Sir, - Your Editorial of July 24th referred to TnaG as "prohibitively expensive and . . . failing to win sufficient viewers except, occasionally, for its non-Irish output which is hardly its purpose." These assertions came in a piece which sought to pose a number of questions about the development of Irish television in the digital era. Discussion on this topic is much needed and to be welcomed, but those participating in the debate need to be properly informed.
TnaG is in receipt of £10.6 million of Exchequer funding for 1998. Alongside this allocation, TnaG receives one hour per day of programming from RTE to a value of £6.5 million a year. In establishing TnaG, the Government provided these resources in the expectation of an Irish language service of two hours' duration each day. Through careful husbanding of resources, TnaG has provided an Irish language service for four-and-a-half hours a day with an additional four to six hours a day in English and other languages provided at no cost to the Exchequer. These additional programmes, which include live coverage of Oireachtas proceedings on a daily basis, were well signposted in advance of TnaG coming on air.
TnaG has a core staff of 30 people and uses the most advanced TV technology in the world. The station has created jobs for up to 300 people in the independent television production sector throughout the country. New, young talent has been identified and trained across a wide range of television skills, from technical and operational duties to writing, acting and television journalism. The programming has been greeted with critical acclaim in all Irish media and has received international awards. This service has been achieved by operating as the most cost-efficient public service broadcaster in Europe, at a fraction of the funding available to other services. Does "prohibitively expensive" in this case actually mean that anything spent on Irish language television is too much?
Your Editorial implores the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands not to let the situation develop in Ireland "where television tumbles downmarket in a desperate drive for viewing figures" at the same time as asserting TnaG does not have sufficient viewers. TnaG has a 1 per cent share of the peak-time audience in the Republic of Ireland. This is roughly equivalent to the share of Sky News and superior to that of MTV and Eurosport. These stations are well established and are massively resourced. They make little or no contribution to Irish social, cultural or economic life. TnaG is estimated to be tuned-in in 71 per cent of homes nationally. The Sky services are estimated to be available in 50 per cent of homes nationally. All of them enjoy a better position than TnaG in the order of stations on cable systems and all are carried on MMDS services. TnaG is not carried on MMDS. TnaG viewership figures for all its output (in Irish and other languages) are low if compared with long-established stations. In this regard TnaG is no exception to new television services starting anywhere in Europe. In Britain, broadcasting in English to an English-speaking audience, Channel 5 has had difficulty achieving 3.5 per cent of audience share in its first year.
We are confident that the excellence and originality of our Irish-language programming will win through with the audience and, as we projected from the very start, this will take time. In most cases and in most countries, people are prepared to give new media a chance. The argument for such a chance is all the greater when the new medium broadcasts almost all its peak-time programming in a minority language. I am reminded of an observation in this regard: "The cultural argument for TnaG is simply enough put: without a television station of its own, the Irish language is unlikely to survive in a world increasingly dominated by the media - especially television." What has changed in the world of broadcasting or the editorial view of The Irish Times since those words appeared in your Editorial of October 31st, 1996? - Yours, etc., Cathal Goan,
Ceannasai, TnaG, Baile na hAbhann, Co na Gaillimh.