Broadcasting charge puts licence fee debate back on agenda

MEDIA & MARKETING:SINCE INDEPENDENT commercial radio was licensed 23 years ago, stations throughout the State have been doing their own thing – and paying for it themselves through advertising revenue. That's something they want to change.

Their representative body, the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI), yesterday issued a policy document demanding a slice of the licence fee.

It is not just the economic downturn that has prompted the move, although independent radio stations have been hit hard – the IBI reports that advertising revenues have decreased in many stations by more than 40 per cent, resulting in cost cutting, wage reductions and redundancies.

“We’re not looking for a handout,” says Scott Williams, chief executive of independent station Q102 and chairman of the IBI. “And this is absolutely not RTÉ bashing. We are looking for acknowledgement from Minister Pat Rabbitte that independent radio stations have a public service function which we are already fulfilling, and that we are important in the communities we serve.”

Williams points to JNLR figures which show that seven out of every 10 minutes of all radio listening is to an independent radio station every day.

The 27 members of the IBI range from big national players, such as Today FM and Newstalk, to small local stations, such as Clare FM and WLR FM in Waterford. All, to varying degrees, include news, current affairs, sport and a range of speech and Irish language programming – key elements in public service broadcasting.

“We are looking for a new fund to be established to support and develop public service broadcasting on independent commercial radio,” says Williams.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to review funding for public and independent broadcasters. The timing of the IBI’s initiative is to do with the proposed change in the way the television licence fee is to be collected and, in particular, the extra funds that the IBI believe will then be available.

A new household broadcasting charge is set to replace the licence fee – prompted by a change in media consumption patterns. The availability of broadcast media via laptops, telephones and tablets means that the old rule of one television set/one licence no longer makes sense.

In addition, the charge would deal with what the Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte called “significant evasion” which he says translates into in excess of €25 million in lost revenue.

“So should that extra €25 million when it’s collected go straight to RTÉ? I don’t think so,” says Williams.

The IBI is also proposing that funding for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland should come out of the household broadcasting charge instead of, as is currently the case, a levy on the stations. “We have heard of members letting staff go just to pay the levy,” he says.

Independent radio stations do get some programme funding indirectly from the authority through the Sound and Vision scheme, which grants financial support to independent producers to make programmes for community, local and national radio stations.

Many of the programmes funded are for broadcast on RTÉ, says Williams. In the set-up proposed by the independent broadcasters group – which would not replace Sound and Vision – radio stations, not individual programme makers, would pitch to a new, authority-administered fund in order to enhance their public service offering.

An element of the IBI document that would chime with TV3’s long-standing position is a demand for an amendment of Section 108 of the 2009 Broadcasting Act which would “define and limit the commercial mandate of RTÉ”.

“On my station, Q102, we can only have 10 minutes advertising an hour, that’s it. What we see in RTÉ is what I call ‘commercial creep’, such as their online activities. RTÉ gets funding from various sources.”

The IBI proposes that the Broadcasting Act should be amended to remove RTÉ’s commercial mandate and replace it with a limit on the commercial reach of the State broadcaster.

No local radio stations have gone under, observes Williams, but local newspapers have, making local radio even more important for the community. The JNLR figures show many local radio stations have a market share of greater than 50 per cent of the audience in their franchise area, he notes.

“The Minister for Health says he wants the money to follow the patient,” says Williams. “We want the household broadcasting charge to follow the listener.”