S4C Authority

The S4C Authority is an independent public body appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to oversee the management of the Welsh language television channel S4C and to regulate the quality of the channel's output. Although an independent body, the Authority works in conjunction with Ofcom, the United Kingdom regulator.

S4C (short for Sianel Pedwar Cymru, meaning "Channel Four Wales" in Welsh) operates under the Channel 4 PSB licence for Wales, whereas Channel Four Television Corporation has the PSB licence for the rest of the United Kingdom. S4C does not produce its own content but instead commissions programmes from BBC Cymru, ITV Wales and independent producers.

Following a government spending review in October 2010 it was announced that S4C would be mainly funded by the BBC Trust from the TV licence fee. After a public consultation, an Operating Agreement between the two broadcasters was set up detailing how their relationship would work. As of April 2013 most of S4C's income comes from the licence fee with a proportion coming from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). S4C also has some powers to generate its own commercial income, for example, through advertising sales. In addition, S4C also operated a sister channel, S4C2 (Sianel Pedwar Cymru Dau, meaning "Channel Four Wales Two") which broadcast coverage of the National Assembly for Wales when in session. The programme content was provided by the BBC. As the Assembly is bilingual, with members allowed to speak in either English or Welsh, the service carried two audio feeds. S4C2 stopped broadcasting in December 2010.

A simulcast HD service of S4C called S4C Clirlun ("Clear Picture") began in April 2010 on Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) in Wales. However, as part of cost-saving measures designed to deal with funding shortfalls, the channel closed before the end of 2012. Channel 4 HD began broadcasting in Wales in its place.

Channels operated by S4C in the UK

 * S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru)

Channels formerly operated by S4C

 * S4C2 (Sianel Pedwar Cymru Dau)
 * S4C Clirlun

Channel/Technical Information
S4C broadcasts its services on the following channels/platforms: