RTÉ must think big to dig itself out of a hole and secure future
TELETEXT was invented 45 years ago, at a time smartphones and Google were the stuff of science fiction. It was 1987 before it came to Ireland via RTÉ, in the form of Aertel, an extremely useful information service in a pre-internet world. You could check the weather, find race results, see what movies were coming up that afternoon and even watch election count results as they came in. It was great — for its time.
What does it say about RTÉ that ceasing Aertel is one of the key cost-saving strategies in an action plan announced last week?
To be fair, RTÉ did look at closing
Aertel several years ago but this didn’t go ahead because of a political push-back over constituent concerns. What does that say of the Government’s unwillingness to address the place of public service broadcasting in a digital age?
And this has been the experience of RTÉ, time and time again, which means that modernising the organisation has been painfully slow.
But ultimately, the problem facing RTÉ is one of its own making. It has not pushed for change hard enough.
Only last year I asked senior
RTÉ executives if it was time for the organisation to ask Government to narrow its remit. This was not on their agenda, they replied. Despite the fact that RTÉ’s future health must surely depend on doing less.
RTÉ says it is in financial crisis and it is losing money. It has definitely taken a big hit to income since the crash. But last year revenue at the group was actually up slightly to just under €340m, and €190m of that came from the public. Revenue has crept up a few million euros in recent years, thanks in part to extra taxpayer money.
A senior advertising executive told me last week that, at this stage of the year, it looks like both radio and TV advertising will be fairly flat for 2019. Not all forms of media can say the same.
So why is RTÉ continuing to rack up losses year after year?
The organisation will have to look inwards for the answer to that. It has blamed exceptional costs such as the
Pope’s visit, 1916 commemorations and sporting events for heaping costs on the organisation. Other media would see these events as part of business as usual.
Yes, it does face resistance to change from Government and, yes, the unions are strong in the organisation.
But the biggest problem facing RTÉ is an existential one, particularly for its television services. What place does RTÉ have in a world where Netflix and YouTube are the ‘go to’ names for viewing?
I absolutely believe in public service broadcasting. Irish people must see themselves on screen. But with only five million of us, funding that may never be commercially viable.
Furthermore, Irish minority interests and expensive investigations might never make it to air without public financial support. We are a small English-speaking nation and our nearest neighbour, not to mention the US, has hours and hours of excellent programming.
Keeping high-quality Irish programming on air is, in my view, essential.
But at what cost? And where does RTÉ’s plan stand in all of this?
RTÉ has announced a plan to make savings of €60m over three years — €10m next year, €20m in 2021 and €30m in 2022. In the first year, that is a reduction in costs of 3pc. By year three, costs should have fallen by 9pc a year.
But RTÉ’s overall plan is not as radical as many believe is needed. Indeed, RTÉ’s plan is heavily dependent on licence fee reform. Without the changes, far deeper cuts will be required, RTÉ insiders concede.
The announcement has succeeded in putting licence fee reform back in the spotlight and forced politicians to address the issue once again. RTE director Dee Forbes general and chairwoman Moya Doherty appear to be putting all their eggs in this basket.
So have they offered up enough to get the licence fee reform back on the agenda?
Former director general Noel Curran saw the writing on the wall for traditional media several years ago.
Back in 2013, he said that the broadcaster was “prepared to countenance things that we have never countenanced before” and indicated he was willing to give up some commercial funding in exchange for more public funding.
“We are happy to see the balance of commercial and public funding alter. But we need some security,” he said.
Following on from this, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland recommended that any extra funding from the Exchequer should be matched by a reduction in commercial revenue. The Government of the day indicated it would pursue this recommendation.
It’s not a very long time ago but perhaps the opportunity has passed for RTÉ to swap fickle ad revenue for a boost to guaranteed exchequer funding.
But it was a bold, big-picture way of looking at RTÉ’s future, offering a fresh solution to get RTÉ out of a funding hole.
And bold thinking is needed now more than ever.