Don’t give rival stations any of new licence fee, says RTE
RTÉ has claimed that its rival broadcasters should not get a share of the new broadcasting charge.
Director General Noel Curran said that RTÉ needs the funding in order to carry out investigations like the recent Prime Time creche programme.
The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland has called for some of the money from the new fee to be made available to independent stations.
However, Mr Curran said he believes Ireland needs a strong national broadcaster and the revenue from the broadcasting charge should not be divided.
Mr Curran, speaking on RTÉ’s This Week yesterday, said: ‘The world of media is changing and there are huge multi-national companies operating in the Irish market – very good companies at what they do but huge companies… Ireland needs a broadcaster of scale that can invest in Love/Hate that can invest in the four or five months of work that it took to make the creche i nvestigation – that requires a certain scale.
He said that if you start dividing the charge up in various smaller parts, then you ‘lose someone who can invest in that kind of output’.
Mr Curran said: ‘We are the only broadcaster that can invest in that kind of output and that is because the public supports us.’
Householders are facing a broadcasting charge instead of the traditional television licence, even if they haven’t got a TV.
The Public Service Broadcasting Charge is being made mandatory because many people are viewing programmes and other traditional TV content on laptops, tablets, computers and smartphones. Chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland John Purcell has called for changes to the way funding from the new charge is distributed.
He said: ‘Some reasonable amount of funding [should be] made available to independent stations to enable the continuation, the development and ensuring the viability of news, current affairs information and access programming on independent and local radio stations.’
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has said RTÉ should receive more public f unding to remain relevant in the changing media landscape – but this should only take place after an examination of what further efficiencies it can make.
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte will also be bringing forward new legislation to revise governance arrangements for the amount of advertising all broadcasters – public and commercial – are allowed to broadcast. This could involve a cap in the number of minutes of advertising per hour that public service broadcasters are allowed to transmit.
Chief executive of TV3 David McRedmond said he would welcome a cap on advertising for RTÉ. He said: ‘We are looking for a commercial market that can operate properly.
‘Elsewhere in Europe what has happened is most of the state-funded broadcasters have been removed from the advertising market, either largely or on whole – that is what needs to happen here.’
However, RTÉ’s Mr Curran said: ‘I think the worst-case scenario would be that RTÉ is in some way restricted commercially and all the money leaves the country and goes to international media companies.’
The current licence fee stands at €160 annually. The new Public Service Broadcasting Charge comes into effect on January 1, 2015.