107-615: BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales , a division of the BBC . It broadcasts across Wales on FM , DAB , digital TV and BBC Sounds . The station broadcasts general factual and entertainment programming for 18 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours a day from 5:30am to midnight with overnight programming simulcast from the BBC World Service after closedown. Its sister station, BBC Radio Cymru 2 , providing separate music-led programming at certain hours of
214-504: A VDSL2 line to a roadside cabinet. The cabinets were linked to Virgin Media backhaul via new fibre laid by Vtesse Networks through BT's local exchange, 5 km away. As well as broadband, Virgin Media offered its full range of TV services, including high definition and on demand, over the new infrastructure. On 11 March 2010, Virgin Media announced a six-month trial using telephone poles to deliver 50 Mbit/s broadband and TV services to
321-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under
428-586: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified
535-647: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had
642-542: A change-of-ownership clause written into the agreement for UKTV , a joint venture with Telewest's Flextech content division. To prevent this, Telewest instead acquired NTL. In December 2005 NTL:Telewest and mobile virtual network operator ( MVNO ) Virgin Mobile UK announced that talks had taken place regarding a merger. Virgin Mobile's independent directors rejected the original bid of £817 million ($ 1.4 billion), taking
749-546: A cost of £110m. Since the announcement, Virgin Media has confirmed that it now plans to also upgrade 50 Mbit/s customers to 120 Mbit/s at no extra cost, in effect cutting the monthly fee for existing 100 Mbit/s customers. On 11 November 2013, Virgin Media announced its 152 Mbit/s downstream broadband service, featuring 12 Mbit/s upstream rates, which started rolling out to customers from 28 February 2014. The company also upgraded existing customers, from 30 Mbit/s to 50 Mbit/s, 60 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s, and 120 Mbit/s to
856-472: A form of bandwidth throttling whereby customer bandwidth was reduced temporarily after a threshold was reached during peak periods. The company experimented with and revised all parameters involved in the throttling, such as threshold size, peak period definitions, throttling percentage and duration. Separate thresholds were applied to upstream and downstream, and thresholds varied between packages. In 2013, Virgin Media changed their traffic management policy to
963-542: A free speed boost from their M500 package to their new M600 package, replacing 516 Mbit/s download and 36 Mbit/s upload with 636 Mbit/s download and 41 Mbit/s upload. The free upgrades were completed for all customers by 31 March 2021. M600 is only available through the Ultimate Oomph package bundle. Virgin Media maintain on their consumer website that they do not throttle users' download or upload bandwidth. However, Virgin Media did originally employ
1070-500: A further 40 stations by the end of 2012. The service, which gives access to mobile internet via a TfL portal offering travel, news and entertainment bulletins, will remain free for Virgin Media customers, along with customers of partnered companies, such as Vodafone and EE , after the 2012 Summer Olympics . Other users will only be able to access a limited amount of free content on the TfL portal, with full mobile internet services offered on
1177-484: A minimum payment guarantee included in the contract meant that the actual amount due would exceed twice the payment. The EPG name for Sky News was replaced with Old Sky Snooze . On 2 March 2007, the National Consumer Council accused Sky and Virgin of "behaving like children" and stated that it would consider whether or not to raise a super-complaint against them "that will help to knock heads together" by
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#17328521420441284-613: A network of local reporters in studios across Wales. The first record played on Radio Cymru was Plas-y-Bryniau by Hergest. The station was the first broadcasting outlet dedicated wholly to programmes in Welsh, allowing much more airtime for such output than had previously been available on the old Radio 4 Wales (or its predecessors the Welsh Home Service and, before that, the BBC Welsh Regional Programme ). Initially,
1391-534: A non-cable telephone line). Virgin Broadband in cabled areas is marketed as "fibre optic broadband". It is a Hybrid fibre-coaxial network, where fibre optic trunk lines are used to connect the area's headend to cabinets on the street. In July 2009 and 2010, Virgin Media Broadband came first in an Ofcom broadband speed test in the UK. Ofcom tested typical speeds of broadband services provided by most ISPs in
