Mr. Paul Farrell:

I am joined by my colleague, Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin, who is our deputy managing director. I will now summarise the submission we made in advance of today's meeting. Virgin Media Television is Ireland’s leading independent, national and commercial public service broadcaster, operating under the provisions of sections 70 and 71 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. In our submission we outline a deeply competitive and challenging media marketplace where prominence and discovery for public service broadcasters and content is being undermined by global media platforms and content distributors who have no clear obligation or commitment to public service media in Ireland. We have also seen 33 new commercial channels arriving across various platforms over the past ten years. This has completely distorted and changed the commercial TV landscape in Ireland and most of these are unregulated, opt-out or in-spill channels. There is continued growth in time-shifted viewing, increased fragmentation of viewing towards both broadcaster and subscription video on demand, VOD, services, and a growing influence from online services such as YouTube. These developments, along with technological advancements that allow for increased ad-skipping, have resulted in a decline in viewing of Irish content particularly among younger demographics.

Competition for eyeballs is also expanding in the connected TV space, that is any TV connected to the Internet. With broadband roll-out in Ireland continuing to grow, with almost 93% of households now with a connected TV or broadband service, this will represent a challenge and a shift away from a traditional paid or free TV services.

To provide a viable future for Irish public service media, several essential changes are required to be considered urgently by Coimisiún na Meán and by the Department to support the future viability of the Irish media sector. The first change must be the creation of a single digital platform to deliver Irish public service media and content. The current digital terrestrial television service, Saorview, is not capable of delivering this requirement.

In other European territories, broadcasters have come together to fund, develop and operate a modern, shared digital delivery platform. This allows viewers to find all local public service content seamlessly across all relevant platforms. The same should be done in Ireland.

The cost of content and service distribution is deeply prohibitive. Coherent policy is needed on the future application of digital terrestrial television spectrum, in a context in which the lack of development of a digital platform is a major challenge for the indigenous sector. Prominence and inclusion for all Irish public service media must be secured from all the platforms that distribute content from public service media providers in Ireland.

We also need to see a more agile regulation regime to foster innovation and meet audience needs, including greater policy alignment between the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, and the relevant Departments. Co-ordinated regulatory and policy changes are required across all relevant Departments to offer more flexibility and enhance public service media economics.

The overall objective must be to create a more level and balanced playing field that reflects rapid changes in technology and market and viewer behaviour. This objective must be aligned with what the public service media regime can and should deliver for Irish audiences and for society. I thank the committee members and I look forward to taking their questions.