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(2) This section applies only to a member whose appointment was made, or last | |
renewed, after the coming into force of this section. | |
196 Deficits and surpluses of C4C | |
(1) Sections 26 and 27 of the 1990 Act (revenue deficits of C4C to be funded by | |
providers of Channel 3 services and application of excess revenues of C4C) | 5 |
shall cease to have effect. | |
(2) This section has effect in relation to a deficit or excess for a year ending after | |
the commencement of this section. | |
197 Borrowing limit for C4C | |
(1) The Secretary of State may provide for a limit on the borrowing that C4C is | 10 |
allowed to undertake. | |
(2) The order may fix the limit either— | |
(a) by specifying the sum which the outstanding borrowing of C4C must | |
not at any time exceed; or | |
(b) by providing a method of determining the sum which that borrowing | 15 |
must not exceed. | |
(3) C4C are not to borrow money if the effect of the borrowing would be to cause | |
the amount of their outstanding borrowing to be, or to remain, in excess of the | |
limit (if any) that is for the time being in force. | |
(4) For the purposes of this section the amount of C4C’s outstanding borrowing at | 20 |
any time is the aggregate amount outstanding at that time in respect of the | |
principal of sums borrowed by them, but after allowing sums borrowed to | |
repay existing loans to be applied for that purpose. | |
(5) Before making an order under this section, the Secretary of State must consult | |
C4C. | 25 |
(6) The consent of the Treasury is required for the making of an order under this | |
section. | |
The Welsh Authority | |
198 Function of OFCOM in relation to the Welsh Authority | |
It shall be a function of OFCOM, to the extent that provision for them to do so | 30 |
is contained in this Act and Part 5 of the 1996 Act, to regulate the services | |
provided by the Welsh Authority. | |
199 Welsh Authority’s function of providing S4C and S4C Digital | |
(1) The Welsh Authority shall continue in existence with the substitution of the | |
following function for their functions under section 57 of the 1990 Act. | 35 |
(2) The Welsh Authority shall have the function of providing television | |
programme services of high quality with a view to their being available for | |
reception wholly or mainly by members of the public in Wales. | |
(3) The carrying out of that function— | |
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(a) must include the continuing provision of the television broadcasting | |
service known as Sianel Pedwar Cymru (“S4C”); and | |
(b) may include the continuing provision of the service provided in digital | |
form and known as S4C Digital. | |
(4) The power of the Welsh Authority to provide S4C Digital includes a power to | 5 |
secure that arrangements are made and remain in force for it to be broadcast in | |
digital form. | |
(5) It shall be the duty of the Welsh Authority to secure that S4C and S4C Digital | |
each represents a public service for the dissemination of information, | |
education and entertainment. | 10 |
(6) The Welsh Authority may use part of the signals carrying S4C to provide— | |
(a) subtitling in relation to programmes included in the service; and | |
(b) other services which are ancillary to programmes included in S4C and | |
which are directly related to their contents. | |
(7) In providing S4C Digital the Welsh Authority may also provide— | 15 |
(a) assistance for disabled people in relation to programmes included in | |
the service; and | |
(b) any other service (other than one mentioned in paragraph (a)) which is | |
an ancillary service in relation to S4C Digital. | |
(8) The Secretary of State may by order modify this Act and such other enactments | 20 |
as he thinks fit for the purpose of— | |
(a) replacing the requirement of the Welsh Authority to provide S4C with | |
a requirement to provide a service in digital form; | |
(b) requiring the Welsh Authority to secure that arrangements are made | |
for that service and S4C Digital to be merged and provided as one | 25 |
service (also to be known as “S4C Digital”); and | |
(c) applying enactments relating to the provision of S4C or S4C Digital to | |
the provision of the merged service. | |
(9) An order under subsection (8) may require the Welsh Authority to ensure that, | |
from the coming into force of a requirement to provide a merged service in | 30 |
digital form until a time determined in the manner described in the order, the | |
whole or a part of the merged service is also to be provided for broadcasting in | |
analogue form. | |
(10) In this section “programme” does not include an advertisement. | |
