RTÉ faces significant new competition with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) planning to license a new radio service aimed at over-45s in the State's five largest cities - Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
Conor Maguire, chairman of the BCI, will announce the decision to issue the new licence at a conference today. Submissions will be accepted in March or April from companies interested in providing such a service.
Mr Maguire said yesterday that the "multi-city" licence was an interesting development because it was somewhat unique in Europe. He said the more traditional model was to have one licence per city or region.
He denied that the Irish radio market was nearing saturation point and maintained that population growth was helping the whole market.
Mr Maguire will reveal the licence plan today at a conference entitled, Who are You? An exploration of Identity and Relationships in Irish Broadcasting Media.
Mr Maguire said that there was a demand for services for over-45s, with recent licensing activity concentrating more towards younger audiences. He said that licensing decisions had to be sensible and appropriate, but the sector was extremely vibrant at present.
Diversity and choice were the main objectives of the BCI at present and everything would be done to advance these objectives.
He acknowledged that the new service, with its skew towards older audiences, might present a competitive threat to RTÉ, but he said that it was an appropriate level of competition.
There are plans at present to create a new broadcasting regulator, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The BCI is expected to be the main body that forms the new regulator.
Mr Maguire said that while initial proposals on this had issued from the Department of Communications, the BCI was proceeding with its licensing activities in the meantime.
The BCI has licensed a large number of new services over recent years, including NewsTalk in Dublin, Ocean FM in Sligo and K FM in Kildare. The regional station Beat FM, situated in the southeast, was also licensed.
A public hearing of the applications for the Limerick city and county franchise will be held in the Castletroy Park Hotel, Dublin Road, Limerick, on Monday.
