Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to move on to other issues. I thank the witnesses for their detailed document, on page 5 of which there is a table which sets out total income and operating costs. The difference is very notable. Commercial revenue has dropped by 36% and licence fee revenue has dropped by 12% such that total income is reduced by 23%. The licence fee revenue was easy to determine. In terms of the commercial revenue, is the market a smaller market? I note that there are online platforms and more targeted advertising which were not available in 2008 to the extent that they are now. What evaluation has been done on this particular component? I am presuming that the absence of being able to invest in output such as drama probably inhibits the ability of RTÉ to earn by virtue of the fact that it can sell content to other platforms. Perhaps the witness would provide an overview in this regard.