RTÉ is under unprecedented pressure: a financial crisis combining with a root and branch examination of the range of the station's operations. Joe Humphreys reports.
RTÉ is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year but you wouldn't know it from the mood at Montrose. Since the broadcaster's appeal for a virtual doubling of the television licence fee rise was turned down last summer, the accountants' axe has been casting a long and gloomy shadow.
Another stay of execution was delivered this week when the RTÉ Authority met to consider where further cuts should be made. On receipt of an independent review of the company's money-saving options, the authority chose to postpone a decision until it had gathered further information.
The review, undertaken by consultants KMPG and Logical Strategy, set out possible business models for the State broadcaster, the most radical of which would involve the outsourcing of all programming to independent producers except in the areas of news and current affairs.
A less dramatic suggestion was for RTÉ to retain a number of flagship programmes, such as the Late Late Show and Fair City, along with news, current affairs and sport, while a more modest and ill-defined proposal was to continue producing the same range of programmes but at a lower cost.
RTÉ has refused to publish the report or discuss its contents but those who have seen it confirm it also contains proposals to sell all or part of the company's Donnybrook headquarters. The 32-acre site, a large portion of which is devoted to car-parking and lawns, is estimated to be worth around €88 million.
In 2000 RTÉ made €136 million through TV and radio advertising and received a further €84m through licence fees. Expenditure on broadcasting services reached almost €255m, thereby leaving the company with losses for the year of more than €20m.
Last year, the company incurred a deficit of €38m, while this year projected losses are due to reach €20m again - and only after a rationalisation plan involving 150 job losses is implemented.
Several key projects, including the introduction of digital television, are now on hold. RTÉ director general Mr Bob Collins said this week he could make "no predictions" regarding the company's plans to develop up to five new digital channels.
Separate news, youth and learning channels also appear as far away from fruition as they did when plans for them were announced three years ago.
In a submission in support of its licence fee appeal last year to the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, RTÉ predicted the development of such services would cost €40 million over three years - money which the company can now ill-afford.
A major reappraisal of RTÉ's future is now under way, and not just within the walls of Montrose. The newly-established Forum on Broadcasting, chaired by former Central Bank governor Mr Maurice O'Connell, is due to hold its first meeting within the next fortnight. Its remit is to make recommendations to the Minister on how public service broadcasting can and should be delivered.
Opposition parties have branded the initiative a political stunt, and indeed one member of forum told The Irish Times "that was my impression when I heard of it first". But, the member said, "that's not to say it's not a worthwhile exercise".
The forum's terms of reference, announced just eight days ago, appear hastily contrived. They pose six questions which the forum is told to answer by July 31st. These, in short, are:
Is there a role for public service broadcasting and, if so, how should it be supported?
Are there distinct roles for public and commercial broadcasters in the provision of services at national, regional and local levels?
What is the appropriate role of the independent audiovisual production sector?
What responsibilities should broadcasters have for the development of programme content in the Irish language?
What responsibilities should broadcasters have for the development of cultural content?
What responsibilities should broadcasters have in making and conserving "national audio-visual heritage"?
Fine Gael's spokesman on arts, Mr Dinny McGinley, described the initiative as "a fig leaf designed to cover the Minister for the election". Apart from the timing of the forum, he questioned its composition. "Individually, they are all good people but collectively they are just a random group. And the fact that she (the Minister) has given them only four months to produce a report is beyond incredulity."
Besides O'Connell, the forum has six members: Budget Travel founder Ms Gillian Bowler; Waterford Crystal marketing director Ms Jean Callanan; DCU professor of journalism Prof John Horgan; former RTÉ political editor Mr Donal Kelly; UCD English professor Prof Declan Kiberd; and the director of the Arts Council Ms Patricia Quinn.
Crucially, the forum's terms prohibit it from making recommendations on issues "specifically related to the adequacy or otherwise of the current RTÉ licence fee". Any potential criticism of the Minister, thus, appears to be ruled out.
Yet it is clear RTÉ does not see the forum's work as independent from its own review of costs. RTÉ Authority chairman Mr Paddy Wright said this week that the company's strategic review would "provide valuable input" for the forum. The company, it seems, is hoping the forum - in spite of its restrictive terms of reference - will back RTÉ's claims for additional public funding, perhaps by some other means than a licence fee rise.
Whether RTÉ deserves more is a vexed question. An examination of its television schedule for the past week illustrates the relative paucity of the public service element. Of about 250 hours broadcasting on RTÉ1 and Network 2, almost 20 hours were devoted to news and current affairs; 21 hours to sport; 5½ hours each to documentaries/magazine programmes and entertainment/drama; almost eight hours to game/chat shows; and two hours to religious programmes. There was around 16½ hours of home-produced repeats, and the remainder of the schedule was taken up with imported, mainly US, productions.
On closer inspection, the public service composition is even more elusive. Last Tuesday, for instance, there were only two home-produced programmes on Network 2 after 6 p.m. - News 2 and Telly Bingo.
The argument is cyclical, however, and RTÉ's reply is well rehearsed: sure, what would you expect for just over €2 a week from each licence-payer.
Whatever the Minister's intentions in establishing the forum, it has not proved successful in defusing what threatens to be a hot political issue in the run-up to the election. RTÉ's group of unions is next week to launch an election campaign, labelled "RTÉ Works!", aimed at increasing State funding for the broadcaster and saving jobs.
The Labour Party has promised to review the licence fee within three months if elected to government. In private, it is understood to be examining the prospect of sanctioning a rise in return for a ban on child-targeted advertising, and the delivery of a "viewers' contract", which would be subject to independent review.
Fine Gael, meanwhile, said it would make "interim funding" available to RTÉ to get it through the current crisis, pending a decision on the licence fee.
Financial matters aside, all parties - political and otherwise - agree a debate on public service broadcasting is long overdue. The question is: is it coming to late to rescue the concept from oblivion?