1498-723: A pay-as-you-go basis. On 11 February 2010, ntl:Telewest Business was rebranded as Virgin Media Business , marking the end of the NTL and Telewest brand being used by the company. The company provides dedicated internet and telecommunications services to businesses. Virgin Phone offers landline telephone services; it ranks as the number two service behind the former UK state monopoly, BT Group . On 1 April 2010, Virgin Media began to offer free home phone to mobile calls. Virgin Phone customers are able to call Virgin Mobile customers at no charge, within
1605-496: A result of this, 30 Mbit/s or higher packages were only throttled on the upstream, where as 20 Mbit/s or below packages were throttled on both the upstream and the downstream. Sometime after this Virgin Media changed their policy again due to further feedback from customers, and they now state on their website that no matter what broadband package users have taken, they will not be subject to any bandwidth throttling. Virgin Media customers may use Usenet servers ( NNTP ) with
1712-456: A second station - BBC Radio Cymru 2 - was launched on a permanent basis. Initially providing a music and entertainment alternative to its breakfast news programme, the station gradually expanded its own programming while continuing to simulcast output from the main Radio Cymru service. In March 2024, the station expanded its bespoke output from 15 to 60 hours a week, after receiving approval from
1819-533: A similar package called NTL Freedom . Telewest and NTL began discussions about a merger in late 2003. Thanks to their geographically distinct areas, NTL and Telewest had co-operated previously, as in redirecting potential customers living outside their respective areas. On 3 October 2005, NTL announced a US$ 16 billion purchase of Telewest, to form one of the largest media companies in the UK. The merger agreement as structured would have required NTL to negotiate with BBC Worldwide (the BBC 's commercial arm) due to
1926-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into
2033-947: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave
2140-634: Is a telecommunications company from Britain, founded in 2007, which provides telephone , television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading , England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2 , a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica . Virgin Media owns and operates its own Hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) networks in
2247-627: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited/Virgin Media O2 Limited
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#17328521420442354-667: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to
2461-440: Is similar in format to many "general" radio stations, with news programmes at breakfast ( Post Cyntaf , 'First Post'), lunchtime ( Taro'r Post – a debate-centred programme), and drive-time ( Post Prynhawn , 'Afternoon Post'); together with presenter-driven sequences mixing music with guests, calls from listeners and competitions. Radio Cymru also produces drama, features, current affairs and sports programming. Over
2568-505: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain
2675-595: Is the main cable provider in the UK, with the exception of WightFibre on the Isle of Wight , and covers 51% of UK households. Virgin Media competes primarily in broadband with Sky , BT ( EE ) and TalkTalk . The company's origins lie in both Telewest and NTL , which merged in March 2006. Telewest began in 1984 in Croydon under the name "Croydon Cable", and was acquired by United Cable of Denver in 1988. The company expanded during
2782-704: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows
2889-494: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in
2996-461: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in
3103-622: The Advertising Standards Authority upheld claims made by Virgin Media in its marketing, despite a complaint from Sky. Until 2013, the company was listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange . On 5 February 2013, Liberty Global announced that they had agreed to buy Virgin Media for approximately US$ 23.3 billion (£15 billion) in a stock and cash merger. On 15 April, EU regulatory approval for
3210-511: The Berkshire village of Woolhampton . Virgin Media identified more than one million homes in parts of the UK that could benefit from deployment over telephone poles, without the need for government subsidy. During July the trial was extended to existing commercial infrastructure in the Welsh village of Crumlin , Caerphilly. On 7 October 2010, Ofcom ordered BT to open up its fibre-optic network to competing broadband providers to help drive forward
3317-525: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol
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3424-570: The Office of Fair Trading about BSkyB's move, and would withdraw its attempt to buy ITV plc, stating it did not believe it could make a deal on favourable terms. In November 2006, the company signed a deal with Sir Richard Branson to license the Virgin brand for the combined business. NTL Group's services – previously marketed under the NTL , Telewest and Virgin.net brands were merged with Virgin Mobile under
