[lookoutwales]

Thought it might be better to set up a separate thread about S4C programming, especially after all the upheaval documented on the News thread.

Voting for the annual Can i Gymru (Song for Wales) contest on St David’s Day was hit by phone line troubles.

BBC Cymru Fyw reported today that some viewers had claimed they received higher than usual phone bills even after being unable to vote.

www-bbc-co-uk.translate.goog 

Cân i Gymru: 'Siom' bil ffôn ar ôl 'methu pleidleisio' - BBC Cymru Fyw
Gwylwyr yn dweud eu bod wedi cael biliau o dros £30 er nad oedden nhw'n credu bo…
  Source: www-bbc-co-uk.translate.goog

S4C, for its part, said a record 17,000 votes had been cast - substantially higher than last year (and the result doesn’t appear to have come under question)

There’s been a considerable revival of interest in the contest in recent years, largely driven by the (largely mocking) social media commentary.

[Flux]

I’m still baffled why their voting system seems stuck in the 90s. Why only phone calls? Can anyone hazard a guess why they don’t offer text/web/app voting yet when it’s become the norm across other programmes?

I understand they might be slower to adapt to new technology being a smaller channel, but for one of their biggest broadcasts of the year, text voting at the very least feels like something they should have started doing a decade ago!

[gottago]

I’m still baffled why their voting system seems stuck in the 90s. Why only phone calls? Can anyone hazard a guess why they don’t offer text/web/app voting yet when it’s become the norm across other programmes?

I understand they might be slower to adapt to new technology being a smaller channel, but for one of their biggest broadcasts of the year, text voting at the very least feels like something they should have started doing a decade ago!

Cost I would've thought. Building a reliable web vote probably costs more than setting up a tried and tested phone voting method - especially for one night a year and not a huge number of voters. They're possibly generating a bit of revenue from the phone lines as well.

I don't think text voting has been used by any show since the phone vote scandal all those years ago.

[lookoutwales]

Cost I would've thought. Building a reliable web vote probably costs more than setting up a tried and tested phone voting method - especially for one night a year and not a huge number of voters. They're possibly generating a bit of revenue from the phone lines as well.

In any event, S4C have said they're considering possible refunds.

newyddion.s4c.cymru 

S4C yn ystyried ad-daliad wedi trafferthion pleidleisio Cân i Gymru | NS4C | New…
Mae ymddiheuriad arall wedi ei gyhoeddi gan y sianel nos Lun am y "camg…
  Source: newyddion.s4c.cymru

Doesn't appear to have the outcome either way - the winner gets to perform at a pan-Celtic festival in Ireland, which isn't televised (even though quite a few entries from Wales have gone onto win)

[dafydd]

They've use the 0900 premium rate televoting for over a decade with no issues. No different to dozens of tv shows that do the same. The income helps pay for the prize money, in the same way as many ITV programmes.

It's just unfortunate that the provider failed in the worst way possible - the call just dropped with no indication of a successful vote or a failure. The one valid criticism is that they didn't warn viewers about the issue when problems were reported. It was live, they should have had someone monitoring social media. Ironically, in the past, they have had researchers monitor Twitter in order to show comments on screen but it was dropped because a lot of comments were not particularly pleasant.

[lookoutwales]

S4C have finally decided to refund those who had trouble phoning in to vote for Can i Gymru - OFCOM have yet to decide whether to launch an investigation.

www.bbc.co.uk 

S4C yn cynnig ad-daliad wedi trafferthion Cân i Gymru - BBC Cymru Fyw
S4C i ad-dalu'r rheiny a gafodd drafferthion yn ceisio pleidleisio am Cân i…
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[BroadcastWales]

S4C's daily magazine shows, Heno and Prynhawn Da are launching a revamped look and studio on Monday.

Here's a clip showing the old studio, which hasn't changed much over the past decade:

www.facebook.com 

Untitled

  Source: www.facebook.com

And a little teaser of the new set: www.facebook.com 

Untitled

  Source: www.facebook.com

[RhysJR]

Does anything else come out of those Llanelli studios?

I think the weather used to before the move to Central Square, but can't recall hearing anything else (bar some pandemic rugby for Channel 4?).

[Brekkie]

Quite surprised Prynhawn Da continues to survive though I guess it sharing a studio and probably production tem with Heno keeps the costs down.

[BroadcastWales]

Does anything else come out of those Llanelli studios?

I think the weather used to before the move to Central Square, but can't recall hearing anything else (bar some pandemic rugby for Channel 4?).

As you say, they used to produce the weather until the BBC took it back when they moved to Central Square.

Tinopolis do produce Ralio from there, and Pawb a'i Farn, but similar to Question Time that's mostly filmed out on the road.

Heno and Prynhawn Da are the only daily broadcasts from the studios.