BBC Alba is British public television network owned by British Broadcasting Corporation. The channel broadcasts news, entertainment, sports, documentaries programmings in Scottish Gaelic language.
History
In 2007, BBC Trust opened a consultation for a Gaelic digital service in partnership with MG Alba. Following BBC Trust consultation in November 2007, Audience Council Scotland recommended their support for the creation of the service on 7 December 2007, stating that the Trust should pursue carriage of the service on digital terrestrial television and that existing "gaelic zone" programming on BBC Scotland should remain after the launch. On 28 January 2008, BBC Trust gave the go-ahead for a Gaelic channel.
The channel began broadcasting on satellite at 9:00 pm on 19 September 2008 with a launch video featuring a new rendition of the Runrig song, Alba. The first part of a live céilidh from Skye, presented by Mary Ann Kennedy, was followed by a specially produced comedy drama entitled Eilbheas (Elvis), starring Greg Hemphill as Elvis Presley, at 9:30 pm. The channel's first independent commission, Peter Manuel: Deireadh an Uilc? (Peter Manuel: The End of Evil?), a drama documentary produced by STV Productions, was shown at 10:30 pm before the opening night closed with the second half of the live celidh from Skye. The launch night was simulcast on BBC Two Scotland between 9:00 pm and 10:30 pm and there was a launch event held at the National Museum of Scotland, which was recorded by the channel's news service An Là.
A study carried out for the channel indicated that 650,000 people watched BBC Alba per week in the first two months of broadcasting, in spite of only being available to around a third of Scots. After being subject to a review by BBC Trust and a recommendation from the Audience Council Scotland in 2009, a plan was announced to broadcast the channel on Freeview, in Scotland only, from the digital switchover (2010) under the proviso that reach of the service extended beyond the core Gaelic audience to 250,000. This was approved on 27 December 2010 by BBC Trust and the service launched on Freeview on 8 June 2011. The channel also launched on Virgin Media (Scotland only) on 18 May 2011, and was made available nationwide on Virgin Media and Sky, the former on 6 November 2012.
Programmings
BBC Alba combines television, radio and on-line programme content, and is anticipated to have a positive impact at many levels including increasing artistic and technical skills, extending economic opportunities, stimulating parents' interest in Gaelic medium education, appealing to and serving the adult learners and strengthening Gaelic usage in extremely important media. It holds significant potential to assist with the development of positive attitudes to the acquisition and transmission of Gaelic. BBC Alba broadcasts more Scottish sport than any other channel, with over three hours a week of football, rugby and shinty. In addition, the station also broadcasts a live news programme for 30 minutes every weekday.
Logos
.png "BBC Alba (2008-.n.v.).png (71 KB)")
.png "BBC Alba (2018-.n.v.).png (70 KB)")
.png "BBC Alba (2021-.n.v.).png (85 KB)")
External links
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