23 June 2008

 The children of Wales said "Hello Cyw!" at 7.00am on Monday, 23 June as S4C's extended Welsh-language service for younger viewers goes live on air.

Animated character Cyw (the Welsh word for chick, pronounced like the letter "q") will front the new year-round pre-school service, which will be broadcast on S4C’s digital channel, S4C Digidol.

The new service will significantly extend S4C's nursery provision by broadcasting six and a half hours of programming per day, Monday-Friday, 7.00am-1.30pm.

A lively bilingual website - s4c.co.uk/cyw - full of games and activities, as well as information for parents, will accompany the service. Many programmes will be available to watch on-line, while English subtitles will be available on most shows.

Cyw is the first phase in S4C's strategy to introduce a separate Welsh language service for children and young people. The second phase for 7-12 year-olds and the third phase for children aged 12+ will be rolled out over the next eighteen months.

"Cyw reflects S4C’s commitment to young children and their families across Wales and beyond and I’m confident the new service will get a warm reception in homes all over the country," explained S4C's Director of Commissioning, Rhian Gibson.

Original programming made in Wales by Welsh production companies and in partnership with international broadcasters will lie at the heart of the ambitious Cyw service.

Among those programmes will be live-action series Pentre Bach, song and dance show Triongl, animations Holi Hana (Hana's Helpline) and Sam Tân (Fireman Sam), and new series such as Heini and Igi, Tigi, Bip a Bop.

The new service will feature a specially-commissioned Welsh language theme song, "Helo Cyw!", written by prolific songwriter Caryl Parry Jones.

S4C Digidol is available free-to-air in Wales on Sky 104, Freeview 4, Virgin TV 194 and Freesat 104. Outside Wales, S4C Digidol is available on Sky 134 and Freesat 120