement would show a commitment "for S4C to keep its operational and editorial independence". "The outcome is a significant step forward for the channel at the end of detailed and protracted talks between the three parties, and I would like to pay tribute to all who had participated in the discussions and negotiations that led up to what is a historic and significant agreement," he said in today's announcement. "This agreement will safeguard the Welsh language services provided by S4C for the foreseeable future. It will allow S4C to maintain its editorial and managerial independence, while providing accountability to the BBC Trust for income received from the licence fee, and to DCMS for its part of S4C's funding." Under the governance arrangement S4C will

continue to commission programming from the independent sector and

be overseen by the S4C Authority, as chaired by Jones. The arrangements remain subject to the passing of the Public Bodies Bill, currently in report stage and being debated in the House of Commons at the time of writing.