Seanad debates

Tuesday, 4 November 2003

Broadcasting (Funding) Bill 2003: Second Stage.

 

It is all very well to have community radios on a voluntary type of basis as opposed to the profit-making private radio stations I mentioned earlier. However, many of them face impediments to their survival. In many cases community radio stations only exist because of volunteers. A major impediment to their success is that the level of advertising they are permitted to broadcast on an hourly basis is considerably less than what the private radio stations can broadcast. Also, the funding they are allowed to raise on a commercial basis is limited to 50%. How can a radio station survive on a community basis and set up base stations with the prohibitive set-up costs involved if it has to rely on quizzes and other types of exercises and sponsorship to sustain its viability?

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