Independents' day?

The launch of TV3 two years ago was greeted with enthusiasm by independent Irish producers, who saw it as a new outlet for their programmes. However, says Tania Banotti, director of Film Makers Ireland (FMI), there was considerable disappointment at the low level of independent programming sourced by the station. Banotti says FMI estimates 3 per cent of the station's total programming is made by independent Irish producers. TV3 claim that figure is just under 25 per cent.

Andrew Hanlon, head of news at TV3, says home-produced programming is very important to the station: "It's what makes us Irish". Hanlon claims the 25 per cent of material broadcast is made up of programmes like Ireland AM, the various news broadcasts, The Week in Review, Agenda, 20:20 and Sports Tonight.

Most of these programmes are made by TV3 itself rather than by independent production companies. The station however maintains that they come under the banner of "independent Irish production" because TV3 is an independent Irish station.

Under current legislation, RTE must spend 20 per cent of its TV budget on the independent production sector, which amounts to around £18 million. Different regulations apply to TV3. The station still has an independent Irish production mandate, however, unlike RTE, it is based on time and not money.

The IRTC gave TV3 a time target of 15 per cent of the schedule in the first year, rising to 20 per cent over years two and three.

"Twenty per cent of the budget would have made much more sense. Giving a target for time doesn't translate into 20 per cent of the schedule devoted to original independent productions, as a large part of that time is used by repeats of news and sport programmes," says Banotti.

However, she is still hopeful that with the arrival of Granada things will change. "Granada has a good track record in quality independent production. We're hoping to see hard evidence of spending and an announcement of how much money will be spent on original independent programming."

A sudden enthusiasm for independent programming does seem to have emerged in TV3 since Granada came on board.

"We spend a lot of time looking for original programming. In fact we're now going into a commissioning round for next autumn's schedule and we hope to see a major increase then," says Salway.