RTE is unlikely to see any increase in its licence fee until the middle of next year despite a warning from Mr Paddy Wright, the chairman of the RTE Authority, that Irish interests risk being marginalised by broadcasting developments over the next two years.

"If Ireland does not give itself a securely funded national media organisation, then Irish people's interests - our politics our sport, our music, our cultures - all these things that we value will be marginalised," he told the Institute of Directors Christmas lunch in Dublin yesterday.

????????????E," he said.

RTE made a formal application for a £50 (€63) increase in the current £72 television licence at the end of October. Ms Sile de Valera, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and Islands, is in the process of appointing consultants to review the application. The Minister will bring a proposal to Cabinet early next year. Department sources said yesterday that even if a decision was taken in principle to increase the fee, it was unlikely to be implemented until the Government was satisfied that the impact on inflation could be absorbed. Mr Wright warned yesterday that RTE faced competition from companies like BskyB which paid £1.1 billion sterling (€1.83 billion) for live coverage of European football until 2004. "That works out at £7.4 million for each match. They will pay 30 per cent more for a single game than RTE has in its total sports budget for a year," he said.