Row over Freeview status blights launchBy Peter John Meiklem, Media Correspondent
It's a fair bet there were more than a few headaches across Scotland this weekend as the long-awaited Gaelic channel BBC Alba was launched amid a hail of champagne, harps and Runrig covers.
But although celebration was the main aim of the 500 or so people - including the culture minister Linda Fabiani and BBC director-general Mark Thompson - gathered in Edinburgh for the Friday night party, the launch also saw the opening salvoes of a battle that may come to define the next chapter of the controversial £14 million channel's history.
Alasdair Morrison, chairman of MG Alba, the main Gaelic group funding the channel, said Friday's launch was only part of a long journey still to be travelled.
Speaking only minutes before the channel went live for the first time, with an eye-catching schedule including a drama about Elvis living on Lewis and a documentary about a Glasgow mass murderer, Morrison challenged the BBC to show it was with us for the long haul.
The former Labour MP's ire was provoked by the fact that the new channel will not be broadcast on Freeview, only on Freesat or Sky, stopping roughly two-thirds of all Scots from watching the new programmes. The date for the channel's apperance on Virgin Media's cable services is yet to be announced.
BBC monitoring body, the BBC Trust, announced earlier this year that including BBC Alba on Freeview would not provide licence payers with value for money. Speaking on Friday night, Morrison vowed to fight for the channel's inclusion on Freeview as soon as possible.
BBC director-general Thompson, who provoked rounds of applause by attempting to deliver part of his speech in Gaelic - hit back immediately, praising the work of Scottish trustee Jeremy Peat. Angering many of those present, Thompson said the trust's scrutiny had strengthened the channel's proposal.
The Gaelic community believes the delivery method is of key importance to BBC Alba's success. Because the channel has been tasked by the BBC Trust with attracting around 250,000 non-Gaelic-speaking viewers each week, yet denied the most popular method of delivery, some are already warning the channel has been set up to fail.
The BBC Trust said the inclusion of the channel on Freeview would cost £4m, and it wanted to see more evidence of public benefit before it would commit to spending the money.
Wilson McLeod, senior lecturer in Celtic studies at Edinburgh University, said the £4m figure was "worked out on the back of an envelope", rather than being based on sound financial calculations.
He said stopping BBC Alba from being broadcast to all but around a third of all Scots would cause some fairly significant damage to the channel's ultimate success.
He said: "Appearing on Freeview is a very, very important thing. There has been a good deal of money spent on this and there is a real worry the channel is being set up to fail and it is not getting a fair crack at the whip."
Neil Fraser - the former chairman of MG Alba's precursor the Gaelic Media Service and the man who first suggested the idea of partnership working with then BBC director-general Michael Grade - said the channel's inclusion on Freeview was a crucial part of the original plan.
Fraser, who left the organisation earlier this year, said: "At the very beginning one of the greatest attractions for us in working with the BBC was its ability to put the channel on Freeview. All along there was the expectation that would happen then, for reasons best known to the BBC Trust, it decided it wouldn't include the channel on Freeview until 2010."
Fraser called on the Department of Media, Culture and Sport in Whitehall and broadcasting regulator Ofcom to insist the BBC put the new channel on Freeview as soon as possible.
He said: "The Irish language service TG4 and the Welsh language service S4C are on Freeview. The fact BBC Alba is not is just wrong."
Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil added: "It's not something I'm happy about. The pressure has to be put on the BBC Trust to change its decision."
However, BBC national trustee for Scotland Jeremy Peat defended the trust's call. He said: "Following a public value test, the BBC gave approval for the service to launch on cable, satellite and broadband, but not Freeview. The trust felt the evidence presented so far did not justify the proposed spend.
"The trust decided the service would be subject to a review before digital switchover commences in central and northern Scotland in 2010. The review will look at the actual performance of the service in achieving public value, including reaching a wider audience than existing Gaelic speakers, and will consider launch on Freeview."
