Is the State Propping up RTE?

[Pat De Baker]

In recent weeks rumours have increased into the financial status of RTE. With the Irish economy on its knees, ad spend is at its all time low - accompanied by high competition from online media and Sky.

Over recent nights its alarming how many ads are appearing on RTE for government agencies and bodies.

I take last night for example - during The Sunday Game commercial break - RTE ran 5 ads from government agencies.

Ad 1 - Drive Safe - Promoting safe driving
Ad 2 - Contraception Aware - promoting use of contraception and their website (reminds one woman during ad if she had taken her pill)
Ad 3 - Team Post - An Post's cycling team
Ad 4 - Safe Electric - Making sure people use a registered electrician
Ad 5 - forget the 5th at present


5 ads out of 8 they ran were funded by government agencies. This is just one example - Take a look at RTE any night during prime audiences and you'll see these government agencies running expensive ad's.

Imo this is a stupid wastage of Taxpayers money both spending on TV advertising campaign (Driving campaign withstanding) and using it to prop up RTE imo

[Rich]

Always has been the case. The ESB have been running ads on RTE for as long as I can remember, and through most of that time they had a monopoly. The licence fee is also a clear state subsidy.

[Pat De Baker]

Always has been the case. The ESB have been running ads on RTE for as long as I can remember, and through most of that time they had a monopoly. The licence fee is also a clear state subsidy.

I think its more evident now Rich - government quango agencies - like http://www.thinkcontraception.ie , http://www.safeelectric.ie , http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/content/cycling/home whose message could be delivered better and more effectively through other media at a targeted audience . Also the increase in these small agencies spending big bucks and how something like the Sunday Game slot had over half an ad break supported by government agencies

[TaxationIsTheft]

RTE should only be involved in public service broadcasting. That means no sitcoms, hollywood movies, pop music etc.

2FM and RTE 2 should be sold off. Its morally wrong to tax citizens via licence fee and spend that money buying american sitcoms from Viacom.

Secondly, everyone who pays the licence fee should have a vote in how its run. The senior managers should have to have the approval of the licence payers. It should be run as a cooperative.

[C. Flower]

I'm very much in favour of public service information going out on television but I think that RTE shouldn't be charging government for air time. Its supposed to be a publicly owned station.

RTE's news and current affairs coverage has become softer and softer and is doing the public a postive disservice.

This is along the lines of the local press, where local authority advertising is depended on so much that hardly a word or serious criticism of local government is ever published.