It might be somewhat annoying for the folk out at TV3's west Dublin complex, but the main interest in the announcement that the British TV giant, Granada Media, has bought 45 per cent of the Irish commercial television company is in how this will affect RTE.
While the chairman of TV3, Mr James Morris, might see the investment of £38.05 million as very good news, out at Montrose the development comes only days after it was announced that RTE had made a loss of £12 million last year.
But for most viewers the interest will lie in the fact that so many of them will turn to TV3 from January 2002 to watch Coronation Street, one of the most successful soaps. Coronation Street has been central to RTE's schedule strategy for years. It is on three times a week, with a fourth omnibus edition, and regularly rates in the top four most-viewed programmes here.
The package for TV3 includes Emmerdale, London's Burning and Heartbeat. This is central to the deal. For the past number of years, media companies in Britain and in Europe have been forming alliances and blocs. The reason has tended to be about the content of television.
With content becoming more expensive, the increased amount of television being broadcast means it is imperative to have access to content and increase your buying power. As we enter the digital age, having access to a guaranteed amount of programmes is crucial for broadcasting companies.
Granada will be able to buy and make programmes with an eye on its new Irish acquisition. TV3, which will have two extra digital channels when the Broadcasting Bill becomes law, will, one assumes, have access to Granada's back catalogue, which includes such television classics as Brideshead Revisited.
RTE is in direct competition with a company only 10 per cent Irish-owned. Granada is one of Britain's most successful television companies and CanWest is the largest non-US buyer of Hollywood programmes. RTE, on the other hand, is seeking an increase in its licence fee at a time when the Government is trying to curb inflation.
The Granada development should be a catalyst for a debate about public service broadcasting and whether we are willing to fund it.
RTE has become increasingly commercial: its successful purchase of the rights to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is an indication of that. Recently, a decision was made to merge the news and current affairs divisions. This is a money-saving exercise, according to RTE sources. In the past, to suggest such a thing would have provoked a debate which would have been theological in its intensity.
The vibes emanating from the Government regarding RTE's proposal for an increase in the TV licence fee are not positive. No request has been made yet, but it is believed that RTE will be seeking an increase in the region of £30 to £40 a year, bringing it from the present £70 to over £100.
This will be resisted by the Government, which will probably plead that it will have a negative effect on inflation, although it is estimated that a 50 per cent increase would put only an extra 0.1 per cent on the Consumer Price Index.
RTE's relationship with politicians has rarely been good, which was probably one of the reasons why TV3 was given such support from the political establishment, especially Fianna Fail. The current Government decided not to implement a proposal from the rainbow coalition that the public service licence fee should be index-linked.
RTE now earns two-thirds of its revenue from commercial sales. Such a proportion means that its creative thinking is increasingly commercial and its income vulnerable. It might now have 80 per cent of the television advertising market, but for how long?
It is over 10 years since the EU brought in its broadcasting policy, "Television Without Frontiers". This opened up the development of a European-wide television environment. In the meantime, media companies such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Time-Warner have made the media a global industry. Because of our then weak economy and small population, Ireland was more or less bypassed.
How things have changed. The statement from Granada yesterday said: "Today's deal with TV3 is a significant first step in our European development programme and immediately positions Granada Media as a vertically-integrated broadcaster in one of Europe's most dynamic economies."
Success always comes at a price. Maybe the price for success is being prepared to pay for a properly-funded public service broadcasting service which can compete with the services provided by the global media giants.
Michael Foley is a lecturer in journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technologyand a media commentator
