BBC ALBA LAUNCH STRENGTHENS CELTIC LANGUAGE BROADCASTING

"My Government's ambition is to see Gaelic emerge again as a truly national language - and to support a flourishing Gaelic culture and community as part of a resurgent Scotland." Alex Salmond Leader of SNP and First Minister of Scotland.

There has been an important development in terms of Celtic language television broadcasting with the launch of the new Gaelic TV station BBC Alba.

The new channel is initially available on Sky satellite TV channel 168 and also on Freesat. The station will also become available on the digital terrestrial service Freeview, something that the Celtic League called for when the service was first mooted. However the Freeview launch will not take place until 2010 at the earliest which is disappointing.

The Head of BBC Alba, Margaret Mary Murray, has said the channel was not just for Gaelic speakers. She told BBC Scotland which covered the stations launch night on BBC2:

"The Gaelic audience will benefit first and foremost, but we also hope that the channel will appeal to an audience across Scotland."

"Our programmes will be subtitled in English and we hope we will deliver programmes on subjects that will appeal to mainstream Scotland."

There will also be news and documentaries and an evening news programme - An La - will launch on Monday at 2000 BST.

The launch of BBC Alba means that there are now three dedicated Celtic language broadcasters. TG4 (TnaG) in Ireland, S4C in Wales and BBC Alba in Scotland. There is also a station in Brittany called TV Breizh but both it and the regional version of France 3 carry only a paucity of Breton language programming.

So far in the United Kingdom only S4C is carried on all TV delivery platforms i.e satellite and terrestrial.

TG4 (TnaG) is available on both terrestrial and satellite in the 26 counties but despite commitments in the 'Good Friday agreement' so far only limited analogue coverage via terrestrial transmitters in the north has been achieved. It is important that TG4 (TnaG) is provided with space on a digital freeview mux (Multiplex frequency) as soon as possible.

Link to Celtic language media here:

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League 20/09/08

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