TAC welcomes new contestable funding for children’s TV and Welsh-language content

22 October 2018

TAC has welcomed the publication of further detail regarding the UK Government’s Young Audiences Content Fund, which will allocate up to £57m to provide more content for children and young people on commercial free-to-air public service channels.

The fund has a 5% target for content in UK languages such as Welsh and Scots Gaelic.

The Young Audiences Content Fund will be administered by the BFI, and is planned for full launch in April 2019. Bids will be assessed against eight criteria, which are: quality, innovation, additionality, nations and regions, diversity, new voices, plurality and audience reach.

Around 5% of the TV fund will be available for smaller companies to use as development funding.

The BFI will shortly be convening a steering group and speaking further to industry bodies and stakeholders to inform detailed guidelines of the fund.

Gareth Williams, Chair of TAC, said: “This fund is good news, and will provide important new opportunities for the sector to make more public service content. TV producers in Wales can draw on their strong track record in programmes for children and young people to bid for funding for exciting new projects. We also welcome the target for Welsh and other UK languages, especially at a time when S4C’s budgets remain highly challenging. We look forward to continuing to work with the BFI on how to maximise this opportunity.”

A separate Audio Content Fund is aimed at encouraging more independently produced public service content for all ages on commercial radio. Bids will be assessed against the same eight criteria, and it again includes a five per cent target for content in languages such as Welsh.

Read the full UK Government press release

Read the UK Government’s policy paper

 

 

 

 

 

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