Scotland: Gained in translation

[Harold Schiffman]

Gained in translation

The BBC has announced that it is to launch a digital Gaelic TV channel
called BBC Alba – good news for Gaelic speakers and Scottish taxpayers
alike.

It must be obvious to Gaels that their mother tongue will benefit from
having TV programmes using the lyrical language – but why a benefit to
the taxpayer? Well, it's not so long ago that grandstanding MSPs were
outbidding each other with ideas for an all-singing, all-dancing
souped-up Gaelic Broadcasting Commission costing over £24 million,
paid for by non-Gaelic speakers (there are only 60,000 Gaelic
speakers).

By using the benefits of digital TV production costs can be brought
down and the BBC can deliver the service from within the existing
licence fee. Of course, we could go one step further and move the BBC
over to a subscription-fee system, liberating it from the financial
straightjacket of it's own making.

-- http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Cities-need-a-free-hand.4394905.jp
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