Analysis: Reforms of the relationship between the Government and RTÉ, announced this week, are very far-reaching, writes Michael Foley
Given the nature of the announcement this week concerning broadcasting, one is almost tempted to paraphrase Gay Byrne and suggest that there is "something for everyone in the audience".
There is the hike in the licence fee, mainly for RTÉ; there is a fund being established for independent broadcasters, which represents an important symbolic breach of what was the impregnable licence fee. And even if the public seem to be the sufferers, they can at least draw some solace in that there will be an easy payment method and a review process that will, hopefully, ensure we are getting value for our increased licence fee payment.
RTÉ is the big winner. Not long ago the then minister responsible for broadcasting, Síle de Valera, responded to a request for a €63 increase with a mere €18 increase, which her own consultants believed was not even enough just to keep the organisation going, let alone make the odd good programme.
Now the new Minister, Mr Ahern, uses the sort of language favoured by RTÉ's director general, Mr Bob Collins. This is what Mr Ahern said in his announcement: "RTÉ is in a very competitive market-place. In an age of increasing globalisation, not least in the message we get on our television screens, I believe the uniquely Irish voice of the station and its reflection and commentary on the life of the nation should be preserved and nurtured." It could have been written by Mr Collins himself.
So why the change of heart? Well, we can only surmise, but there have been a number of developments since Ms de Valera was minister.
There is a more aggressive competitiveness from stations like Sky, reflected in the controversy over Irish international soccer rights; the continued weakness of the advertising market; the report of the Forum on Broadcasting; the reduction of about 500 jobs in RTÉ and the changes in work practice and finally, maybe the Flood report's findings on the relationship between RTÉ and Mr Ray Burke, a former Fianna Fáil minister responsible for communications, led to some reflection.
The reforms are very far-reaching and fundamental. The licence fee will increase with inflation and while there will be accountability, the upshot is the licence fee will cease to be a gift from the government of the day. Along with the abolition of the infamous Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act a few years ago the index-linking means a massive protection of RTÉ's independence from potential government interference.
It must be assumed that the increase in the licence fee will deal effectively with the serious problem of balance between RTÉ's commercial earnings as against its licence fee income. The dominance of commercial income has been a source of conflict and worry and something that seriously undermined RTÉ's public service role.
The fund from the 5 per cent of the fee that is going to "innovative content from which all free-to-air broadcasters can draw" is a victory for independent broadcasters. For years they have claimed that many stations already broadcast public service type programmes and that they would do more if they could afford it. At around €8 million annually it is not a vast amount, but it has symbolic importance that should not be ignored.
The idea of spreading the licence fee around has been resisted because it runs contrary to one definition of public service broadcasting, which sees public broadcasting as something that only a public service broadcaster can provide. The fund seems to suggests that public service programming is by definition loss-making and therefore minority programming, rather than challenging and also entertaining.
We know who will be sharing out the new fund - the new single regulator, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland - but we do not know how. Will it be like an Arts Council of the airwaves or the Film Board, with stations and independent producers applying with programme ideas and being given development money? The Minister says RTÉ can also apply, which is bizarre. How can RTÉ apply to a fund to develop public service type programmes when it is already a public service provider?
Many stations will never apply for funding. The music-driven stations in Dublin, for instance, are hardly likely to air documentaries instead of their trusted formats. TV3's chief executive, Rick Hetherington, is on the record as saying he does not want any of the licence fee; he just wants RTÉ to stop using the licence fee to buy what he defines as non-public broadcasting programmes. It will probably go to smaller stations, in rural and small-town Ireland, who are already doing a considerable amount of talk radio. This, one hopes, will push up broadcasting standards and might even mean those producing good programmes will get properly paid.
One regulator for both public service and commercial broadcasters seems a logical move, but it does mean there is no dedicated body to speak for the public broadcasting we pay for. Will one regulator with a dual function be able to ensure a strong public service ethos? Commercial interests are strong and if the regulator is dominated by commercial and business interests, public service broadcasting might take second place.
As comments by TV3 in yesterday's paper showed, the concerns of some commercial broadcasters have not been addressed and the new single regulator could be a forum where differences are played out, to the detriment of public broadcasting.
Michael Foley is a lecturer in journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology and a media commentator.