S4C 'committed' to new Carmarthen headquarters despite cuts

The Welsh language channel S4C remains fully committed to plans for a new headquarters in Carmarthenshire despite a cut in its budget, its head has said.

Chief executive Ian Jones said a £1.7m budget cut by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will have "no impact on the plans" to move about 55 jobs from Cardiff to Carmarthen.

He told the BBC the move remained "cost neutral" and it would be cheaper to run S4C from west Wales.

A consultation is set to start in 2016.

S4C's digital broadcast team will be housed at the new BBC Wales headquarters in Cardiff city centre.

Companies from the creative industries will be updated on the plans to move to Carmarthen later on Wednesday.

The headquarters, to be known as Canolfan S4C Yr Egin, are to be built at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and expected to house about 25 companies and organisations.

Louise Harris, chief executive officer of The Big Learning Company, one of the firms committed to the building, said: "This project is vitally important, not just for Carmarthen and rural west Wales - the heartland of the Welsh language - but for the whole of Wales, as a digital gateway to the rest of the world, where the best of Welsh talent and content, from education to industry, can find exciting new market opportunities."