200 Powers to provide other services | 35 |
(1) The Welsh Authority are not, in the carrying out of their function under section | |
199, to provide any television programme service (apart from S4C and S4C | |
Digital) unless— | |
(a) the service appears to them to satisfy the requirements of subsection | |
(3); and | 40 |
(b) the provision by them of the service has been approved by an order | |
made by the Secretary of State. | |
(2) The functions of the Welsh Authority include the provision of services that are | |
neither television programme services nor sound services but— | |
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(a) are provided with a view to being made available for reception wholly | |
or mainly by members of the public in Wales or otherwise to be | |
received or used by persons in Wales; | |
(b) are services appearing to them to satisfy the requirements of subsection | |
(3); and | 5 |
(c) are services the provision of which by the Authority has been approved | |
by an order made by the Secretary of State. | |
(3) A service provided under this section must be a public service of high quality | |
for the dissemination of information, education or entertainment (or a | |
combination of them) wholly or mainly to members of the public in Wales. | 10 |
(4) The Welsh Authority are not to provide a television broadcasting service under | |
this section unless it is one the provision of which by them broadens the range | |
of television broadcasting services available for reception by members of the | |
public in Wales. | |
(5) The Welsh Authority must ensure, in the case of every television programme | 15 |
service provided with the approval of the Secretary of State under this section, | |
that a substantial proportion of the programmes included in the service | |
consists of programmes in Welsh. | |
(6) An order under this section approving the provision of a service must set out— | |
(a) the nature and other characteristics of the service that is approved; and | 20 |
(b) in the case of a service that is a television programme service, a public | |
service remit for that service. | |
(7) In providing a service approved under this section the Welsh Authority may | |
also provide— | |
(a) assistance for disabled people in relation to programmes included in | 25 |
the service; | |
(b) other services which are ancillary to programmes included in the | |
service and which are directly related to their contents; and | |
(c) any other service (other than one mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b)) | |
which is an ancillary service in relation to so much of the service as is | 30 |
provided in digital form. | |
(8) A television programme service provided under this section in digital form is | |
a qualifying service for the purposes of the 1996 Act. | |
(9) In this section “sound service” means a service which would fall to be | |
regulated under section 239 if provided by an S4C company. | 35 |
201 Other activities of Welsh Authority | |
(1) The activities that the Welsh Authority are able to carry on include activities | |
which appear to them— | |
(a) to be activities that it is appropriate for them to carry on in association | |
with the carrying out of their function of providing S4C, S4C Digital or | 40 |
a service the provision of which is approved under section 200; and | |
(b) to be connected, otherwise than merely in financial terms, with | |
activities undertaken by them for the carrying out of that function. | |
(2) The approval of the Secretary of State is required for the carrying on by the | |
Welsh Authority of activities authorised only by subsection (1). | 45 |
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(3) The approval of the Secretary of State— | |
(a) must be contained in an order made by him; and | |
(b) may be a general approval in relation to a description of activities or a | |
specific approval in relation to particular activities. | |
(4) The activities capable of being authorised under subsection (1)— | 5 |
(a) do not include the provision of a licensable service; but | |
(b) do include activities for securing the provision of such a service by an | |
S4C company and other activities connected with the provision of such | |
a service by such a company. | |
(5) The activities referred to in subsection (4)(b) include— | 10 |
(a) the formation of a company to provide a programme service; | |
(b) the taking of steps by means of which a company that is providing such | |
a service becomes an S4C company. | |
(6) For sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) of paragraph 1 of Schedule 6 to the 1990 Act | |
