RTÉ crisis: ‘Real fear’ controversy will affect broadcaster’s ability to commission programmes

There is “a real fear” among independent television producers that the crisis at RTÉ will further hit the broadcaster’s ability to commission Irish programming made outside Montrose, according to Shinawil chief executive Larry Bass.

The controversy, which initially related to payments made to Ryan Tubridy but has grown to focus on what was labelled a “slush fund” during Oireachtas committee hearings, has the potential to do huge damage to the broadcaster, Mr Bass said, and, by extension, the employees and independent producers who rely on it.

“RTÉ is the biggest contributor to the independent sector in the country and this is a real threat to it,” said Mr Bass, whose company produces shows such as Dancing With The Stars and Home of the Year.

Mr Bass resigned from the RTÉ board two years ago to ensure a contract for Dancing With The Stars was renewed when, he said, two other board members suggested there could a perceived conflict of interest had it been renewed while he was there.

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He said the broadcaster spent around €42 million on independent productions last year, well down on the €82 million it put into the sector in the year before the crash, but that the broadcaster remains a vital source of work for companies like Shinawil.

“License fee revenue is already an issue for them and there’s been a tsunami of lost commercial revenue, even before this, across the entire media industry,” he said. “They’re close to their borrowing limits, as I understand it, and Government is not suddenly going to fund them while this goes on so it may be that they end up with no more room for manoeuvre.”

RTÉ suffered an additional blow this week when Center Parcs announced it would not renew its sponsorship of Tubridy’s radio show when its current deal, reported to be worth €295,000 annually, expires later this year.

Mr Bass said production companies “have a real fear” that RTÉ could be left unable to pay for programming. The controversy needs to be resolved, he said, and any measures recommended need to be implemented quickly in order to restore some stability.

Asked if the current situation might impact on other such sponsorships, Mr Bass said, “it won’t help, that’s for sure but Renault has been involved with the Late Late Show for a very long time and Müller Corner, which originally came in for The Voice, has been with Dancing with the Stars since.

“Companies have a particular commercial reason for wanting associations like that; to speak to the largest television audience in the country or a big family audience, and if it’s not them there’ll be others wanting to have that conversation.”

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Many of RTÉ's roster of programmes are, however, without commercial backers.

Mr Bass praised RTÉ's public service output and said it was regarded as “a beacon” across Europe for retaining a high proportion of news of current affairs in prime time. But he suggested the quality of that output could also be hit should further cuts are needed.

“As for the likes of us, is Dancing With The Stars the most important thing in the world? No, but it entertains a lot of people.”

Mr Bass also criticised some of the commentary towards Tubridy. “If you add it all up, Ryan Tubridy would have been responsible for bringing in a lot of RTÉ's revenue and in every commercial market in the world, a broadcaster who does that gets paid a lot of money. If people don’t want RTÉ to compete in that space, that’s fine, but while they do, those are the realities.”