{"id":12779,"date":"2019-03-18T07:23:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T07:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/?p=12779"},"modified":"2019-03-18T07:23:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T07:23:37","slug":"mg-alba-looks-to-bbc-to-fulfil-settlement-agreement-on-extra-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/mg-alba-looks-to-bbc-to-fulfil-settlement-agreement-on-extra-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"MG ALBA looks to BBC to fulfil settlement agreement on extra hours\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-align: justify; line-height: 18.33333396911621px\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><span style=\"font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif\"><strong>MG ALBA has today (Friday 15 March) congratulated the BBC on the successful&nbsp;launch of its new channel and warmly welcomed the new opportunities&nbsp;for the production sector that lie ahead.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><\/p>\n<p>But&nbsp;the organisation that operates Scotland\u2019s Gaelic-language television channel in partnership with the BBC has called upon the corporation to ensure that BBC ALBA has the same opportunity to shine as the new BBC Scotland.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nTen years after its launch, BBC ALBA is severely challenged by a 75% repeat rate, whilst 50% is the expected limit for BBC Scotland; and is available only in standard definition (SD) on television.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nBBC ALBA has built a strong reputation for creating original, distinct, and inspiring content and has been a major media success story in Scotland since its launch a decade ago.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe channel has helped significantly boost Scottish creative industries, with a thriving media industry sector across the country. It has also given a real voice to some of the country\u2019s freshest music talent and created a platform for professional women\u2019s sport to be seen on terrestrial TV.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nMG ALBA has called upon its BBC partner to ensure that BBC ALBA enjoys the same opportunity and quality of provision as the new channel, and looks forward to a clear timeline for delivery of the new Gaelic programming promised at the announcement of the new service. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><span style=\"font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif\"><strong>Allan MacDonald<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\">, Chair of MG ALBA, which operate BBC ALBA in partnership with the BBC, comments:<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cWe warmly congratulate our colleagues at BBC Scotland on an outstanding launch and we continue to wish them well as the channel comes to life in the months ahead.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cHowever, the launch of BBC Scotland has also served to shine a light on two significant concerns for the board of MG ALBA around the delivery of BBC ALBA, which has an unacceptably high 75% repeat rate and is still only available in SD on television.&nbsp; The BBC has committed to delivering 100 hours of additional content, and we look forward to this being delivered.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cAt a time when other public service broadcast channels such as BBC One, STV, and the new BBC Scotland have adopted high definition (HD) as the \u2018standard\u2019 for TV delivery, it is a source of major concern that BBC ALBA is seen as a poor relation available on television only in SD.&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cPut simply, it is not acceptable for the viewers of BBC ALBA to receive a second-class service in terms of picture quality.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cWhether it is powerful documentaries, thrilling live sport, the best break-through music channel or our seven-day news service, our viewers deserve to be \u2013 quite literally \u2013 getting the best picture. For us, this \u2013 and growing the hours of first-run programmes on the channel &#8211; is a major priority. &nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u201cOn both counts, we look forward to our BBC partners making a clear committment to a timescale for delivery.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><span style=\"font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif\"><em>Issued by Electrify Marketing &amp; Communications on behalf of MG ABA<\/em><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nFor more information:<br \/>\nLawrence Broadie<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><u><a href=\"mailto:lawrence@electrify.me.uk\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: purple; text-decoration: underline\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lawrence@electrify.me.uk<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px; font-family: \"Source Sans Pro\", sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 49, 103)\"><u><a href=\"tel:07966%20216%20270\" dir=\"ltr\" x-apple-data-detectors=\"true\" x-apple-data-detectors-type=\"telephone\" x-apple-data-detectors-result=\"5\/2\" style=\"color: rgb(0, 49, 103); text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 49, 103, 0.258824)\">07966 216 270<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MG ALBA has today (Friday 15 March) congratulated the BBC on the successful&nbsp;launch of its new channel and warmly welcomed the new opportunities&nbsp;for the production sector that lie ahead.&nbsp; But&nbsp;the organisation that operates Scotland\u2019s Gaelic-language television channel in partnership with the BBC has called upon the corporation to ensure that BBC ALBA has the same [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-newsletter","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-3k7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12780,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}