3531-727: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and
3638-454: The Sky1 , Sky2 , Sky Travel , Sky Travel Extra , Sky Sports News and Sky News channel content with a standard message. Sky attributed part of the rate rise to the fact that the new deal would also include Sky3 , Sky Arts and undisclosed high definition and video on demand content. Sky said the deal would cost only 3p per customer per day (roughly £35,000,000 per year), but Virgin said that
3745-618: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has
3852-627: The privatised UK Independent Broadcasting Authority transmission network. In 1998 CableTel adopted "NTL" as its new name. NTL purchased the ISP Virgin.net in 2004, having originally operated it as a joint venture with Virgin Group since it launched in November 1996. It sold ADSL broadband services through BT landlines to those living outside areas served by NTL's cable network and also offered subscription-based and subscription-free dial-up Internet access. Prior to acquiring Virgin.net, NTL offered
3959-587: The "Virgin Media" brand on 8 February 2007, referred to by Virgin as V Day . Virgin.net was integrated into the new brand as Virgin Media Beyond Cable (later Virgin Media National). In February 2007, Virgin Central, an on-demand service, gained the rights to begin showing episodes of the television show Lost (already shown on Sky 1), and other shows including Alias and The OC . This service extended
4066-573: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for
4173-589: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in
4280-510: The 1990s and adopted the Telewest name in 1992 following the merger of its then-parent TCI and US West . It expanded into cable television access in 1999 by purchasing the remaining 50% stake in Cable London, one of the first cable TV companies in the UK, from NTL, adding 400,000 homes in north London. In April 2000 Telewest merged with Flextech , and in November extended its cable network with
4387-522: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,
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4494-481: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for
4601-491: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published
4708-565: The Talk Plan specified periods. Virgin TV , the digital cable television service from Virgin Media, currently ranks as the UK's second largest pay TV service, having 3.6m subscribers, compared to BSkyB's 8.2m as of Q3 2007. Currently 55% of UK households potentially have access to Virgin's network, while anyone in the UK with a line-of-sight view of the Astra & Eurobird satellites at 28.2° east has
4815-427: The UK including Manchester , Leeds , Edinburgh and Glasgow . This is being provided through upgrades to downstream to DOCSIS 3.1, with upload speeds still limited to DOCSIS 3.0 upstream infrastructure. They aim to finish the rollout across the entire Virgin Media network by the end of 2021. On 29 June 2020, Virgin Media announced that customers on their "Ultimate Oomph" broadband, TV and phone package would receive
4922-495: The UK on Freesat , Sky , Virgin Media and internationally online on BBC Sounds . As Radio Cymru was created from an opt-out of BBC Radio 4, it inherited the FM transmitters previously used by Radio 4 across Wales. At the time of the station's launch, it was the only radio service in the UK broadcasting solely on FM. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
5029-453: The UK's 26m homes. On 27 October 2010, Virgin Media announced its 100 Mbit/s downstream broadband service, featuring 10 Mbit/s upstream rates, which went on sale on 8 December 2010. Early service areas were parts of London, the South East and Yorkshire. With the faster upstream rates specifically, it expects the uptake in cloud computing services will also see an increase. The roll-out
5136-463: The UK's first ' quadruple play ' media company, offering television, internet, mobile phone and fixed-line telephone services. The deal included a 30-year exclusive branding agreement that saw NTL adopt the "Virgin" name after it completed its merger with Telewest. NTL:Telewest announced on 8 November 2006 it would change its name to "Virgin Media Inc". On 9 November 2006, NTL announced it had approached
5243-447: The UK, including BSkyB, BT, Tiscali, AOL, TalkTalk, Plusnet, O2 and Orange. Since most broadband connections in the UK are provided by ADSL, and the quality of individual phone lines varies according to distance from exchange, most landline broadband services are marketed as being the maximum speed that the individual's phone line will support, "up to 8 mb". As a result, actual speeds obtained vary greatly, but are always constrained by
