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S4C ((:ɛs ˈpʰɛdwar ɛkʰ), from the Welsh ', meaning "Channel Four Wales") is a Welsh-language public-service television channel based in Cardiff and broadcast throughout Wales. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, S4C is (after BBC One, ITV, BBC Two and Sky1) the fifth-oldest television channel in the United Kingdom (Channel 4 was launched in the rest of the country one day later.) When first established, the channel—initially broadcast on analogue television—was bilingual (Welsh and English) outside peak hours, with English-language content consisting of the simultaneous or deferred transmission of programmes from Channel 4 (analogue reception of which was unavailable in most of Wales). When digital television arrived several years later, S4C added a second, 100% Welsh-language service, called ("digital"). With the completion of the digital switchover in Wales on 31 March 2010—which made English-language Channel 4 available across Wales—S4C's bilingual analogue channel closed, and what had been S4C Digidol became the default S4C channel, available on Freeview, satellite and cable, and broadcasting entirely in Welsh. S4C does not commission programming in English, but when English is used on the channel it is left untranslated. A high-definition service called ("clear picture"), simulcasting S4C's main channel, began transmission on 30 April 2010 on Freeview channel 53 in Wales.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=S4C launches new High Definition channel - Clirlun )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Clirlun )〕 However, it was announced on 11 July 2012 that, as part of cost-saving measures designed to deal with the impact of cuts to S4C's public funding, the Clirlun channel would close before the end of the year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=S4C efficiency measures on course to meet targets )〕 Channel 4 HD began broadcasting in Wales from 2 December 2012 in its place.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Amendment 1 to the Determination Under Article 3 of the Television Multiplex Services (Reservation of Digital Capacity) Order 2008 Dated 17 October 2008 )〕 ==Pre-history== Before the launch of S4C, Welsh speakers had been served by occasional programmes in Welsh, broadcast as regional opt-outs on BBC Wales and HTV Cymru Wales (the ITV franchise in Wales), usually at off-peak or inconvenient times. This was unsatisfactory for Welsh speakers, who saw the arrangement as a sop, and also an annoyance for non-Welsh speakers, who found the English programmes seen in the rest of the UK often rescheduled or not transmitted at all. In 1962 the ITV network had created a licence area for North and West Wales, which was awarded to ''Wales (West and North) Limited''. This traded as Teledu Cymru and provided significant levels of Welsh-language programming. However, problems with transmission infrastructure and poor market research led to financial difficulties within two years and the station was taken over by its neighbour Television Wales and West. During the 1970s, Welsh-language activists had campaigned for a TV service in the language, which already had its own radio station, BBC Radio Cymru. Both the Conservative and Labour parties promised a Welsh-language fourth channel, if elected to government in the 1979 general election. Shortly after the Conservatives won a majority in the election, the new home secretary William Whitelaw decided against a Welsh fourth channel, and suggested that, except for an occasional opt-out, the service should be the same as that offered in the rest of the UK. This led to acts of civil disobedience, including refusals to pay the television licence fee, thereby running the risk of prosecution or even a prison sentence, and sit-ins in BBC and HTV studios. Some took more extreme measures, including attacking television transmitters in Welsh-speaking areas. In 1980, the former president of Plaid Cymru, Gwynfor Evans, threatened to go on hunger strike if the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher didn't honour its commitment to provide a Welsh-language TV service. The channel started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening. S4C appointed its first female CEO, Iona Jones in 2005. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「S4C」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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