The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Zero* welcome for 200 Welsh TV shows - in Wales

Nid wyf yn deall gair rydych chi'n dweud

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

Almost 200 Welsh language programmes broadcast by S4C last month attracted precisely zero viewers, leaked audience figures show.

The figures suggest an incoming Tory government will have the Welsh language channel right next to the BBC on its media working-over list.

According to the Western Mail, which obtained leaked BARB figures on the channels' viewing stats, just one in five of the channel's programmes mustered more than 10,000 viewers.

Apparently, 196 out of 890 Welsh programmes broadcast by S4C in February failed to attract a single viewer.*

The channel gets around £100m of government funding to service the UK's Wales' Welsh-speaking community, and apparently a number of English speakers who have maladjusted TV aerials.

Apparently, most of the programmes that had zero viewers were children's programmes - a tragedy for the firm once behind perennial favourite Fireman Sam - although hard-hitting evening magazine show Wedi7 barely scraped together less than 10,000 viewers one night last month.

Supposedly must-see programming such as Igam Ogam, Sali Mali and Tocyn, and Sgorio, a football programme which shows highlights of the Spanish, German and Italian leagues emphatically did not enjoy a welcome in the hills, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The furore puts the channel - and presumably Welsh speakers - under the cosh to up viewing figures.

Tonight's viewing is here. Veterans of the BBC's nationwide Welsh language programming might want to note there's a double helping of Pobol y Cym, as "Jinx tries to justify his actions while Colin and Gaynor try to settle their differences. An emotional moment for Macs as he visits the hospital." ®

Bootnote

* OK, as some commenters have pointed out, the stats count anything upto 1,000 as statistically zero. Which means it's possible that up to 1,000 people have been enjoying the delights of Sgorio and Igam Ogam. Or, not.

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

fibs

Those figures aren't actually true, though, are they? OK, if it's cable TV then the provider knows what channel the viewer is watching, but if it's broadcast TV, they're just asking a sample group and extrapolating.

Normally, that's fair enough, but if you're going to claim exactly zero viewers then you're basically making things up.

5
0

Activate the bartender...

I'm sure that if the Klingon speakers did demand their own programs, the programme makers would give in immediately after one of them was sliced up with a Bat'Leth...

4
0

0!=<1000

Can I request that you correct the title to "200 Welsh TV shows'had less than the statistical significant 1000 viewer cutoff limit".

At least the Telegraph put in that fact in to their article. Which I might add you haven't linked to, something which is poor etiquette to both the reader and the source.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7413105/Welsh-television-channel-attracts-no-viewers-for-200-shows.html

And neither of you linked to the original story, which happens to be the article with the highest quality of journalism.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2010/03/10/figures-reveal-failure-of-s4c-to-attract-tv-audiences-91466-25999157/

2
0

More from The Register

Thanks, NSA: Amazon sales of Orwell's 1984 rise 9,500%
Citizens of Oceania bone up on the new reality
 breaking news
BBC lied to Parliament about doomed £100m IT monster, thunder MPs
Axed DMI ballooned and burst while watchdogs sang Kumbaya
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
Misses the release of his final work
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
It's official: 'tweet' an English word – not just in the avian sense
If the Oxford English Dictionary says it is so, then it is so
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news