5350-483: The UKTV channels on their service with other networks. This led to a backlash by customers with some threatening to leave. The dispute finally ended after three weeks on 11 August 2018 after Virgin Media and UKTV reached an agreement. Virgin Media gradually restored all 10 UKTV channels with their +1 and HD Simulcast channels along with now added simulcast GOLD HD and the reinstalled UKTV Play app. The app now features five times
5457-471: The United Kingdom. Although most of the network is urban focused, the new joint venture, Nexfibre (a 50:50 joint venture between Virgin Media O2 and Infravia Capital Partners ) is expanding the network to more areas which never had access to the Virgin Media network before. As of Q2 2023, it had a total of approximately 5.8 million customers. Since the acquisition of Smallworld Cable in 2014, Virgin Media
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#17328521420445564-489: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,
5671-673: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither
5778-584: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of
5885-445: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer
5992-426: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to
6099-429: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of
6206-466: The acquisition of Eurobell , taking the total number of homes past 4.9 million. NTL was established by Barclay Knapp and George Blumenthal in 1993 as "International CableTel", taking advantage of the deregulation of the UK cable market. Initially, Cabletel acquired local cable franchises covering Guildford , Northern Ireland and parts of Central Scotland and South Wales . In 1996, CableTel acquired National Transcommunications Limited (NTL),
6313-561: The address "news.virginmedia.com". These servers are outsourced to the Highwinds Network Group and are physically based in Amsterdam , Netherlands. Virgin Media also hosts another operational Usenet server previously known as "text.news.ntlworld.com", now "text.news.virginmedia.com", which again has certain restrictions and limits article size to 50 kb. In March 2012, Virgin Media won an exclusive contract to provide Wi-Fi access to London Underground platforms until 2017. The company announced mobile internet at 80 stations by July 2012 and
6420-428: The amount of more on-demand content now available. All UKTV Channels and UKTV app were all completely restored to Virgin Media platforms by 15 August 2018. On 7 May 2020, Liberty Global reached an agreement with Telefónica to merge their UK businesses, Virgin Media and O2 , in a deal worth £31bn, subject to regulatory approval by the Competition and Markets Authority . The CMA approved the merger on 19 May 2021, and
6527-432: The broadcast regulator OFCOM to become a fully-fledged public service radio station. According to RAJAR , the station has a weekly audience of 95,000 listeners and a listening share of 2.2%, as of December 2023. The average number of hours per listener is 11.5 hours a week. Notable current presenters include: BBC Radio Cymru is broadcast across Wales FM and DAB . It is also available on Freeview in Wales, throughout
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#17328521420446634-408: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of
6741-484: The combined company. NTL and Telewest formally completed their merger on 3 March 2006, making the merged company the UK's largest cable provider, with more than 90% of the market. The combined company renamed itself NTL Incorporated, with ex-NTL shareholders controlling 75% of the stock and ex-Telewest shareholders 25%. Nine of the 11 directors of the new board came from NTL, with two from Telewest. NTL:Telewest's takeover of Virgin Mobile completed on 4 July 2006, creating
6848-416: The commercial television broadcaster ITV plc about a proposed merger, after a similar announcement by ITV. BSkyB effectively blocked the merger on 17 November 2006 by controversially buying a 17.9% stake in ITV plc, a move that attracted anger from NTL shareholder Richard Branson , and an investigation from media and telecoms regulator Ofcom . On 6 December 2006 NTL announced that it had complained to
6955-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within
7062-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of
7169-496: The day, broadcasts on digital and online platforms. The managing editor of BBC Radio Cymru is Dafydd Meredydd, a former presenter and producer. BBC Radio Cymru began broadcasting on the first Monday morning of year on 3 January 1977. Its first programme was an extended news bulletin presented at 6:45am by Gwyn Llewellyn and Geraint Jones. This was followed at 7am by the first edition of the breakfast magazine show Helo Bobol! , presented by Hywel Gwynfryn with contributions from
7276-619: The deal was granted, the final hurdle in the acquisition. On 4 June, shareholders approved the acquisition and the deal was completed on 7 June. On 3 February 2014, Virgin Media acquired Smallworld Fibre , a cable provider based in North West England and Western Scotland, for an undisclosed fee. Smallworld's network was merged into Virgin Media's during 2014. In November 2014, Virgin Media reached an agreement to sell its ADSL business to TalkTalk Group , allowing Virgin to focus on its cable broadband offering. Virgin began transferring customers to TalkTalk in February 2015. On 20 July 2018, it
