New Welsh media body plan not happening, BBC is told

Powers over broadcasting in Wales reside at Westminster

Proposals for a new public body to push for improvements to the Welsh media will not be taken forward, BBC Wales has been told.

Setting up a shadow broadcast authority was a key recommendation of a panel of experts in the summer.

The panel said it would lay the groundwork for powers over broadcasting to move from Westminster to Wales.

The report was commissioned as part of the co-operation agreement between Welsh Labour ministers and Plaid Cymru.

Plaid have said that without the authority Welsh audiences "will be left behind", but the plan was called a "nationalist talking shop" by the Welsh Conservatives who also criticised the £704,000 a year cost.

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The Welsh government is currently trying to find up to £900m of savings in its budget.

The expert panel warned that there was "very little thinking" about what the future of Welsh broadcasting would look like.

It found that viewing of television channels had fallen by 37% since 2010, and in 2021 the time people spent watching TV from Welsh broadcasters fell by 12.6% compared to 2020.

The age of people watching BBC Wales and ITV Wales television was heavily skewed towards the over-65s.

The report also said that the next 10 years would be "critical to the future of broadcasting and communications in Wales".

Currently Welsh broadcasters, including S4C, are the responsibility of the UK government.

The report concluded that "at present there is no organisation tasked with developing a strategic vision, specific to Wales".

The experts said a shadow broadcasting authority could "seek to work with existing broadcasters", making the case that "network programmes and material produced specifically for Wales offer portrayal and storytelling which is relevant to audiences in Wales".

In response to BBC Wales, the Welsh government said there had been no change to its position.

A spokesperson said: "We are considering the findings of the expert panel's report."

Welsh Conservative culture spokesman Tom Giffard said he welcomed "news that Labour and Plaid's nationalist talking shop will no longer represent a distraction from the people of Wales' priorities, given that this area is not devolved to the Labour government".

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: "The independent report produced by a panel of respected experts is clear - that without taking action, Wales and Welsh audiences will be left behind and the democratic deficit will not be addressed.

"If we are to be fair and ambitious for Wales, we need a Broadcasting and Communications Authority for a media framework that gives Wales its fair share, and which is accountable to those it serves.

"The present structures are incapable of delivering this."