S4C Dau (, meaning ''Channel Four Wales Two'', formerly branded S4C2) was a

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

British television station owned by

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

which, until 2010, broadcast coverage of the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

at the

Senedd building The Senedd building (), in Cardiff, houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ; formerly the National Assembly for Wales). The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006, Saint ...

. It was also used for extended coverage of events shown on the main S4C service, such as the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

and Royal Welsh Show.

History

Launch

When the UK government was planning

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

in the late 1990s, each of the existing analogue broadcasters were allocated half a

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

of capacity each. Each multiplex has capacity to carry multiple television stations. As one of the existing analogue broadcasters, S4C were allocated half of multiplex A and decided to use their gifted capacity to broadcast two stations in Wales; ''S4C Digidol'', a partial simulcast of their analogue television station and ''S4C2'', a new service. Outside of Wales, they opted to sell their capacity to pay-TV broadcaster ONdigital to use for their service, meaning that S4C2 was only broadcast from transmitters located within Wales. The channel launched on 15 September 1999 as a free-to-air channel on the ONdigital platform using S4C's gifted capacity on multiplex A, and later

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

and NTL. It formed part of the Freeview service and

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

throughout Wales, but was available throughout the United Kingdom on

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...

and Sky. The channel initially broadcast all proceedings from the National Assembly for Wales, live and uninterrupted. As the Assembly is bilingual, with members allowed to speak in either English or Welsh, the service carried two audio feeds on Freeview and satellite; an untranslated feed that broadcast proceedings in their original language (be it English or Welsh) and an English feed where any Welsh speech was voiced-over live into English. The channel was described by S4C as a 'unique partnership' between themselves as the broadcaster and

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

as the service provider.S4C2 Launch Promotional Video, September 1999 As such, the costs of producing the Assembly output were funded by BBC Wales, while the costs of distribution were met by S4C. S4C did not receive additional funding from the government to cover the costs of running the service, and couldn't divert public money intended to fund content for its main channel, as S4C2 was neither classed as a public service channel, nor was there any obligation for S4C to run such a service. As such, S4C's costs for the channel was funded from commercial revenues and the channel itself was operated through a commercial subsidiary of S4C, S4C2 Ltd., who held the broadcast licence. S4C2 was also used for interactive programming and alternate programming that couldn't be aired on the main S4C channel, such as uninterrupted coverage of competitions from the , the Urdd National Eisteddfod, the Royal Welsh Show and 's sing-along feature (''Best of Song for Wales'', a yearly Welsh music competition). On 18 January 2007, as part of a rebrand of S4C's services, S4C2's logo was changed, with the channel now identified as ''S4C Dau/S4C Two''.

Removal of Assembly coverage

As part a consultation into provision of a new children's service in 2007, S4C identified that there was a large amount of capacity being unused by the S4C2 service when the Assembly was not in session. They suggested two proposals they considered viable, one of which would see the children's service operate in the downtime around the Assembly coverage, while the other would see the Assembly coverage removed altogether and S4C2 changed into a full-time children's channel. From January 2010, coverage of the National Assembly for Wales proceedings ceased on the channel. This programming was produced by the BBC and was made available online via the Democracy Live section of the BBC's website. In March 2010, the broadcaster announced it would resume broadcasts of the Assembly's full sessions and some committees in a new thrice-weekly overnight programme entitled ''Y Dydd yn Y Cynulliad'' (''The Day in the Assembly'') on its main S4C service from Tuesday 20 April 2010.

Closure

On 16 September 2010, S4C2 was removed from

channel 507. It was also removed from

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

channel 168 during October and Freeview channel 86 on 30 November 2010, in both cases the channel was only available in Wales. The channel finally ceased broadcasting on 6 December 2010, when it was removed from

. S4C confirmed the channel's closure in January 2011, where they said its live coverage from the National Eisteddfod and Royal Welsh show would be more heavily featured on the main S4C channel, whilst recorded coverage of the Assembly would continue to be broadcast on the main channel in its late night slot. S4C cited budget cuts from the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

(DCMS) as the reason for closing the service. As part of the UK Government spending review announced in October 2010, S4C's budget was to be cut by 25% by 2015.

References

External links

How to get S4C2 (English)

How to get S4C2 (Welsh)
{{Navboxes, list1= {{S4C {{Television in Wales {{Parliamentary broadcasters S4C Defunct television channels in the United Kingdom Legislature broadcasters Television channels in Wales Television channels and stations established in 1999 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010 1999 establishments in Wales 2010 disestablishments in Wales 1990s in Wales 1990s in Welsh television 2000s in Wales 2000s in Welsh television 2010s in Wales 2010s in Welsh television