7383-408: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over
7490-545: The detriment of their customers. The policy stated a maximum throttling amount of 40% on most services, however users reported being throttled by as much as 54%. Virgin Media's advertisements regarding their "unlimited" broadband services, and their controversial traffic management were investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority, after having previous advertisements banned. From 28 February 2014, Virgin Media announced that they were scrapping traffic management for downstream traffic on 30 Mbit/s or higher packages. As
7597-714: The end of 2015. On 22 March 2017, Virgin Media made ultrafast speeds standard with new bundles. 100 Mbit/s entry level rising to top speed of 300 Mbit/s. On 29 April 2019, Virgin Media unveiled a new bundle with a download speed of 500 Mbit/s; due to Virgin Media's practice of over-provisioning, this bundle can expect average speeds of 516 Mbit/s and a max of 575 Mbit/s. On 30 September 2019, Virgin Media announced their new Gig1 package rollout, providing download speeds up to 1,140 Mbit/s (over 1 Gbit/s) and upload speeds up to 52 Mbit/s, starting in Southampton , which has subsequently rolled out to selected major cities and their surrounding areas across
7704-571: The end of that month. Then on 5 March 2007, Virgin Media threatened to take legal action against BSkyB if the matter remained unresolved in 30 days. On 12 April 2007, Virgin Media filed a legal case in the High Court against BSkyB under the UK Competition Act 1998 and Article 82 of the EC Treaty . BSkyB claimed that Virgin Media made little effort to further arbitration. On 9 May 2008, it
7811-485: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of
7918-463: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval
8025-469: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to
8132-451: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period
8239-447: The individual phone line – the quality of which is out of the control of the broadband provider. Cable broadband has no such speed variability caused by connection quality as the network is fully owned and controlled by the cable company providing the broadband – any slowdowns are wholly as a result of traffic shaping, or local capacity being over-sold or over-subscribed. For this reason, the results showed that Virgin Media's broadband speed
8346-587: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for
8453-496: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to
8560-546: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c. 600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )
8667-473: The merger was completed on 1 June 2021. This created one of the UK's largest entertainment and telecommunications companies, to rival BT Group . The resulting company is called VMED O2 UK Limited, operating as Virgin Media O2 . The broadband division combines NTL's cable-broadband operations ( broadband Internet access connections through cable ), Blueyonder (Telewest's cable-broadband operations) and Virgin.net ( ADSL , broadband Internet access through
8774-610: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in
8881-662: The new 152 Mbit/s service. The rollout completed in early 2015. In February 2015, Virgin Media announced its biggest investment in broadband infrastructure in over a decade. Set to invest £3bn in improving its fibre optic broadband network, Virgin Media will be increasing the network's reach from 13 million to 17 million homes. On 29 September 2015, Virgin Media announced its broadband packages would be rebranded as Vivid. The company will upgrade existing customers from 50 Mbit/s to 70 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s to 150 Mbit/s and 152 Mbit/s to 200 Mbit/s. The speed upgrade will be rolled out to 90% of customers by
8988-413: The next two decades before achieving a continuous service of up to 20 hours a day. Later developments in the 21st century saw Radio Cymru introducing a nightly youth strand, C2 , and regional opt-outs for South West Wales, which were axed in 2008 but later reintroduced to provide live commentary of Swansea City A.F.C. matches. The station has also been streaming online since January 2005. Radio Cymru
9095-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,
9202-629: The on-demand service previously known as Teleport TV . Teleport TV was renamed TV Choice offering recently broadcast shows and other shows and series. A channel agreement for Virgin Media to keep non-premium Sky channels ended on 1 March 2007. Virgin Media and Sky failed to reach agreement on the issue, and Sky reacted by posting a letter to the public in major UK newspapers on 28 February 2007. Despite Sky's letter, Virgin Media blamed Sky for tyrannizing them and inciting consumers to switch. The companies failed to resolve their differences, and subsequently after midnight on 1 March 2007, Virgin Media replaced
