A FORMAL complaint was made to the broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom after subtitles of songs were not provided for deaf viewers during this year's National Eisteddfod in Newport.

The Wales Deaf Broadcasting Council (DBC) has lodged the complaint following the Eisteddfod at Tredegar House earlier this month.

The council says that an undertaking was given by S4C that it was their intention to subtitle as many songs as possible during the event.

A spokesman for the Wales DBC said, however, they had been told that as BBC Wales was providing the Eisteddfod programmes, S4C had no control over the subtitling.

He added: "The Wales DBC has therefore complained to Ofcom, asking it to to look into the statutory responsibility for the Eisteddfod subtitles. In addition, the subtitles were not provided in Welsh for Welsh speaking deaf viewers.

"S4C's actions have effectively excluded deaf viewers from the cultural aspects of the Eisteddfod and have confirmed the third class status of deaf viewers in Welsh language Eisteddfod broadcasting."

Cedric Moon, of the Wales DBC, contacted both S4C and BBC Wales, saying it was disappointing that deaf viewers were effectively barred from the Eisteddfod.

Presenter dialogue was subtitled - for which Mr Moon said he was grateful - but he was told there was "insufficient time" to provide subtitles for song and prose. In a letter to Mr Moon from the BBC, he was informed that it was the first year that BBC Broadcast had been responsible for providing subtitles for the Eisteddfod.

The letter stated: "Given the nature of the coverage from the Eisteddfod and that the programme for the festival was published very late, it proved very difficult to translate many of the songs and poems much before the programme's transmission.

"We have learnt a lot from this year's experience and we will adopt a more pro-active attitude to our coverage next year to try to provide a more comprehensive service to the users of subtitles."