Sir, - Sylvia Doyle (September 23rd) asks: "How do people view the .. . takeover of TV3? "Was it the intention of the Government . . . that RTE would be the victim of such a takeover? . . Is it not about time that we realised the long-term importance of ensuring that RTE .. . will not be relegated to a minor role in the provision of relevant programmes to the Irish people?"
It is my view that the recent acquisition of a share of TV3 by Granada Media will give that channel a realistic chance of surviving against a State broadcaster which gets both a licence-fee subsidy and advertising revenue from three channels. A healthy society needs genuine media competition.
Presumably this was also the view of the Government which created the Independent Radio and Television Commission, and which subsequently gave TV3 its broadcast franchise. Until the launch of TV3 in September 1998 Ireland was the only country in western Europe without a private TV broadcaster to counter the State media; like a communist state in the 1970, not a modern democracy. Perhaps Ms Doyle's use of the word "victim" is a rather emotional way of describing a bloated and inefficient semi-State body.
Her third statement implies that RTE TV does, or ever did provide, relevant programmes to its viewers. Its millennium night-broadcast implies otherwise, having been a third-rate, tawdry mess, the nadir of decades of mediocrity from a broadcaster which has not, to my knowledge, made any significant or relevant children's or adult drama (other than soap opera), provocative satire, intelligent comedy, incisive investigative journalism or informative youth programming, among other things, preferring to devote much of its time to trashy US drama, light quizzes and chat shows. Far from being relevant, I believe that RTE TV's programming is characterised by a conservative artlessness which is middle-brow at best.
Her closing remark "let the serious debate now begin before we become region 57 of the Commonwealth!" contradicts itself. Nevertheless, why not compare Ireland with the UK? Rivalry has existed between the BBC and ITV for 40 years without diminishing their ability to create a relevant and popular repertoire of programming. If the TV3 acquisition creates British standards of programme-making in Ireland, I view it as being worthwhile and long overdue. - Yours, etc.,
Christian Morris, Howth, Co Dublin.