Programme purchasers in RTE and their potential rivals in TV3 will no doubt have been reflecting on developments in Hollywood where NBC has agreed to pay an unprecedented $13 million (£9.6 million) an episode for the hit series ER.

The sums involved are staggering. NBC will pay Warner Bros $286 million a year for the right to air 22 episodes of the medical drama each season, starting next autumn and continuing through the 2000-2001 television season. That is more than 6 1/2 times the $1.95 million per episode NBC is paying this year.

Hollywood producers and network executives have been insisting that the deal is not likely to cause a dramatic change in the landscape of primetime television.

But it is indicative of the extent of the battle for supremacy among the world's biggest television channels.