BOB COLLINS is facing three major challenges as he enters tic five years of his contract as RTE's new director general how to develop the sort of programmes that will attract audiences; how to find the money that will enable the station to make and buy those programmes; and how the station will face dramatically increasing competition.
Even though the Government has fixed the licence fee, Mr Collins does not believe the debate on that is over. While indexation gives some degree of certainty to its income, the level was set below what RTE was seeking. Even to hold income levels will be a daunting task, he admits. There are sources other than advertising, but they are limited.
RTE will have to look at the possibilities of the new technology and investigate ways of using its substantial archive creatively and profitably. However, Bob Collins is not optimistic.
"We have to be absolutely certain that the way we spend the money is as effective as it possibly can be, and is devoted to the greatest extent possible to the creation of good programmes."
He will not be drawn on what using limited finance effectively means. The staff can expect change, he says, but will not be more specific, pointing out he does not actually take up his new appointment until April. The massive changes that are already taking place in broadcasting generally have a cultural dimension, he says.
"It is not to be narrow or chauvinistic to be concerned that an Irish audience has available to it a comprehensive service that is distinctively Irish and which reflects the kind of lives they lead, talks to them about the circumstances of their own lives."
In bigger countries a lot of the new competitive growth is within the country and the bulk of programming, whatever one might think of the quality, at least has a domestic frame of reference.
"In a community of 3.5 million, there is no doubt that the vast bulk of the growth will come from outside.
That in itself could be an opportunity for RTE as people turn to it because it provides a service that does relate to how Irish people lead their lives. It is then up to RTE to respond to that.
"That is why we have to offer a service that is distinctively Irish with quality programming. If we do not address the needs and issues facing an Irish audience no one else will."
Funding has to be addressed head on and "one must recognise the inescapable reality that if you want a service which is comprehensive, which is diverse, which has distinctive quality programming for Ireland then the mechanism must be found that provides the wherewithal to deliver that service", he says.
Effectively arguing for a further increase in the licence fee, he suggests comparisons be made between the cost of the licence with subscription services or pay per view services.
Within two years, RTE will have to devote 20 per cent of programme budgets to independent productions. Broadcasting and programme making skills are no longer confined to those working in broadcasting, he says. It is proper that those with the skills, the creativity and the ideas should have the opportunity to give expression to that and should have space in the national schedules for their programmed to be shown.
However, RTE cannot hope to direct 20 per cent of its budget to independent programming, as is required by legislation, without that affecting the station itself.
"It is going to be very difficult to accommodate that extra expenditure and emerge completely unscathed." It will move activity out of RTE. It is not a question of funding growth in addition to RTE, because the resources are simply not there to sustain that, he says.
Decisions have to be taken soon by RTE and the Government in relation to how the new digital technologies will be developed in Ireland. Unless we do, we might not be able to "control our own destiny". If we do not then others will set the pace, he says.
"The sheer power of the technology and the number of channels it can deliver is not going to add one jot or little to the quality of the service being offered to the audience. What will they carry and how will the programming be funded and to what extent will that new array of additional programming impact on the ability of this community to have a comprehensive service of its own?
They are very fundamental issues."