Глава MG Alba заявил о критическом недофинансировании гэльских медиа по сравнению с валлийскими и ирландскими коллегами

MG Alba boss says Gaelic media services lack funding - Published The chairman of MG Alba has told MPs that Gaelic media services have missed out on "serious" public funding. MG Alba services include the LearnGaelic website and it works with the BBC to deliver Gaelic language service BBC Alba. John Morrison told the Scottish Affairs Committee's inquiry into the future of Gaelic broadcasting, external that Welsh and Irish services receive "millions of pounds" to help them diversify. The Scottish government, which provided £15m to MG Alba for 2026-27, said the organisation did not benefit from "fair funding" direct from the TV licence fee. - Gaelic initiative focuses on creating jobs in language's heartlands - Published8 December 2025 Morrison said MG Alba's work encouraged the growth of Gaelic, particularly among young people. "The most important thing for us is not MG Alba, it's not BBC Alba, it's about the whole language and the importance of the language to the increasing number of young people who are embracing it," he said. Morrison, a former BBC News correspondent, added: "We are no longer a linear TV channel. We are having to work on multiple platforms. "Our colleagues in the Celtic countries got serious millions of pounds of support to help them diversify, or the 'dash to digital' as we call it. "We got no money to support us with that." In a written submission to the inquiry, external, MG Alba said it received £15m from the Scottish government and a £10m allocation for content from the BBC. It said S4C in Wales received £22m worth of content from the BBC, plus licence fee funding of £95m. MG Alba said Irish language public service broadcaster TG4 was also "significantly better funded", and also benefitted from tax-based incentives. BBC Scotland's corporate affairs director Luke McCullough told the committee the money the broadcaster contributes to BBC Alba has grown over the years since the channel's inception, from £4m to £10m. That is in addition to the money that it invests in Gaelic services on radio and online, he said. However McCullough acknowledged that the BBC in general was under huge financial pressure. Meanwhile the BBC's head of Gaelic services, Margaret Mary Murray, said that the BBC was "a window and a door to the Gaelic language and culture". Gaelic Secretary Màiri McAllan said the BBC had a responsibility to Scottish licence payers to commission, invest in and broadcast programming which reflected people's lives in Scotland - including Gaelic language and culture. She added: "Unlike S4C in Wales, MG Alba does not receive direct funding from the licence fee. "We continue to call on the UK government to ensure fair funding from the licence fee as part of the BBC Charter renewal process." The UK government is reviewing the charter, external ahead of the current term expiring on 31 December 31 2027, with the new charter set to take effect on 1 January 2028. BBC Alba was set up in 2008 and broadcasts news and current affairs, sport, drama and children's programmes. The channel had nightly live coverage and highlights throughout the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, while An t-Eilean (The Island) was the most high-profile drama in BBC Alba's history.