[lookoutwales]

Perhaps it's time to make it part of BBC Cymru Wales with a seperate editorial only advisory board for S4C, at least it will have better systems and structures in place for the operation of the organisation.  Not ideal,  but it can't continue as it has

I wouldn't be too surprised if along the line, there's at least stronger ties with the Beeb - something that's reared its head in the past - though as you say, it would be hardly ideal.

The Media Bill going through Parliament proposes at least a review of the long-standing commitment of 10 hours a week of output that BBC Cymru provides each week to S4C (something the indie companies will be watching carefully) rather than any further structural changes for the moment.

Programming wise, I find myself seldom watching it apart for sport (usually Sgorio's domestic coverage) and maybe the odd live event - its entertainment output in particular feels like it's stuck in a rut (Proseict Pum Mil or Ffit Cymru, anyone?) and the emergence of a Welsh version of 'Gogglebox' ('Gogglebocs') seemed quite desperate.

Hopefully some kind of shake-up will follow following the Chief Content Officer's own sacking last month over misconduct allegations.

In recent years it’s appeared to me that ITV Wales don’t get the credit they perhaps deserve when it comes to local output, producing a level of output very similar to UTV (and from the looks of it, frequently more than STV manage in a given week) but without the same level of attention.

The only other STV local show I'm aware of is What's On Scotland - and that's currently on a break from its 7pm slot on Fridays. ITV Wales' equivalent, Backstage, has also been popping up in the same slot here.

But you're right - STV appear hard pressed to do anything beyond the required quota once four Scotland Tonight shows a week are counted for.

ITV Border are doing a similar thing in their Scottish sub-region with Representing Border three times a week although they also usually fit in a feature show, too - interesting to note ITV take a more local approach compared to STV's national outlook.

ITV Wales has been in quite a strong position for the past few years - it has a decent stable of returning non-news shows (Coast and Country, in particular), usually with a topical slant, and has been growing its network footprint through both in-house and indie commissions.

On top of that, there's a strong current affairs department producing two regular shows for S4C and they still have a hand in one of the longest-running shows in the channel (Cefn Gwlad)

If there's one area they could improve on, it would probably be sport - they shied away from doing their own coverage of the Rugby World Cup, and arguably, the return of EFL rights was a missed opportunity to bring back a Wales-only highlights show.

Chances are we'll never likely see ITV Wales dipping their toes back into drama and entertainment programming like they used to - though drama was often quite sparing apart from Nuts & Bolts, and entertainment usually consisted of the odd music show and Barry Welsh is Coming (mind you, even UTV managed to produce a stand-up comedy show in the last year)

But overall, yes, local output on ITV is in a fairly healthy state at the moment, even if you have to look just a little harder to find it.

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BBC Midlands ran a signed bulletin at 1525 or on BBC Two from the mid/late 1990s until 2010. When the 1525 bulletin was shelved as was the signing, for a short while this was done online only then BID (who provided the interpreters free of charge) pulled out. This was each weekday.

The history of the signed Midlands bulletin stretches even further back - an example with David Stevens from 1985.

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