Gaelic broadcaster in new funding plea over programme cuts

The Herald Scotland

4 hours ago

The broadcaster, which describes its funding outlook as 'extremely challenging' in its new annual report - has suggested its budget is around £10m short of where it should be if it had kept pace with inflation since 2015.
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And it has warned that new investment announced by the Scottish Government earlier this year, which increased MG Alba's budget by around £1.4m, to £14.8m, is only a 'one-off' commitment so far.
Chair John Morrison described MG Alba's current funding situation as 'extremely challenging.'
Sorcha Groundsell starred in the new island crime thriller An t-Eilean.
He suggested its funding is around £10m short of where it should be had it kept pace with inflation.
Mr Morrison said new investment was also needed to help MG Alba capitalise on a growing shift towards digital viewing on platforms such as YouTube, particularly among younger audiences.
He has called for more support to continue making high-quality programmes like island crime thriller An t-Eilean, which was shot on Lewis and Harris with a budget of more than £1 per episode.
Mr Morrison said the series had been a 'calculated gamble' for MG Alba has it had used up its entire annual drama budget to invest in the four-part series, which notched up 1.6 million views on the BBC iPlayer after its launch in January.
He said although the gamble had paid off, the success of the show, which won two European broadcasting awards last month, had highlighted some of MG Alba's 'most pressing and current challenges.
Writing in MG Alba's annual report for 2024-25, he said: 'Linear television continues to be important to us, but most people watched An t-Eilean on the BBC iPlayer, a clear demonstration of the continuing shift to digital viewing.
'The data on digital viewing eclipses anything that is possible on linear TV. The board has been keen to develop and support our policy of Digital First, where content appears other platforms before it appears on our TV channel.
'The reason for this is simple. It is about viewers. More young people watch YouTube in the UK than the combined total of viewing on linear public service TV channels.
'While our viewing figures continue to be healthy – 300,000 people reached every week in Scotland – this number is in a trend of decline and the data is telling us that we are not reaching what we call 'the missing third.'
'Roughly one third of Gaelic speakers do not watch BBC Alba regularly and we believe YouTube and other platforms are a significant part of the solution.'
Mr Morrison said MG Alba was hugely appreciated that of an uplift from the Scottish Government, which he said would allow the broadcaster to meet its 'ambitious targets' over the next 12 months.
But he added: 'This money is for one year only. To allow MG Alba to develop and grow our impact on screen as well as in the wider economy, we need an assured and growing budget.'
MG Alba chief executive Donald Campbell added: 'The number of MG Alba-funded hours of television programmes fell to 325 (in 2024-25) as production costs increased, a fall of 28 per cent over 10 years.
'The decrease in hours is not just the result of financial challenges, but also a consequence of the need for all broadcasters to produce impactful programmes that will stand out from the competition for viewers.
'Such content is usually more expensive, meaning it is not possible to fund as many hours as we would like.'