RTÉ must work with ‘frenemies’, says new director-general

RTÉ must work together with its "frenemies" and "be clearer about what our brand is and where we want to go", its new director-general Dee Forbes has told a broadcasting industry event in Dublin.

Ms Forbes said she was taking “an open look” at everything RTÉ was doing across its business “and saying ‘is this possible for the future?’”

She said she wanted RTÉ “to continue to be a cultural beacon in Irish life”, notwithstanding “a wave of competition and choice” in the industry.

“What is now, can’t be for the future. The business is changing around us, the models are changing, and we have to change with that,” said Ms Forbes, who took up the RTÉ role in July.

Partnerships and alliances with competitors “have to be looked at” for RTÉ to continue to deliver the programming that audiences want, she said. In theory, these might include more drama co-productions and joint bids for sports rights.

“The world has changed,” Ms Forbes told the Mediacon conference.

“The phrase frenemies is well used in our industry, because we may well compete, but it may well make sense for us to come together on some things, and I am certainly very open to that.”

Specific remit

Asked to respond to comments by Virgin Media chief executive Tony Hanway that RTÉ needs to "take a hard look" about whether it needs to have "a foot in every camp", Ms Forbes said RTÉ had "a very specific remit" that came with many obligations.

“We need to fulfil a wide remit, from zero to 99, effectively. What I am doing now, obviously, as I get into this role, is looking at how we are doing that,” she said.

“Maybe it is about how we evolve as a broadcaster, as opposed to doing things very differently or shutting things down.”

She highlighted the RTÉ Concert Orchestra's set at the Electric Picnic festival, which featured 2fm DJ Jenny Greene "on the decks", as "a really fantastic way of bringing classical music to a younger audience" and an example of how RTÉ is fulfilling its public service remit.

Ms Forbes is expected to shed some detail on her plans for RTÉ before the end of 2016.

The resources available to her are dependent on the outcome of talks between RTÉ and Minister for Communications Denis Naughten on public media funding reform, as well as future trends in advertising.

Advertising revenues

Post-Brexit caution from international consumer giants such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever – big television advertisers – has resulted in lower-than-projected advertising revenues this year, weakening RTÉ's financial position.

"Certainly, Brexit is having an impact on advertising," said Ms Forbes in the public interview, which was conducted by Sunday Business Post deputy editor Tom Lyons.

“The marketplace is more volatile than we would all like it to be.”

Asked whether RTÉ needed to make hard decisions in light of a deficit expected to reach €20 million this year, Ms Forbes said 2016 was “always going to be an exceptional year” due to the number of big broadcasting events, such as the 1916 centenary, the Olympic Games and the general election.

RTÉ does need to “future-proof” itself right across its business, she added.

All broadcasters were looking for new sources of revenue, Ms Forbes also said. She cited the RTÉ Player, “which is very successful here in this market”, and suggested RTÉ might be able to generate more money from its international version.

‘Wide perspective’

Ms Forbes, who worked in the UK media industry for 27 years before returning to Ireland, said she hoped to bring “a wide perspective” to the director-general job.

“More and more as the world around us is diversifying and fragmenting, we need to have a wide outward vision. And also I think it is not prudent any more for any broadcaster to go it alone on everything.”

It was “great to hear” the Minister say he was “committed to tackling licence fee evasion”, she said, describing the sums lost to evasion as “low-hanging fruit”. She noted that the BBC had been given assurances that its licence fee would rise in line with inflation over the next five years.

Ms Forbes said she would like to have the “lovely big budgets” enjoyed by the BBC, but she praised the British public service broadcaster for the way it connects with communities and said she believed RTÉ could engage more with its audiences across the country, “and listen more” to them.

“RTÉ is not just about Donnybrook,” she said.