S4C boss expects to get Nations Championship TV rights

S4C's chief executive has told MPs he is "confident" of securing the TV rights to show Wales rugby matches in the new Nations Championship until 2028-29.

Geraint Evans said it would make the Welsh language channel "the only place" where all its men's international rugby games will be available.

The tournament pits the north and south of global rugby against each other, with Wales and fellow Six Nations teams as northern hemisphere representatives, and South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and Japan as their opposition.

Geraint Evans said S4C had a "thriving future" with a lot to celebrate, but there were challenges on funding and the channel's prominence on smart televisions.

Giving evidence to Westminster's Welsh Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Evans was joined by the chair of the S4C Board, Delyth Evans, and the board's lead non-executive member, Dyfrig Davies.

Speaking of the challenges ahead, Geraint Evans said that one concern was the "prominence of S4C" on new smart TVs and online, as well as "future funding to plan effectively for the future".

The concern around funding was echoed by Delyth Evans, who said that the BBC Charter review would be key to S4C's future.

She said: "If there is a reduction in the licence fee, which is explicitly predicted in the Green Paper [government consultation document], we think it's incredibly important that S4C doesn't suffer as a consequence, so that any new funding arrangement, any new framework, protects S4C funding."

Only five of the 11 members of the Welsh Affairs Committee were present for the evidence session, with the S4C representatives being quizzed by the committee's chair, Labour MPs Ruth Jones and Gerald Jones, and the three Plaid Cymru members of the committee Ben Lake, Llinos Medi and Ann Davies.

Asked about the challenges and opportunities for S4C from artificial intelligence (AI), Geraint Evans said that "one concern for us is that the Welsh language is being left behind because of AI".

"We need to teach these [AI systems] Welsh as well as English, and we're keen along with the Welsh government's Cymraeg 2050 department to look at the possibilities of introducing a means of teaching machines in Welsh through the content we have.

"There are also possible benefits in terms of instantaneous translation of using AI.

"So S4C needs to play a central part in that so that AI is in Welsh as well as of benefit to other broadcasters."

He said men's Wales Six Nations matches would be shown in Welsh on S4C, and added he was confident of securing rights for the channel to broadcast a new competition called the Nations Championship, held in the summer and autumn, "until 2028-29".