What does Gaelic TV contribute to Scottish culture?

Many of us know BBC Alba best for its SPL football coverage. Every Saturday night you get a replay of one of the SPL games and already we're hearing that might extend to the First Division too. Why is on a Gaelic channel? Well, it's just one of the ways the channel is trying to reach beyond the Gaelic-speaking community and justify its existence.

But is it doing its job? The impact of BBC Alba is to be reviewed by the BBC Trust, which represents licence fee payers, and it will concentrate on two areas:

1. Whether the channel is achieving wide appeal to viewers beyond existing Gaelic speakers and helping to educate people in the language;

2. Whether to make BBC Alba available through Freeview.

However, to put the channel on Freeview would see BBC radio stations - Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as 5Live, Radio Scotland and the World Service - dropping off Freeview between 1700 and 2300 every evening.

So would it be worth it?

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