TV licence revenue drops €2.7m in July

TV licence sales are down by €2.7 million, fresh figures for the entire month of July reveal.

The new statistics show that revenue for the TV licence continues to decline following the controversy around misreported payments to RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy.

In response to a query from The Irish Times, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said TV licence sales for the fourth week in July were 10,661, comprising 1,173 first-time licences and 9,488 renewals.

“The comparable figure for the same period in 2022 was 14,151 – 1,796 first-time licences and 12,355 renewals.”

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That is a drop of 3,490. In total, this is a loss of revenue of €2,767,520 year on year.

“As recommended by the Future of Media Commission, Government provided interim funding to RTÉ last year, and the Government will be considering this again as part of the budget and estimates discussions,” a spokesman for the department said.

RTÉ will suffer the bulk of the reduction in revenue. TV licence fee receipts are received and disbursed by the department on a monthly basis.

Some 7 per cent of net receipts of the TV licence revenue goes to the broadcasting fund, administered by Coimisiún na Meán (The Media Commission), and An Post is paid on the basis of the number of licences sold.

The department previously said that on the basis of total 2022 receipts, the percentage of gross receipts provided to RTÉ from the TV licence was almost 89 per cent.

In response to the recent figures, a spokesman for RTÉ pointed to a recent comment from director general Kevin Bakhurst who said he was “very grateful to those who have continued to buy a TV licence during a period when events have cast such a dark shadow over RTÉ”.

The station has been engulfed in a major crisis since it disclosed that €345,000 in undeclared payments were made to Tubridy over several years, saying it discovered the discrepancy during a “routine audit” of its accounts.

Mr Tubridy has said his reputation has been “desperately sullied” by the controversy, while he also categorically denied he was aware at any time that RTÉ had concealed payments made to him.

During Oireachtas committee hearings last month, Tubridy said he did not take a €120,000 bonus due to him, but that the figure was later deducted from his published earnings – from amounts that had already been paid to him.

Talks between Mr Tubridy and RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst are due to resume at some stage this month, with a decision not yet made on Mr Tubridy’s future at the station.