The number of instances when RTÉ programmes have used interactive telephone and text messaging for competitions, public votes, polls and comment lines has increased by some 50 per cent since 2004, new figures have indicated.
However, the publicly funded national broadcaster has refused to say how much income it has generated from members of the public as a result of these services, which frequently require viewers or listeners to pay a fee to participate.
The figures, obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that the number of occasions when interactive services were used by RTÉ in its radio and television programmes increased to 74 last year.This compares with 58 in 2005, and 50 in 2004,
The number of instances where competitions or public votes were run by RTÉ - most of which involve individuals paying to send a text message or make a telephone call to enter - increased from 44 in 2005 to 55 (or more than two-thirds of the total) in 2006, according to the figures. In 2004, the figure was 49.
Examples of such shows include the popular You're a Star talent show, the most recent series of which was won on Sunday by Wexford-born David O'Connor after he received thousands of viewer votes.
According to the RTÉ website, votes cost 60 cent each, with the cost of calls from mobile phones varying. Revenue from these votes is shared in part by RTÉ.
The cost of entry to a recent Late Late Show competition was €1, the website says, with calls from mobiles again costing more.
As the fallout from the controversy over the use of phone-in competitions and votes in the UK continues - something RTÉ is confident could not happen with its programmes - the response also lists which RTÉ shows used telephone and texting as part of their content between 2004 and 2006.
These include youth-oriented programmes such as The Den and The Cafe, chat shows The Afternoon Show, The Late Late Show and Tubridy Tonight, and the No Frontiers travel show.
Other examples include the Farmleigh Proms, Lost, Fair City and the music show Other Voices. Radio shows on RTÉ which used interactive services also include Mooney Goes Wild and the "2FM chart competition".
Some of the programmes used a mix of competitions, comment lines and/or votes, and therefore appear several times on the list of programmes provided by RTÉ under these different categories. But the list does state how many times such services were used during a particular series.
The Irish Times also sought details of the total revenue that RTÉ has earned from these telephone and text message services over the past three years, and a breakdown of the earnings per show per year.
However, the broadcaster declined to release this information, stating its belief that the public interest is best served "by allowing the normal confidentiality of commercial negotiations to take place".
It said revenue from telephoning and texting would be included in an overall figure for content, merchandising and related sales contained in its annual reports. The most recent figures available show that in 2005, RTÉ earned €8.51 million under this heading, up some €1.3 million when compared with 2004.
"The three companies who successfully tendered for the RTÉ contract [Phonovation, Xiam and BT] are in competition with each other," the response says.