(power of Welsh Authority to do things incidental or conducive to the carrying | 15 |
out of their functions) there shall be substituted— | |
“(2) The Authority may do anything which appears to them to be | |
incidental or conducive to the carrying out of their functions. | |
(3) The powers of the Authority under sub-paragraph (2) include | |
power, to the extent that it appears to them incidental or conducive | 20 |
to the carrying out of their functions to do so— | |
(a) to carry on activities (other than those comprised in their | |
duty to carry out their functions under section 199 of the | |
Communications Act 2003) through S4C companies; and | |
(b) to participate with others in the carrying on of any such | 25 |
activities.” | |
(7) In this section “licensable service” means a service that would fall to be | |
regulated under section 206 or 239 if provided by an S4C company. | |
(8) Section 57(1A)(b) and (1B) of the 1990 Act (power of Welsh Authority to | |
establish, acquire an interest in or assist a qualifying company) shall cease to | 30 |
have effect. | |
202 Welsh Authority finances | |
(1) The Welsh Authority must not, whether directly or indirectly, impose charges | |
on persons— | |
(a) in respect of their reception or use in Wales of any of the Authority’s | 35 |
public services; | |
(b) in respect of their reception in Wales of any service consisting in the | |
provision of assistance for disabled people in relation to programmes | |
included in any one or more of those services; or | |
(c) in respect of their reception in Wales of any service (other than one | 40 |
mentioned in paragraph (b)) which is an ancillary service in relation to | |
any of the Authority’s public services provided in digital form. | |
(2) It shall be unlawful to impose a charge in contravention of subsection (1). | |
(3) The power of the Welsh Authority to do anything that appears to them to be | |
conducive or incidental to the carrying out of their functions includes power, | 45 |
subject to subsection (4), to borrow money. | |
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(4) The Welsh Authority are not to borrow money except with the approval of the | |
Secretary of State. | |
(5) The consent of the Treasury is to be required for the giving of an approval for | |
the purposes of subsection (4). | |
(6) The Welsh Authority are to be liable to pay OFCOM such sums in respect of | 5 |
the carrying out by OFCOM of their functions in relation to the Authority as | |
may be— | |
(a) agreed from time to time between the Authority and OFCOM; or | |
(b) (in default of agreement) fixed by the Secretary of State. | |
(7) In section 61(4) of the 1990 Act (power of Secretary of State to increase amount | 10 |
of grant to the Welsh Authority), for “transmitting S4C and the service referred | |
to in section 57(1A)(a), by order” there shall be substituted— | |
“(a) providing services that are public services of the Authority | |
(within the meaning of section 202 of the Communications Act | |
2003), and | 15 |
(b) arranging for the broadcasting or distribution of those services, | |
by order”. | |
(8) In section 61A of the 1990 Act (the public service fund)— | |
(a) in subsection (2) (application of fund), for “their functions under | |
section 57(1) or (1A)(a)” there shall be substituted “their functions in | 20 |
relation to the provision of the services that are public services of the | |
Authority (within the meaning of section 202 of the Communications | |
Act 2003).”; and | |
(b) in subsection (4) (programmes to be broadcast first on S4C or S4C | |
Digital), for the words from “on S4C” onwards there shall be | 25 |
substituted “on a television programme service that is one of their | |
public services (within the meaning of section 202 of the | |
Communications Act 2003)”. | |
(9) In this section references to the Welsh Authority’s public services are | |
references to the following— | 30 |
(a) S4C; | |
(b) S4C Digital; and | |
(c) the services the provision of which by the Authority is authorised by or | |
under section 200. | |
The Gaelic Media Service | 35 |
203 The Gaelic Media Service | |
(1) The body established for the purposes of section 183 of the 1990 Act (financing | |
of programmes in Gaelic out of the Gaelic Television Fund) is hereby renamed | |
Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig (the Gaelic Media Service). | |
(2) References in any instrument or other document to Comataidh Craolaidh | 40 |
Gaidhlig or to the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee are to be construed | |
accordingly. | |
(3) For subsection (4) of that section there shall be substituted— | |
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