Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Part 7 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for public service broadcasting in Ireland and the provisions relating to the public service broadcasting corporations, RTE and TG4, including their principal objects. These objects provide the companies' statutory mandates and encapsulate national policy in terms of public service broadcasting. They include the specific objective of providing for national, free-to-air public service broadcasting services as well as the provision of a broad range of other additional services that are seen as fundamental to the role of the public service broadcaster. In their pursuit of these objects, the provisions of the Act subject the public service broadcasting corporations to a range of additional requirements. These statutory objects and requirements clearly set the State owned public service broadcasters apart from their commercial counterparts who, while bringing choice and competition to the market, are privately owned and funded companies that have entered the market on the basis of a commercial proposition.

The funding of the public service broadcasters, RTE and TG4, is met through a mix of licence fee revenues, Exchequer grant-in-aid and commercial revenues obtained largely from advertising. The rationale for providing State funding for public service broadcasting is to provide an independent and reliable income flow that allows these corporations to attain their public service objects while ensuring they can maintain editorial independence. This is especially important in the context of news and current affairs.

In regard to the television licence fee moneys, I point out that not all these are allocated to the public service broadcasters and that a proportion is available to both public and independent broadcasters through the broadcasting funding scheme. The purpose of this scheme is to encourage the inclusion of additional programming of a particular character in broadcasters' programme schedules. The scheme is open to independent producers and all free-to-air broadcasters. It is funded by way of a payment of 7% of net licence fee receipts which is paid to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in respect of this scheme. This amount was increased from 5% to 7% under the Broadcasting Act 2009. I am aware that the funding of the public service broadcasters has been subject to criticism by private sector broadcasters and, in particular, that there has been criticism of the dual public and commercial funding model as applied to RTE and that there have been calls to extend the current scope of funding.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The broadcasting sector in general has faced a challenging funding environment in recent years with a large fall in commercial advertising revenues. In addition, change in the way content can be transmitted is adding to the challenging environment. It is understandable in such a situation that extending further the scope of funding of public service content would seem attractive to some. However, great care should be taken in considering any such course of action. The provision of balanced, adequately resourced and independent public broadcasting services is fundamental to democratic society.

Therefore, we must ensure that the ability of our public service broadcasters to deliver on their remits and obligations is not undermined through decisions that cause a slow but certain erosion of their economic base. As the Deputy may be aware, the importance of ensuring continued and appropriate funding for public service broadcasting is recognised in the programme for Government. In this document, the Government commits to examining the role and collection of the television licence fee in light of existing and projected convergence of broadcasting technologies and to transform the television licence into a household based public broadcasting charge to be applied to all households and applicable businesses, regardless of the device they use to access content.

In line with this commitment, my Department is currently undertaking an exercise whereby it is examining the effectiveness and efficiency of the current model of television licence fee collection in the context of the changing technological environment, and examining the efficiency of various international models for the funding of public service broadcasting. The results of the exercise will be an analysis of the most effective models in terms of efficiency, capability to fund our public service broadcasting service and equity of applicability.

The scope of work being carried out under this review is extensive. Nevertheless, I expect to receive recommendations arising out of this review by the year end. Following this, work will begin on developing any legislation that may be required to facilitate implementation of any recommendations that I decide to take forward. I accept that the broadcasting sector, in common with other sectors, is facing challenging economic circumstances. I recognise these challenges and I look forward to working with all broadcasters, including public, commercial and community, to ensure that broadcasting can continue to play its important and distinctive role in society and maintain quality standards in the process.

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