How S4C is beating the language barrier with sport

S4C has had a bumper year of sport in 2023, with plenty more to come.

To date, the Welsh-language broadcaster has aired Wales’ international football thanks to a sub-licencing deal with Viaplay; two of cycling’s grand tours, the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, the U20 Rugby World Cup and men’s Summer Series; the World Rally Championships; and plenty more. Then, later in the year it still has live action from the Rugby World Cup; highlights from the Wales women’s football team and live with the domestic women’s Genero Adran League; coverage of Wales’ club teams in European competitions; Speedway for the first time; and most recently acquired, highlights from the third cycling grand tour, the Vuelta a Espana.

S4C director of content & publishing strategy Geraint Evans explained to Broadcast Sport that the broadcaster sees sport as a way to reach non-Welsh speakers, which includes plenty within Wales as well as in the rest of the UK. “It’s the lifeblood of the channel – it brings people into the channel…and to the language.”

Sport commissioner Graham Davies, on secondment from BBC Wales, agreed, “Sport is very visual, and the sport itself can [bring people to the Welsh langauge].” Even so, it does provide English commentary or subtites where it can. 

Part of bringing this amount of sport to S4C has been partnerships with broadcasters such as Prime Video for its Summer Series highlights, produced by Sunset+Vine for S4C, and Viaplay for men’s international football - despite recent stories claiming Viaplay may sell its UK sport rights, it has given “nothing but certainty” to S4C, according to Evans.

Evans hopes these agreements can continue, and would be open to taking a similar route to Channel 4 in recent years, where it has broadcast major moments, such as Emma Raducanu’s US Open win, England men’s T20 Cricket World Cup final victory, and the final race of the 2021 F1 season free-to-air thanks to similar deals. He said, “We’re not against showing an Autumn Series game live and telling the free-to-air audience that the rest of it is on Prime Video, or the same with Warner Bros. Discovery for grand tour cycling.”

For now, he hopes to extend its deal with Prime Video for highlights from rugby union’s Summer Series (normally the Autumn Series, but moved due to this year’s World Cup) and keep an eye on any similar opportunities that could arise. S4C also works with the likes of BBC Wales, with Davies explaining, “We work out what’s best for the audience and go with that,” in terms of which rights to go for, “we don’t want to be outbidding each other”.

A bonus for S4C has been the rise of Wrexham after its takeover by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The broadcaster has already created a behind-the-scenes docuseries to rival that of Disney+, of which Evans revealed there is another in production, and is taking the chance to show more of the team when it can - for example in its pre-season friendly against Chelsea earlier this summer.

Later this year, S4C will be the only UK broadcaster onsite from the beginning of the men’s Rugby World Cup, with Sarra Elgan, Jason Mohammad and Lauren Jenkins presenting coverage produced by Whisper Cymru plus commentary and punditry from the likes of Mike Phillips, Rhys Patchell, Nathan Brew and Gareth Charles. 

Away from the live content, S4C will also have a host of non-live programming, including Jonathan Davies hosting his own show on Thursdays; preview shows; documentaries with the likes of Mike Phillips, Shane Williams and Ieuan Evans, Ifan Phillips; and more.

Women’s sport is another target for S4C, Evans said, “It’s not just duty, the audience want it and there’s an opportunity for growth there.” This includes an increase from four women’s football matches being shown to ten, which includes the newly-promoted Wrexham women’s side.

S4C’s digital platform has given the broadcaster much more flexibility when it comes to taking chances on sport, Davies saying, “We can do mor on digital than we can on linear,” and adding, “For maybe less followed sports, it’s finding enough space so they’re not competing with bigger beasts” - with scheduling the Indigo Premiership rugby on Thursday evenings to avoid clashing with regional matches and the United Rugby Championship.

Overall, Davies summed up S4C’s approach simply: “What do the Welsh audience want, and on what platform?”