RTÉ denies abusing its public service remit for gain

RTÉ'S ONLINE commercial revenues amount to just 3 per cent of the Irish online advertising market and it is not abusing its position, the company told an Oireachtas Committee yesterday.

RTÉ has been accused by the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) of being excessively commercial in its activities and of using its public service remit to achieve an unfair advantage in attracting online advertising.

At a previous appearance at the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, NNI co-ordinating director Frank Cullen said RTÉ should not be allowed to have commercial advertising on its site.

Speaking to the same committee yesterday, RTÉs chief financial officer Conor Hayes said it was “manifestly wrong” to suggest it was dominating the online advertising market and preventing newspapers from accessing a fair share of the Irish online advertising market.

He said www.rte.ie was funded entirely from commercial revenues and these amounted to €2.5 million last year, the equivalent of 3 per cent of the total Irish online advertising spend of €97 million last year.

RTÉ properly observed European policy and Irish broadcasting law by ensuring that all content produced by the broadcaster was available to the public on all media platforms, Mr Hayes said.

The company was legally obliged to do so.

He said RTÉ was only the ninth-biggest media company operating in Ireland if one considered companies such as News International, the Daily Mail and General Trust and Trinity Mirror plc which all publish newspapers in Ireland.

Mr Hayes said the allegations that the NNI made were a distraction from the challenges faced by the newspaper industry.

“Constraining RTÉ’s online activities clearly will not solve the financial problems that may be faced by the shareholders of the various global and national traditional media groups who own the various British and Irish newspaper titles represented by NNI,” he said.

The committee was told that RTÉ online employed 70 people, including 42 journalists working in news, sport, business and entertainment.

In response to a question from Senator Joe O’Toole, RTÉ’s solicitor Eleanor Bleahene said there was not a “problem in principle” in sharing RTÉ’s content with newspapers.

However, Mr Hayes warned that RTÉ was “simply not in a position to give away its online content” and there were rights issues involved.