Ruling the waves

NO live coverage on RTE of the Ireland-England rugby match this weekend is the latest sign of the rapidly-growing competition the home station faces in the television market.In this case it is Sky Television's securing of exclusive rights to Saturday's match in a deal with the English Rugby Union which is forcing RTE to broadcast the game on Network 2 long after the final whistle has blown - at 4.30 p.m. But from the autumn, the station will have another domestic player to contend with, as TV3 bids for the same programmes and rights to sports events, inevitably pushing up the costs.Broadcasting was already changing radically when Collins was appointed director general of RTE a year ago this month. Viewers were being told about pay per view, video on demand, home shopping and something called digital that would bring hundreds of new television services. Increased competition was putting greater pressure on RTE's finances and legislation was desperately needed; lethargy had crept into E the station, where winning the Eurovision Song contest was the yardstick for success.Within weeks of his appointment, Collins overturned structures that had been in place for years. He appointed three managing directors which indicated his priorities. At the top, and effectively Collins's number two, he put Liam Miller in charge of organisation and development. Joe Mulholland was made managing director, television, which included the whole facilities area and Conor Sexton was appointed managing director, commercial.

Collins (51) is relieved that Michael D. Higgins's legislation and his plan for a broadcasting authority fell with the last government. He is optimistic that the current Government will propose a broadcasting commission, far more to RTE's liking. It will have an overview of broadcasting, not just the work of the RTE Authority and the Independent Radio and Television Commission. It will look at cable, satellite, MMDS and even multi media, and possibly even telephony. It will be a "wafer thin" bureaucracy: a part-time commission with a small staff. Michael D. Higgins had proposed a powerful "super authority" with five full-time commissioners and a staff. "It takes five to quango," Collins quips.

However, on the down side, the present Government did not go ahead with the index-linking of the licence fee, as proposed by Michael D. Higgins. The Government's decision, Collins says, means a loss of between £15 and £16 million over five years. It has caused heartaches in RTE and many plans have been ditched. One proposal is safe, though: the new music and arts radio channel is due on air early next year.

Last year RTE made a surplus of £5.8 million. With all the talk of crisis, that came as a surprise. It was due to an unexpected late advertising surge and earnings from Riverdance.

The surplus is almost embarrassing for RTE. It was due to short-term buoyancy and will not happen again, Collins says. TV3, which is due to start in the autumn, and Today FM will take from RTE's advertising potential. There is also the requirement that 20 per cent of programme budgets has to be farmed out to the independent production sector from 1999 under the 1993 Broadcasting Act. That will have an impact on RTE's ability to produce programmes. It might also lead to job loses among contract employees.

The requirement for RTE to spend £5 million a year on programming for TnaG has added to the general drift of finance out of the company. And if that was not enough, Collins is also predicting that the cost of acquired programmes and sports rights will rise significantly as TV3 bids for the same programmes. "It is a very daunting future," he says. There is also the finance necessary for the development of digital television. E it is not a wild exaggeration to say it represents a change as radical as the coming of colour television.

Digital television will happen, he says. "The Government wants it to happen and we need it soon, or we will be behind our European colleagues and our options will be constrained."

RTE will be a key player because of the scale of its operation and because it owns the transmission network. "I don't believe it is possible for RTE to do this on its own. Nor is it desirable." RTE will have to find a strategic partner to develop a digital network. While this is still a sensitive topic in RTE, the authority has sought Government approval to find a partner to fund terrestrial digital television, that is, the kind that can be received on an ordinary aerial.

Collins believes there is still a healthy future for cable and RTE wants to hang onto to its 25 per cent share in Cablelink, the country's largest cable TV operator. Digital terrestrial television will give about 95 per cent of the country access to about 30 channels by using a conventional aerial. That will include an RTE news channel, education channels, RTE Plus, an extra TV3 channel, the main British channels as well as a range of services not yet in being.

