RTÉ plans separate entity for transmission services

RTÉ IS planning a significant internal reorganisation to put its transmission and networks division on an arm's-length basis, The Irish Timeshas learned.

Industry sources say the move could be a precursor to an eventual sell-off of the division, RTENL, though there are no immediate plans to dispose of the asset.

Under the changes RTENL, which owns and manages the transmission infrastructure of masts and relay stations, will be renamed and its headquarters moved off the Montrose site.

An independent chairman and new independent board members will be appointed, and non-disclosure agreements drawn up between the company and its parent, RTÉ. The station declined to comment on the changes yesterday but it is understood staff have been briefed in recent days.

RTENL, which employs about 70 staff, transmits the services of RTÉ radio and television, TV3, TG4 and Today FM through a network of 200 sites nationally. It also provides services to local radio stations, mobile phone companies and the emergency services.

Recently, it was the vehicle used by RTÉ to invest €470 million in the new digital terrestrial network supporting the Saorview service.

The subsidiary was proposed for sale in the McCarthy report but did not appear on the list of State assets for possible disposal drawn up by Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin last month.

A spokesman for the Department of Communications, which has been in discussions with RTÉ about the changes, confirmed last night the Government had no immediate plans for its sale.

RTÉ has been criticised by TV3 and others for a lack of transparency and separation around its transmission services, a fact acknowledged by director general Noel Curran in a major policy speech last year.

Mr Curran said on that occasion he was open to examining how a greater degree of separation might be effected between parent and subsidiary. “This will be important as new regulation designed for transmission in the digital age is framed,” he said.

The changes now materialising were flagged in a recent keynote speech by Mr Curran which placed an emphasis on RTÉ’s role in the broader media market and on what it has described as a need for increased openness and partnership activity on its own behalf.

RTÉ’s offer of free online news content to national newspapers has been cited as part of this policy direction. RTÉ is also aware it has been criticised for a lack of transparency and separation around its transmission services by some of the services’ users such as TV3 and in analysis including by consultants to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

In a key RTÉ policy speech at Dublin City University last October, Mr Curran said: “We will be more conscious of our overall role in the broadcasting landscape and the role of our subsidiary companies. We are, for instance, aware of criticism of the relationship between RTÉ and its subsidiary RTÉNL. We are open to examining how we might put a greater degree of separation between parent and subsidiary.”

The directors of RTENL include RTÉ board chairman Tom Savage and Mr Curran.

€470m:The amount invested in new digital terrestrial network