9309-464: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to
9416-534: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,
9523-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase
9630-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over
9737-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by
9844-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in
9951-479: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of
10058-460: The rollout of high-speed internet services in the UK. Ofcom further ordered BT to free up access to network infrastructure – including all telephone poles and underground ducts – for the rollout of broadband to areas BT does not plan to reach. Virgin Media confirmed plans to expand its broadband network in the UK by using the infrastructure owned by BT. By using the approach, the company hoped to expand its network to reach as many as 16 million of
10165-438: The same period. The agreements include fixed annual carriage fees of £30 million for the channels with both channel suppliers able to secure additional capped payments if their channels meet certain performance-related targets. As part of the agreements, both Sky and Virgin Media agreed to terminate all High Court proceedings against each other relating to the carriage of their respective basic channels. On 26 August 2009,
10272-439: The service was part-time and restricted to breakfast shows, extended news bulletins at breakfast, lunchtime & early evening and a number of off-peak opt-outs from a sustaining Radio 4 Wales feed. In November 1979, Radio Cymru's programming was expanded to 65 hours a week, introducing mid-morning output on weekdays, along with a growing line-up of dramas, light entertainment and documentaries. The network continued to expand over
10379-627: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in
10486-518: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from
10593-469: The view that NTL's bid "undervalued the business". Sir Richard Branson reportedly expressed confidence that a restructured deal could go ahead, and in January 2006 NTL increased its offer to £961 million (372p per share). On 4 April 2006, NTL announced a £962.4 million recommended offer for Virgin Mobile. According to reports, Branson accepted a mix of shares and cash, making him a 10.7% shareholder of
10700-408: The years, it has done much to promote the language, with its sports commentators coining new terms which later became accepted by Welsh linguists . One of its more unusual – and longest-running – programmes is Y Talwrn , a poetry competition in which teams must come up with poetry in specific styles on specific topics. In 2018, following a three-month pilot service,
10807-415: Was announced that Virgin Media would stop broadcasting all of the UKTV channels from 22 July 2018 over fees and an issue with Virgin's on-demand broadcasting rights. The companies were not able to agree terms to allow the ten channels and their +1 and HD offshoots to continue to be available on the platform and the channels stopped being available at just after midnight on 22 July 2018 with Virgin replacing
10914-441: Was closer to (although still not 100% of) the "up to" figures it advertised, compared to the other providers tested. While landline broadband providers offered rates of "up to" 24 Mbit/s , the launch of a Virgin's 50 Mbit/s service on 15 December 2008 was advertised as "the UK's Fastest Broadband." On 8 October 2009, Virgin Media began trials to deliver its TV and broadband services at up to 50 Mbit/s downstream via
11021-608: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to
11128-471: Was expected to be complete by mid-2012. On 11 January 2012, Virgin Media announced plans to double the speeds of selected broadband packages; its 10 Mbit/s package increased to 20 Mbit/s, 20 Mbit/s and 30Mbit/s to 60 Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s, and its 100 Mbit/s package to 120 Mbit/s. The roll-out is expected to begin in February 2012 and be completed by mid-2013, at
11235-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through
11342-505: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern
11449-612: Was reported that Virgin Media and Sky had held talks to resolve the dispute. On 4 November 2008, it was announced that an agreement had been struck for Sky's Basic channels – including Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1 , Sky Arts 2 , Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 to return to Virgin Media from 13 November 2008 until 12 June 2011. In exchange, Sky would provide continued carriage of Virgin Media Television 's channels – Living , Livingit , Bravo , Bravo +1, Challenge , Challenge Jackpot and Virgin1 for
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