Radio stations angry at 'unjustifiable' levy

INDEPENDENT RADIO stations have warned there may be job losses as a result of an increase in the levy they are charged to fund the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), the industry regulator.

The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) said the proposed 27 per cent increase in the BAI’s budget was “utterly unjustifiable”.

The BAI replaced the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), which was State-funded.

It is funded solely by a levy on the broadcasting industry and is due to come into force on Thursday, backdated to October when the BAI was set up.

The BAI is looking for an increase in its budget from €5.2 million in 2009 to €7.6 million this year. The BAI is seeking the increase because it now has to regulate RTÉ.

The budget will have to be approved by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan.

The IBI represents 34 local and national stations. Its chairman, Willie O’Reilly of Today FM, said the average cost to a radio station would be €90,000, at a time when independent radio stations are suffering a 30 per cent decline in revenue.

“Something has got to give and inevitably it will be jobs and the quality of radio programmes produced,” he said.

“The BAI have been allowed to launch a smash and grab on broadcasters to fund platinum-plated regulation, without any obligation to submit their own budget to scrutiny.

“We can’t allow a levy that is disproportionate, unnecessary and undermining of Irish broadcasting and Irish audiences alike.”

The issue of the size of the levy will be raised in the Dáil tomorrow by the Labour Party spokeswoman on communications Liz McManus.

She said a “full review” of the statutory instrument putting the burden on the radio stations should be undertaken.

She also expressed concern about the potential job losses from the levy.

Proposals that would incorporate the telecommunications regulator ComReg and BAI into one regulator – which would cut costs and which were recommended in the McCarthy report – were ignored, she believed.

The BAI has 24 full-time and seven part-time staff.

A spokesman said: “We have developed the levy model in accordance of the provisions of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and we have been engaged in ongoing discussions with the industry regarding the levy and we will continue to do that.”