Digital cable will bring hundreds of channels, including electronic commerce, telephony and multi media. There is no conflict in proposing one system and owning part of another, says Collins. It is about choice for the viewer. There is a place for terrestrial, cable, MMDS and satellite.

The correct strategic position for RTE is to retain its link with Cablelink, argues Collins. But whether RTE can is up to the Government. Telecom Eireann has already been told informally that it must divest itself of its 75 per cent share in the company.

But television is about content and that means talent. RTE has been criticised for its lack of talent management. Recently friends of the late Dermot Morgan claimed that his was a talent RTE squandered and failed to develop.

"The identification and development of talent is one of the key responsibilities of a broadcasting organisation. Recognising talent, nurturing it, encouraging it, accommodating it and developing it are central parts of the creative role that a broadcasting organisation has to deal with in terms of its television and broadcasting schedules," he says.

The development and nurturing of talent is a skill "and we have to become better at it", he admits. "Some of what was said at the time of Dermot Morgan's death was fair and mistakes were made. The relationship had not always been smooth. Dermot did not always believe that his talent was given adequate expression by us. He was sometimes right in relation to that but he was not always right."

Judgments made in relation to quality and production values were interpreted as judgments about Dermot Morgan, as if he was the only person involved. "That was profoundly unfair to him and RTE," Collins comments.

But what of those who seem to have been the voices of RTE for ever? There are, he says, a number of broadcasters who are absolutely first-class professionals who would find a place in any English speaking country in the world because of their talent. Some have been actively courted by broadcasters in other countries.

"They have chosen to stay in Ireland within their own communities and cultural environments. It is a bit much to say simply because they have been with RTE for quite a number of years, we should walk away from them and fail to recognise their talent.

"Across the whole range of radio and television new faces and new voices emerge all the time. There is more mobility in this area and that will become more so as competition and outlets grow".

Part of his role as director general is to encourage innovation, exploration, experimentation in the schedule, providing an environment in which this can flourish.

But, he adds, RTE is a small operation, "a mere minnow" in international terms. The BBC spends more on its drama department than RTE spends on its whole operation. "Our challenge is to live within the resources available to us - to recognise that this is Ireland not Britain, Germany or America and to provide a distinctive programme service which can attract audience. Our quality should allow us to compete but the need to be competitive should not diminish our willingness to experiment and be courageous. It is a very difficult mix."

Despite these difficulties there has been an expansion in current affairs, a re-emphasis on documentaries and significant changes in Network 2.

RTE has often been criticised for lack of drama but that will change. Drama will be part of the schedule through independent productions, RTE's productions or through co-productions, he promises.

All developmental cycles take time, he warns. "I am confident we will have a strong presence of drama with an Irish relevance on a continuing basis," he says.

"It is crucial to the life of this society and the life of this democracy that there is a very solid public broadcasting service which has the capacity to accommodate in its schedules a very wide range of programming; comprehensive, independent news; vigorous current affairs; significant documentaries".

He singles out programmes for young children. "If they are considered a market rather than a concern then they are there to be exploited in television terms. All broadcasters need to address this because the extent to which children consume television demands that there be quality programmes."

In five years time RTE will still be the single most significant producer of programming on this island, he says. "I think ours will still be the schedule of preference for the majority of the audience in Ireland." However, a future in which RTE is a strong public service broadcaster is dependent on Government decisions and other factors.

A combination of growing competition, the growth of multinational TV, the increased cost of sports rights, programme rights and music rights could all deprive RTE of the ability to serve the audience with quality programmes.

"There is a partnership between RTE, the Government and the audience and we have to do our part to ensure that our resources go into quality programmes. Whatever else digital developments are about, the issue is content. The digital system is but a delivery mechanism. The crucial area in which it will be tested by the audience is in the content it delivers and much of that content will have to be Irish.

"It would be inconceivable that we develop digital facilities, allowing a radical expansion and then all that happens is that there is greater access to programming coming from outside the island. "Content costs money," he adds. "Good quality broadcasting in the life of a community is difficult to overestimate."