SPORTS BROADCASTING Interview with Glen Killane: Seán Moran on the RTÉ head of sport's tough start, the Setanta challenge, and his vision of public broadcasting.

In little over six months Glen Killane has gone from the conventional anonymity of producing sports programmes to taking responsibility for the whole department in RTÉ, from the creative tensions of an at times controversially recast Sunday Game to pinning down broadcasting rights across a range of vital sports.

Already it has been a productive period. A deal with the FAI was announced just last month while negotiations on rugby's Six Nations and with the GAA are at an advanced stage.

But these are only the ongoing tasks of being head of television sport. In the future lies the certainty of an intensifying battle with subscription and pay-per-view channels now that Setanta Sports has established Ireland's first such venture and the uncertainty of digital technologies, which are likely to revolutionise the broadcast of sports events and the choices available to viewers.

And then there is the challenge of getting to grips with managing an entire department more than shaken by last year's sudden departure of Killane's predecessor Niall Cogley, only two years into the job, to Setanta.

"It took us all a bit by surprise," he says. "Niall is a friend and was something of a mentor to me since I started working here. He was my sponsor when I started working here. It was a shock but I understand his reasons. He hasn't sprouted horns.

"After he left, my job was really just to reassure everyone that things were fine and to work on through."

There was also pressing business - "major rights were up for negotiation" - and he acknowledges the practical help and moral support of Cathal Goan, the director general, and Noel Curran, managing director of television, who is leading the negotiations with the GAA.

The leap from making sports programmes to supervising the entire output, acquiring rights and running budgets, has been daunting but Killane is coping.

"I'm learning fast. That's the world we live in - every penny is counted and I'm charged with spending public money wisely."

Killane grew up in Malahide and played Gaelic football with St Fintan's in Sutton and rugby with Suttonians. His secondary education was at the Catholic University School and he was a member of CUS's most successful senior cup team, reaching the semi-finals in 1990.

Having taken a degree in English at Trinity, he went to complete the post-graduate journalism course at DCU and was set for a career in print journalism when fate took a hand. Killane's wife is Spanish and he speaks the language fluently. He had arranged through the embassy in Ireland to get work experience on a Mexican newspaper.

It's complicated but matters became entangled with the arrival of former president Salinas de Gotari to live in exile in Dublin and in short the scheme fell through.

"There was one poster left on the appointments board in DCU," remembers Killane, "and that was for the sports department in RTÉ. I was interested in sport so it wasn't so bad. That was the masterplan."

Five years later, by which stage he had risen to editing rugby and GAA programming, a position as editor of live soccer became available in England with the ill-fated ITV Digital. He got out just in time.

"Niall offered me a position as senior producer just four months before (the collapse)."

In some ways it's not a bad time to be moving into the job. There are signs that sports organisations have started to look beyond pots of gold when evaluating broadcast policy. After a period in which rugby's Six Nations partially disappeared off terrestrial television, the BBC have regained rights to England's matches from Sky.

The issue of penetration and available audience has begun to assume a higher priority when associations decide on how to sell their sports. Killane recounts how three years ago, when BBC took live coverage of Ireland-New Zealand from Dublin because Sky had the rights to England-Australia on the same afternoon, the Irish match captured a British audience of 7,000,000 whereas Twickenham was watched by just 1,000,000.

"There is an awareness of the strengths," says Killane. "We have the best anchors, presenters and production values. We have 99 per cent penetration, which means we're effectively available to all. You don't have to go out of your way to watch RTÉ.

"We're on the public's side in the sense that we bring sport to people's houses without looking for extra cash."

On both a professional and a personal level he was heartened to read the comments of the GAA's director general in an interview with this newspaper last month.

The context was Killane's decision, as executive producer of The Sunday Game, to overhaul Gaelic games coverage last year, spending a bit extra to exploit the fact that RTÉ were out there at venues across the country each weekend. Analysts were moved out of the studio and into the match day atmosphere. Steps were taken to embrace a more statistical approach to match analysis.

There was, however, consternation over the revamped The Sunday Game, particularly the dropping of the James Last theme tune that had acquired the status of cultural heritage over 20 years.

Mulvihill, however, gave the new coverage his seal of approval. "I was very much in favour of what RTÉ did last season with regard to The Sunday Game. I know some people felt that getting rid of the old signature tune was a break with the past but you have to move on and I felt that they did a lot of good things that maybe were overlooked. And good quality coverage is for me the most important aspect of the rights package."

Killane says RTÉ were grateful for this recognition and also the implicit acknowledgement that relations between the organisations are in better shape than for many years.

"We still have to finalise negotiations with the GAA. Gaelic games are at the core of what RTÉ is about, in relation to our obligations both as a broadcaster as well as to our audience. There are also cultural and sporting ties between the GAA and RTÉ.

"Our relationship has improved hugely. Niall Cogley made big strides when he took charge to get RTÉ working in a positive way with the GAA and that was reciprocated. Now it's working in far more of a partnership manner."

Nonetheless it is expected the GAA will grant some domestic rights to Setanta, which will make the new station more competitive. Yet Killane, while allowing that RTÉ can't become complacent, says there are essential differences between the stations.

"My initial impression is Setanta and RTÉ are about two separate things. Setanta is a business and is about making money. RTÉ, although it is run on a budget and under corporate governance, is not in the business of making money."

He is interested in digital and feels that RTÉ are well positioned to embrace the technology. "We're looking seriously at digital but we're waiting for key policy decisions at Government level before we can take it further. But we would believe that RTÉ would be the first port of call for a digital service because of the expertise we bring in terms of production."