Mr. Jim Jennings:

I thank the Chairman for inviting us here. We are happy to be here to answer any questions the members might have about the proposed decision. I am joined by Mr. JP Coakley, director of operations, RTE Radio and Mr. Tom McGuire, head of RTE Radio 1.

On 23 September, RTE announced that it would be ceasing its service from the Clarkstown long wave transmitter from 27 October. Yesterday, in an interview with Sean O'Rourke, I said we were willing to reconsider the window we had set in place for the decision and were in the process of doing so. We have had many engagements, online and over the phone, with people in the UK and Ireland about this decision. It is evident from these communications that more time is probably needed to consult with people and communities in the UK. Therefore, we have decided to extend the closure date to 19 January 2015 to more fully engage with people and community groups and assist them in the transition.

The decision to cease any public service is not something RTE takes lightly or without serious consideration. We know such decisions affect audiences who enjoy and rely on RTE’s services. However, we also know the public expects us to manage our operations and services efficiently and evolve our services as technology changes and audiences adapt. In balancing these broad considerations we have come to the decision that now is the right time to cease our long wave Radio 1 service after ten years on air. The decision is part of a process of continuous enhancements and development of RTE services through the adoption of new digital technologies. For example, in 2012, RTE led the switch off of analogue and the switch over to Saorview. The introduction of Saorview greatly improved reception across the country and allowed everyone, regardless of age, means and geographic location, to avail of television services in HD quality.

We have experience in managing switch-overs like this. The launch of SAORVIEW also enabled the State to generate an €875 million dividend from the sale of spectrum and gave a significant boost to electrical retail trade.

This summer RTE and GAA launched GAAGO, a new digital service bringing live championship games to Irish people in over a 120 countries. The final was viewed in 120 countries around the world. It is a partnership with the GAA that has worked well. Later this year RTE will launch an international player which will greatly expand our range of services to the United Kingdom. These are only some of the recent innovations that we are bringing to our audiences. It is fair to say in regard to the Irish Diaspora that RTE has never offered as many services as it does currently.

The decision to cease the long-wave service will result in an annual saving of €250,000. This is an important saving in the context of what we are going through in RTE. I am aware that the committee has had members of RTE discussing the financial restrictions under which we operate and some of the difficult decisions that we have to take. This decision will impact most on listeners in Britain and Northern Ireland. We will set out some of the points surrounding the decision and we might debate those here.

RTE’s long-wave service began in 2004 following the closure of the previous Atlantic 252, a music radio station which Senator Mooney would remember well, and Teamtalk, which filled the interregnum before RTE put Radio 1 on long wave.

With the closure of medium wave, Radio 1 extended its coverage on FM in the North. Up until then, our coverage in the North was not good. We now have 85% coverage in the North of Ireland. We are looking at ways that we might be able to boost that. There are gaps in areas, such as the Glens of Antrim, that are difficult to get into, although anybody who travels in Donegal will note that the RHE signal there is stronger than the Radio 1 signal. Therefore, I think there is something that could be done with that signal, and Mr. Coakley is looking at that.

The Ofcom report noted that listeners have more flexibility and choice than ever before in access to media, and this is due in part to the expansion in the range of devices available, and I suppose the expansion of the Internet and Internet access devices. Digital alternatives to FM radio signals have grown considerably. Television, computers, smartphones and tablets all are, in essence, radios for those who wish to listen.

The Ofcom report also notes that 67% of homes in Northern Ireland have pay television services. Of these services, Sky is the most popular, at 49%. As the committee will be aware, RTÉ Radio 1 is available on channel 0160 on Sky. Radio 1 is also available on Virgin Media, on channel 917, and in 56% of Northern Ireland where SAORVIEW, the free DTT service, is available. In Great Britain, the service is available on Virgin, on Sky, and on FreeSat which has 98% coverage.

In the world of online and mobile, Radio 1 has a host of free services and apps, that are now available but that were not available in 2004. Our popularity among listeners overseas is evidenced by the fact that, monthly, we are now getting 1.5 million live-streams of Radio 1 through our player app. Some 150,000 of those monthly are in the UK. Of course, these figures do not prove that all listeners have the equipment or ability to tune to RTÉ Radio 1 long wave in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, however they show that access to the service has grown since 2004.

While we acknowledge there is differences among the generations in their use of these new technologies, a tipping point has been reached in terms of the use of new technologies on all media. That is not only RTE's view. It is broadcasters' view throughout Europe.

A total of 97% have made the move to digital television over the past two years and the number of people with tablets has increased hugely from 2% to 25%. It is difficult to say with authority how many people in the UK listen to long wave because it is not measured there even by RAJAR or the BBC. We do not measure and it would be prohibitive to engage in a survey of the UK to find out how many people are listening to long wave. The BBC has made the decision to switch off long wave transmitters even though it has Radio 4 on long wave in the UK. The number of long wave enabled radios sold is relatively low in this day and age. The most common way to tune into radio both here and in Europe is through FM. Broadcasters are generally moving away from short and medium wave to digital platforms. For example, of the existing 74 long wave transmission facilities in Europe, 47 have been shut down. That extends from the UK to Russia.

All other platforms provide greater reliability, better quality sound and are less prone to interference. Senator Mooney will be aware that long wave transmissions in the UK are significantly interfered with by Algerian radio, particularly late at night, because they are on the same frequency, 252. That is an issue we cannot address. In summary, we believe long wave to be a relatively expensive, unreliable, poor quality and unpopular platform.

Just as we have a responsibility to constantly evolve and enhance our services, we also have a responsibility to clearly communicate these decisions. We announced this on 23 September and we set a deadline similar to the launch of Saorview. Sometimes a deadline is the best way to find out the number of people who will be impacted. We found with Saorview that the majority of people switched over in the final two weeks leading up to the deadline. However, we recognise that we may not have fully scoped out the alternatives available in the UK. More alternatives have come to light even in the past week and we need more time to investigate them, particularly with BT in the UK..

The RTE information office has set up a helpline. We also have a website to advise people on how to stay tuned and switch services. We are doing a great deal to communicate with people and to find out the impact on a one to one level. We have had a number of communications, which we can go into detail about later, with listeners in the UK on this and we have been teaching them how they can avail of the service with a degree of success.

RTE regrets the disruption to listeners caused by the cessation of long wave broadcasts but we hope the committee will respect that we have to make hard decisions sometimes. Given the context of where the company is financially, as previous RTE delegations have outlined to the committee, all the easy decisions have been made in terms of where we can find cuts. The cuts we need to make have not ceased. There is more work to be done to ensure RTE breaks even in 2014 and into 2015.