RTE faces a new revenue crisis, with reports that proposed EU guidelines could limit the amount of money that state-funded TV channels earn from advertising.
A spokesman for the EU Competition Commissioner, Mr Mario Monti, confirmed last night that guidelines on state support to public broadcasters were being drafted for presentation to the Commission at the end of the year.
According to a report yesterday in a Brussels newspaper, the European Voice, Mr Monti is to propose a limit of 20 per cent on the revenue a state broadcaster can earn from advertising. RTE last year raised almost u£194 million, or 50 per cent of its total income of u£200 million in TV and radio advertising.
A spokesman for the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, said she would vigorously oppose any proposals which would undermine, in any way, public broadcasting. She questioned the role of the Competition Commissioner in what she viewed as a cultural matter. Mr Monti's spokesman said he did not want to comment on the newspaper report as he had not seen it.
"All I can say at this stage is that we have decided to draw up the guidelines on foot of complaints from commercial broadcasters in France, Spain and Italy, alleging that state-supported TV channels have an unfair advantage." The guidelines would not be completed until the end of the year, he said.
The Dublin Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, warned last night that any proposal to limit RTE's revenue would pose a serious threat to the organisation.
"RTE currently earns 36 per cent of its income from licence fees. It remains to be seen whether this would constitute state support according to the draft guidelines currently being drawn up by the Commission," Mr De Rossa said.
Mr Kevin Healy, RTE's director of public affairs, said: "We will look at these guidelines in detail when we receive them but clearly limitations on the scale being reported would have very serious consequences for RTE given that at present approximately two-thirds of our revenue comes from commercial sources."