From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting - Page: 2

As digital technology begins to take hold, the opportunities for minority broadcasting become greater. At the moment, the enormous costs involved in running a traditional TV or Radio station prevent anything but fairly mainstream programmes from being broadcast. But as the world turns (to coin a phrase), we may be about to see a language revolution on the airwaves.

The Welsh Experience

Sianel Pedwar Cymru, or S4C, is a TV channel that broadcasts a mixture of Welsh and English programmes for Wales. If you don't know, Wales is a small country on the left hand side of England. The two nations have had something of a love-hate relationship for about two millenia now, so I don't suppose it'll get any better over the next 20 years.

Welsh is one of the ancient celtic languages of Europe (and a beautiful one, too). It was dying out until the last few decades when a determined effort was made to rescue the language, and with it, the culture of Wales. When I was a boy, growing up in England, the only Welsh that ever made it on to our TV screens was about half an hour of special programming a day, which used to get broadcast somewhere between Watch With Mother and the testcard.

Now, it's a success story. S4C was established by the 1980/81 Broadcasting Acts, and since 1982 all Welsh language programmes, whether made by the BBC or Independent programme makers, have been transmitted on S4C. S4C now says its role is the "provision of public service broadcasting to a bilingual community." It provides about 30 hours a week of Welsh language programming. It may well have contributed to the rebirth of the Welsh language. Diolch yn fawr (which means thanks a lot!).

G'Day Australia

Another approach to multiculturalism has been taken by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service, or SBS. This provides TV and radio programmes in 68 different languages. Here's a solution to a different, but related, problem. Australia is a melting pot of different peoples, attracted down under by lifestyle, climate, jobs, or whatever. While the immigrants are proud to be Australians, they're also reluctant to leave totally behind their cultural roots. So SBS broadcasts news, interviews, current affairs, community information and music in their home languages.

SBS started as a radio-only service in 1975 when the government-funded broadcasts from radio stations 2EA and 3EA in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. The service has grown to incorporate AM, FM, TV and Satellite services across the whole country.

The Maori Muddle

In New Zealand, the multicultural experience went horribly wrong. Aotearoa TV went on the air in May 1996 on a UHF channel in the Auckland area, promising a 70 percent Maori language content. (It's interesting that they promised double what S4C - with far greater resources - was able to promise the Welsh.) The service was funded by Te Mangai Paho, which distributes funds for Maori broadcasting in New Zealand.

By September of the same year, scandal had erupted around the station. Aotearoa TV's directors were accused of mismanaging the funds, inappropriate expenditure and running the set up badly. It was claimed that ATN's bar bill was larger than any of their programme budgets. The young, talented Maori broadcasters were understandably upset that they were paid a pittance while their bosses were apparently doing very nicely. There were all kinds of allegations of dodgy dealings which were never really cleared up satisfactorily.

Not surprisingly, ATN went off the air. Maori language on TV is now limited to one TV programme a day, broadcast mid-afternoon by TVNZ. Maori programming is better served by radio, where there are a number of stations run by Maori iwi (tribes) as well as regular broadcasts at peak times by Radio New Zealand on their National station. An independent broadcaster, Mai FM, supplies a Maori language news service to many members of the Maori Broadcasters Federation, Te Whakaruruhau.

If there's a lesson to be learned, it is that it sometimes takes more than money and talent to make a TV station work.

The Future

There's no doubt that the future for minority language broadcasters will be markedly different. The days of there being just a few channels are numbered (see the Suite 101 article on digital broadcasting).

At this year's National Eisteddfod (a welsh language arts festival), Euryn Ogwen Williams, S4C's digital advisor said in a lecture that the onset of digital technology is "a global revolution and every single person in the world will feel its effects. The future of the Welsh language and culture depends on our ability to understand and embrace this revolution."

He said that standing still was not a viable option. I suspect that he's right. Digital broadcasting enables MORE channels to take up LESS bandwidth in the broadcast signal. The BBC in Britain has just this month launched its new BBC CHOICE channel, which is a kind of "add-on" to their main channels, providing more in-depth background to programmes broadcast on BBC1 and 2. It's the first general service launched by the BBC since BBC-2 in the 1960s. It's deliberately aimed at a narrower, more committed audience than the flagship channels.

It may well be that the future of broadcasting will become more narrower than ever before. The huge audiences of the past may be pared down to more specialised groups. That may be based on language, be that Welsh, Maori, or whatever... Or it may be based on interests.

As Euryn Ogwen Williams said in his Eisteddfod lecture, "it's a global revolution... We must adapt ourselves to the challenge."

Exciting times.