Friends, I’ve ridden my hobby horse called ‘S4C rant’ to death. I’ve suggested things, had feedback both good and bad, and even got a few lines back from their press office. Sadly, I fear they’re not wanting any help. I imagine they’re all cruising along to somewhere, rudderless and taking on water, in denial that there’s anything wrong, convinced they’ll make it… somewhere (with “Nearer, My God, to Thee” playing softly in the background).

With a hat-tip to Leighton Andrews AM, I saw this article in the Western Mail about University of Wales failing to back a researcher over a critical report of S4C and I can honestly say I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Based on the Western Mail’s report, it seems that the report is pretty damning of the management, the strategy and pretty much everything going. Nothing said in the report is of any surprise to anyone who’s been watching what S4C is up to.

It goes on to say in the article that S4C now apparently wants its money back. To me, that says quite a lot about them. They commissioned the report to supposedly find out what they’re doing wrong, someone has told them and they don’t like the answer (confirming pretty much exactly what the report is supposed to have said). This type of a report should be the mother of all alarm clocks, shouting a quote I’ve cannibalised from a Risky Business blog post from a few weeks ago…

“LOOK AT THE GIGANTIC FUCKING ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM ZOMG WHY CAN’T YOU SEE IT??? ITS TRUNK IS IN YR COFFEE FFS!!!”

B

S4C (or those seemingly in charge of it) also don’t appear to ‘get’ the Internet. The website is less than compelling, and in an age where tablet systems are becoming more prevalent, it doesn’t work properly on devices such as the iPad or the iPhone.

Just so this isn’t all bad, In S4C’s defense, they do at the very least carry the live broadcast stream on the site, which has been terribly useful for me from time to time, but again, it only works on the computer/laptop. Average consumers aren’t going to sit by the computer to watch TV, and even fewer are going to sit with the laptop on the sofa and watch a 13-17″ screen when there’s a larger TV in the corner.

S4C’s content isn’t available on YouTube (save for the odd promo video), and it doesn’t appear on iTunes or any of the other established streaming media services. This seems (to me at least) a massive oversight.

Based on my observations, very few locations stock S4C DVDs, and it seems likely that fewer people will buy DVDs in anycase (Research by NPD in the US indicates that online access to purchased content accounts for around a quarter of media sales – a market that I’d conservatively estimate to be no more than 3 years old). By selling and streaming content online, you effectively eliminate the concerns about having to produce DVDs or about persuading larger retailers to stock them. The consumer can access that series from their tablet PC, their laptop or their TV.

I know from my own recent experience, my friends back in Wales were discussing a drama series called ‘Pentalar’ on Twitter. With all my traveling around that time, I didn’t have ready access to a TV capable of watching S4C, or was stuck with a well below par internet conection. As a result, I missed out on being able to see it (in hindsight, I could just have easily used the Sky+ app to record it, but my point will still stand). Based on the recommendations I got, I would have happily downloaded the show from iTunes and have been able to watch it in my dingy hotel in Milton Keynes.

S4C’s engagement in social media also seems to be quite stoic. Reading the twitter account @S4Carlein, they’re more announcements, rather than genuine interaction. Interaction on Facebook seems limited, with things looking slightly better with ‘Ddoe am Ddeg’ (Yesterday at Ten – a new show that’s coming soon).

“So what’s the solution Bryn?” I imagine at least one or two of you asking…

I’m glad you asked…

1. Change S4C to become a Welsh Broadcast Network
2. Establish a branded YouTube channel for S4C. Put as much of the channel’s content on it and make it available for all device types.
3. Use the YouTube channel, as a location to host pilot shows. Use Twitter and Facebook to promote the shows, and get feedback from the targeted groups (Facebook would be more than happy I’m sure to sell targeted advertising 16-25 yo in Wales).
4. Take the popular shows from that platform, put them on a prime-time slot where younger people are around to watch it (Friday and Saturday nights probably aren’t the best times). Dedicate a night a week to that age slot.
5. Make drama series, new shows and other such content available on online media stores (such as iTunes), and price them competitively. I’d really quite like to
6. able to watch “C’mon Midfield” again. When Amazon brings its video on demand service to the UK, put it there too.
7. Make streaming services available for mobile devices (e.g. Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7).
8. Streaming media services will launch at some point in the UK, get involved early and put apps on these devices.
9. Use parts of the revenue generated from media and ad sales to invest in new programs, and contests to create a pilot for new shows.
10. Develop new media streams. Podcasts on Politics, a video roundup on the week’s Pobl Y Cwm, or even a HuffPo style news outlet.
11. Finally (and the most important thing), put the entire project under the control of a single person, who has the authority to make all the necessary changes, this has to be guided by a single vision and not a committee of people gradually watering down a strategy until it’s no longer workable.

