RTE lawyers claim Century was looking for a `free ride'

Century Radio was a private company looking for a "free ride" on RTE's transmission system, which was owned by the public, RTE's lawyers have told the tribunal.

Mr Paul O'Higgins SC, for RTE, said RTE was paying substantial amounts for the transmission system Century wished to avail of "for free".

He was referring to Century's argument that it should not have to pay to have its signal broadcast on RTE's transmission network because this had been paid for by the taxpayer.

"You were looking for a deal so good it would have been dangerous to disclose it to RTE," Mr O'Higgins said.

But the co-founder of Century, Mr James Stafford, said he was simply driving the hardest bargain he could on behalf of the station.

Mr O'Higgins said Century never tried to drive a bargain at all. "We put our position to you and you put your position to the Minister [Mr Burke]."

The sums Century eventually offered to pay for transmission rights were "pie in the sky" and could easily have been shown to be so, he claimed.

There was a grave danger that Century's proposal might have been dismissed out of hand at the time presentations were made to the Independent Radio and Television Commission because it had no concrete breakdown of transmission fees, counsel said.

Century received an "intimation" that it would not be asked for a breakdown of these fees during the oral hearings, so no one found out that the station was offering to pay only £375,000, far less than its main rivals.

Mr Stafford said RTE had more than fulfilled its contractual obligations to extend Century's coverage throughout the country. However, Mr Stafford said it came as a "devastating shock" to the station's management when it discovered that coverage was only 35 per cent instead of the expected 63 per cent of listeners.

Mr O'Higgins attributed Century's problems to a lack of listeners. The only way Century could survive, one station executive had noted, would be to close 2FM and take its place.

This was the proposed "final solution" for 2FM, he said.

Mr Stafford said it was despicable to refer to a "final solution" because this was what RTE did to Century.

He accused RTE of blatant discrimination against Century by its refusal to accept television advertisements for the new station.