A BBC Welsh language station, Radio Cymru, might be entering into mediation talks with Eos, an entity that represents musicians who are played on the station.  With approximately 142,000 listeners per week, the radio station has run into a dispute with Welsh language musicians concerning royalties and has suggested mediation as a way to resolve the matter.  Eos has requested a month to consult with its member musicians before agreeing to mediation. 

The dispute centers on the artists requesting more money from Radio Cymru for the rights to air their music on the station.  However, Radio Cymru has not agreed to this increase and has since lost the rights to approximately 30,000 songs due to the dispute over payment, forcing it to cut its airtime to 2 hours per day.  According to the station’s spokesperson, mediation “would see an independent expert jointly appointed by both parties to look at the important and complex issues surrounding the value of the Welsh language music repertoire.  We look forward to hearing from Eos as soon as possible so that we can work together to bring this difficult and damaging dispute to an end.  Our aim remains to come to an agreement that is fair to everybody."

Since receiving the station’s offer to enter into mediation talks, Dafydd Roberts, spokesperson for Eos, has stated that the agency would need time to speak with its members about the mediation offer.  According to him, a month would be sufficient time to do this, after arranging a meeting with the agency’s member musicians. 

A BBC national trustee for Wales, Elan Closs Stephens, said, "I hope very much for the audience's sake that the announcement that Eos is now considering the BBC's offer of independent mediation in an attempt to reach resolution means that there is some hope that the issue can be resolved as soon as possible."