These are just my thoughts, I appreciate that I’m almost certainly overlooking something, or that I’m making it out to be a lot simpler than it is. My fear is that if the management doesn’t snap out of the ‘old media’ style of running the station, they’ll end up killing it because they’re making shows noone has an interest in watching anymore.

So what do you all think? I appreciate that not all of you will care about this issue (since I imagine most of my blog readers aren’t Welsh). I know that some of you do though, and so I’d like to hear your thoughts. We could crowd-source some ideas and see if anyone pays any attention to us.

I guess what I’m trying to say is… PLEASE get with it. Steady as she sinks isn’t the strategy we need now, and failure to get with social, with streaming and with downloads will make S4C less and less relevant.

Hwyl am y tro

B

Having worked previously with the Amnesty International:UK Stop Violence Against Women campaign, I’ve seen the rather shocking statistics surrounding domestic violence in the UK (Women’s Aid have compiled some here) and heard first hand the accounts of its victims.

The film is quite shocking, and it certainly does ram the message home. In the classic newsman voice, some of you may find this quite distressing: Cut Movie – The Video in Full.

B

It starts out with a decent enough premise, Terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb at the start of the Olympic Games in London (killing hundreds of thousands of people). The south coast of England is reduced to a desolate waste ground. The Government is relocated to the North of England along with the population (some now dying of radiation poisoning).

Sounds like a decent setup doesn’t it?

Well, it goes downhill shortly after it becomes a cross between Hollyoaks, Spooks and Skins.

The first episode centres on a plot to kill the Prime Minister. Throughout the show, the Scooby gang go around shaking down their sources, shooting arms dealers in the foot and tracking down the world’s most dangerous hitman through his favourite food order. The most dangerous hitman eventually turns out to be a 15yo hoodie armed with an AK-47 sniper rifle (yes, I know, the AK-47 isn’t a sniper rifle, I’m just telling you stuff from the show).

It eventually turns out that the Prime Minister wasn’t the target after all, the head of this new MI5 unit was! Shock! You didn’t see that coming did you?!

It’s unclear why they felt the need to do this (possibly some ham-fisted attempt to do replicate the effect of killing Lisa Faulkner in the second episode of the grown up version) beyond setting up the series story arc of some big conspiracy.

To be fair, the warning signs were there at the start. One of the main characters says during a selection interview that the reason she wants to be in MI5 is because the terrorists are getting younger. It gave me the rather silly image of two parents discussing pre-school:

“oh Darling, shall we send little Timmy to Osama in Diapers Nursery or the Security Crèche?”

I did also wonder how in this dystopian future, the defenders of freedom looked like they’d just finished a fashion shoot. Defeating terrorists whilst waiting for next season’s clothes to be made.

Watching the characters, none of them seem to be able to deliver any of their lines with any conviction. Paris Hilton could act as a quantum physicist with greater aplomb. The only convincing piece of acting I saw was when the maths geek was put in charge and froze in fear after being confronted by an emergency. I imagined a little voice in his head saying “OMG… they’re wanting me to act! What do I do?!”

My prediction is that by the end of the series, it’ll turn out that there’s a shadowy conspiracy which knew about the nuclear bomb and did nothing so they could subjugate the masses and make money (or something as equally cliché).

All in all, it served to be a pretty rubbish waste of potentially good airtime and concept. It left me wondering “Has BBC 3 actually delivered anything worth watching?”. I couldn’t think of any original programming it’d done which was any good.

*storms off*

B