BBC Trust

In January 2008 the BBC Trust, the BBC's governing body, approved BBC ALBA for launch. The Trust had subjected the BBC Executive's proposals for the channel to a full Public Value Test that concluded that the channel should launch but should be subject to a review before digital switchover in central and northern Scotland in 2010.

As part of the review process the Trust will ask the public and stakeholders to submit their opinions on the service and how it could be available in the future.

The review will cover two areas:

• 1) Part one will look at how well the channel is performing, whether the channel is achieving a wide appeal to viewers beyond existing Gaelic speakers, and whether it is contributing to the broader educational strategy for the language
• 2) Part two will look at whether the channel should be made available on Freeview. Due to cost and capacity restraints on DTT, the BBC Executive have suggested finding room for BBC ALBA by removing the BBC's radio stations from Freeview, in Scotland only, during BBC ALBA's broadcasting hours. We will be considering this proposal and what option the public would prefer. The review will also consider whether the Gaelic zone on BBC Two Scotland should remain.

Jeremy Peat, BBC National Trustee for Scotland, who is leading the review for the Trust, said:

"BBC ALBA has been popular since its launch, but we now want to see whether it is measuring up to the challenges we set it last year. We'll be looking at how well it is bringing new speakers to the Gaelic language and what current and potential future viewers think of it as a service.

"We will also be investigating whether BBC ALBA should be on Freeview instead of the BBC's radio stations. We want to hear what the public think and whether they want ALBA on Freeview or would prefer to keep the existing BBC radio stations.

"We'd encourage everybody who has an opinion about the service, its availability and how they'd like to see it change, to get in touch with us."

Timetable

The public consultation is open for 12 weeks from 26 October 2009, and will close on 18 January 2010. The Trust's review will be published before switchover in central and northern Scotland in April 2010.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• BBC Alba normally broadcasts between between the hours of 17:00 and 23:30 each weekday and after 4pm at the weekend. The stations affected would be BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 live, 5 live Sports Extra, BBC 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 7, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC World Service. These stations would still be available as usual via a combination of FM/AM/LW, DAB and online
• The Trust has also today published a submission from the BBC Executive which sets out what it thinks of the channel so far and what it would like to do in the future. This is available below
• The consultation document can be found below or copies can be obtained by calling: 03700 103 100.