MG ALBA | |
Native Name: | Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig |
Native Name Lang: | gd |
Type: | Statutory organisation |
Headquarters: | Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland |
Language: | Scottish Gaelic |
Leader Title: | Chairperson |
Leader Name: | Allan MacDonald |
Key People: | Donald Campbell (Chief Executive) |
Revenue: | £11.6 million (2015)[1] |
Gaelic Media Service (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig), doing business as MG Alba, is a Scottish statutory organisation that produces Scottish Gaelic programmes for broadcast in Scotland.[2] The organisation was created as a result of the Communications Act 2003, which gave it a remit to "secure that a wide and diverse range of high quality programmes in Gaelic are broadcast or otherwise transmitted so as to be available to persons in Scotland".[3] To accomplish this, the organisation's founding mandate includes provisions to fund Gaelic programme production and development, provide Gaelic broadcasting training, and conduct audience research, with later amendments conferring the authority to schedule and commission programmes and seek a broadcast licence.
From its offices in Stornoway and Glasgow the organisation produces Gaelic-language programmes for broadcast on platforms including BBC Alba, a Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel it has operated jointly with the BBC since 19 September 2008. The organisation's talent development initiatives include FilmG,[4] a Gaelic short film competition whose winners are given opportunity to develop their programme ideas to broadcast standard.
The value of programmes broadcast by MG Alba from 2014 to 2015 was £11.5 million.[1]