A NEW agreement for Welsh language television threatens to be a step towards less original content, campaigners warned today.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) has written to Media Minister Jack Sargeant and the Senedd culture and media scrutiny committee demanding an inquiry before the new partnership agreement is finalised.

The society said that talks between Welsh language broadcaster S4C and the BBC for a partnership agreement putting programmes on the Beeb’s iPlayer could impact original programmes.

Cymdeithas’s Mirain Owen said: “We need transparency about these negotiations between S4C and the BBC.”

The society’s concerns were raised after S4C announced that content will be more visible on the BBC’s iPlayer platform, and cited a recent report which showed that two-thirds of S4C’s content are repeats.

The Senedd confirmed it had received the letter but said the culture scrutiny committee quizzed S4C last week about the channel’s plans and what using iPlayer might mean for Welsh content.

The Welsh government was also asked to comment.