Sales of TV licences have failed to recover from the substantial drop-off caused by the RTÉ payment controversy over a year ago, according to the latest data provided by An Post, which collects the fees on behalf of the broadcaster.
The volume of licences sold until the end of July 2024 is 14 per cent lower than the comparable figures for 2022, and almost 11 per cent lower than the figures for 2023. That is taking into account the monthly figures for July 2023, which saw a precipitous 20,000 drop in sales following the disclosure that secret payments had been made to RTÉ’s top broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.
The figures for the first seven months show that 449,456 licences were sold, compared to 522,198 for the comparable period in 2022, and 499,186 until the end of July 2023. That means that 72,742 fewer TV licences have been sold so far this year compared to 2022, leading to a shortfall of revenue of €11.6 million in 2024 compared to two years ago. It is also some €10 million down on the figure from 2023.
That comes on top of an evasion rate which was estimated to be 14 per cent of households in 2022.
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The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said that the evasion rate increased to approximately 17 per cent in 2023. This is seen as reflecting the refusal of households to pay the licence when details of the payments controversy came to light.
Responding to a query from The Irish Times, a spokesman for the department said: that direct TV licence sales by An Post have been on a downward trajectory for a number of years due in part to changing viewing habits.
However, the spokesman added that while the rate of decline was “more pronounced in the latter half of 2023, recent weeks and months have shown signs of recovery over last year”.
The Government decided in July to retain the current TV licence but also committed to improving compliance in terms of licences. A new technical working group is looking at ways of improving collecting of the licence and the Government has announced that more support will be given to An Post to improve the rate of collections.
“This is to ensure that the system can improve compliance and evasion, increase sales and revenues, and thereby deliver appropriate levels of public funding for public service media,” said the spokesman.
Minister for Media Catherine Martin also announced last month that RTÉ would be provided with additional public funding from the Exchequer, bringing its total receipts from the State to €225 million for 2025. The figure will increase to €240 million in 2025 and €260 million in 2027.
Speaking this week, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said he was confident that household compliance in buying television licences would improve.
“I saw signs a few weeks ago in the latest figures that were published from (An Post) in relation to compliance. I am confident that as we continue to restore trust in RTÉ, which I’m confident will happen, that it will not only recover to where it was in the past but it will go to a higher level.”
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