Minster for Culture John Griffiths has this morning used meetings with both the Director of BBC Cymru Wales, Rhodri Talfan Davies, and Director of Ofcom Wales, Rhodri Williams, to outline his ambition for a healthy broadcasting industry in Wales.

Today’s meetings in Cardiff Bay round up a series arranged by the Minister, which also included ITV Wales and S4C. The meetings provided an opportunity for the broadcasters to update the Minister on their priorities and how they are responding to the challenges of providing a distinct Welsh output in a difficult economic climate.

Following the meetings the Minister said,

“The public service broadcasters in Wales have a crucial role in the civic life of Wales not least in the context of a press that is weak in terms of its national reach.

“However, the broadcasting industry in Wales is facing a very uncertain future. There has been an unprecedented attack on public service broadcasting in Wales during recent years and we will continue to stand up for maintaining full services in the Welsh and English languages at both a national and local level.”

This was the first formal meeting between the new Minister for Culture and Mr Davies and the pair discussed how BBC Cymru Wales is continuing to implement the Delivering Quality First proposals and the agreement between the BBC Trust and the S4C Authority on the future funding, governance and accountability of S4C for the next six years.

The meeting with Ofcom provided an opportunity for the Minister to discuss Ofcom’s role in relation to public service broadcasting in Wales including the Channel 3 licence.

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/cultureandsport/2013/130520broadcasting/?lang=en