OUR NATIONAL broadcaster faces far graver problems than can be addressed by reducing the salaries of a few star presenters or changing some faces on its popular shows. Like all media organisations, RTÉ now faces a prolonged period of retrenchment, cutbacks and redefinition in the face of a national economic crisis occurring in tandem with a fundamental global shift in the ways in which news and other information are gathered, presented and consumed. RTÉ director general Cathal Goan predicts a € 68 million drop in revenues in 2009, and has proposed a range of swingeing cuts in salaries and services to address the shortfall.
This week’s announcement by the Boxer consortium that it has withdrawn from the contract to provide a digital terrestrial transmission service adds further to the challenge. RTÉ is committed to significant expenditure on the digital rollout, which was planned to take place over the next three years. Whether or not the Government succeeds in persuading one of the other original bidders to take the contract on now (and that is highly debatable), the future is clouded with uncertainty.
For years RTÉ’s competitors have complained that the broadcaster uses its licence fee income as leverage to gain an unfair commercial advantage. TV3, which has also implemented severe cuts this year, returned to the fray this week, alleging that money from the licence fee was being used to subsidise below-cost selling of advertising space. In the past, RTÉ has for the most part successfully rebutted such charges.
But as the broadcaster makes tough decisions on where the axe might fall, it must demonstrate that the licence fee, which now forms an even larger part of its revenue stream, is directed solely towards public service broadcasting. The logical corollary is that, if advertising revenues are down, then those parts of its service which RTÉ itself defines as purely commercial should bear the brunt of any cuts.
The organisation needs to be far more transparent about the demarcation lines between its commercial and non-commercial activities. It has to be much clearer about how its online strategy, exemplified by the impressive RTÉ Player launched this week, dovetails with its public service remit. Meanwhile, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan should seriously consider whether the regulatory framework proposed in the Broadcasting Bill, currently making its way through the Oireachtas, is already out of date in a rapidly evolving media environment.