RTÉ’s director general is “very grateful” for an apparent improvement in licence fee payments as the organisation awaits the provision of up to €40 million in emergency funding from the Government.
Kevin Bakhurst stepped into the role in July after the national broadcaster became engulfed in a scandal over undisclosed payments and commercial arrangements involving former star presenter Ryan Tubridy.
RTÉ projected it would suffer a €61 million drop in licence fee payments through this and next year as the controversy widened following inquiries by parliamentary committees into a culture of poor financial management within the organisation.
The Government provided the broadcaster with €16 million but has withheld additional financing pending the publication of a strategy to reform RTÉ, external reports into its financial governance and further information on TV licence sales.
RTÉ operates on a dual-funding model, with some 55 per cent of its annual income – around €200 million – brought in by via the licence fee, which sees Irish households with a television charged €160 a year.
Around 85 per cent of revenue from TV licence fees goes to RTÉ to carry out its public service broadcasting commitments. It also raises money through commercial operations.
In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ was “in a reasonable place” coming to the end of the year. He said licence fee payments had begun to “improve quite significantly” and the organisation’s commercial arm is performing “pretty well”.
He said the broadcaster cut costs by several million this year and has also announced plans to cut costs by a further €10 million next year.
In addition, the drop in licence fee sales – which had been down by 30 per cent year on year in the months after the controversy emerged – eased to 18 per cent in November and below 5 per cent in the first two weeks of December.
The organisation’s financial crisis has put renewed focus on its funding model and the Future of Media Commission’s recommendation that the licence fee be scrapped in favour of direct exchequer funding for public service media, a proposal which has not been implemented by the Government.
Mr Bakhurst, who served as deputy director general of RTÉ between 2012 and 2016, said there would be positives and negatives around direct funding but added it was ultimately a question for Government and the Oireachtas.
“You need some safeguards around it in terms of safeguarding the independence of the organisation and also some predictability over a number of years,” he said.
He pointed to Sweden’s public service broadcaster was given six-year funding commitments independent of the electoral cycle. “The key thing is that, in the end, we try and get the right level of funding that we can serve audiences properly.”
Mr Bakhurst also said he had been able to revise the pay of some high earners downwards as part of his plan to reduce the size of the largest wage packets and to cap presenter salaries at his own rate of pay.
In the limited amount of contracts that have come up for renewal during his tenure, he said: “The negotiations have been tough but I think we’ve provided good value for licence fee-payers.
“We’ve driven down costs as far as we can ... and, if we haven’t driven them down, we’ve kept them level – which given inflation is not a bad thing to do.”
In August, staff members were invited to complete a feedback survey about the organisation, which resulted in a call for a detailed examination and overhaul of company culture at RTÉ.
Asked what he learned from that process, Mr Bakhurst said: “We have some issues we need to deal with around silos around the organisation, around the way people are managed and treated in some respects, in some areas.
“Look, there’s good management but also some examples where it is not so good around more flexibility, around people getting more opportunities to move around the organisation and build their experience, around investment in the learning and development of staff.”
He also said there is a plan to improve the organisation’s HR systems. As part of his strategic plan for the organisation until 2028, the director general aims to cut RTÉ’s headcount by 400 – a reduction of up to 20 per cent. He also wants to increase investment in the independent production sector by 50 per cent.
Asked whether privatising more production was the best use of licence fee money, Mr Bakhurst said it was a “really important role” for RTÉ to put money into the creative economy. He said there had been success stories of independent producers creating great content in Ireland which also attracts overseas investment.
“For example, the drama we put money into, we don’t put the vast majority in,” he added. “There are tax incentives, but also there’s money from other international partners and it does result in quality jobs and a thriving creative sector across Ireland.”
In terms of RTÉ’s own output, he said there was “frustration” that the organisation’s creative ambition is limited by how much money it has.
“Ideas are only as good as the funding that goes with them,” he said, adding that the organisation wants to invest more in its digital platforms including the RTÉ player and audio app.
Mr Bakhurt, who is on a seven-year contract, said he intends to stay in the role as long as the board wants him to.
Asked whether he would have still taken the top job if he had known what was coming, he said: “I love broadcasting, I love Ireland, I know RTÉ has got a lot to offer to the country, and yeah of course, I would have come back.
“But I mean, yeah, it’s been more challenging probably than I would have expected in the first few months. But even if I’d known more fully what I was facing, I’d have come back because I was up for the challenge.” – PA
