RTÉ Defends Website in Dáil | The Irish Film & Television Network

In late November, the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) told a Dail Committee that RTÉ’s website did not match its public service remit as laid out the Broadcasting Act 2009 as it included advertising on the site. The group made the point that RTÉ’s site displayed news as funded by the licence fee and, as such, advertisements for dating, motoring and property were out of place.

In response to this RTÉ’s chief financial officer, Conor Hayes stated that RTÉ is fully transparent and legally compliant in all its online activities. He explained that RTÉ does observe European policy and Irish broadcasting law by ensuring that all content produced by the broadcaster is available to the public on all media platforms.

He touched on the NNI’s arguments as to featuring advertising on the site saying that the online service, like all RTÉ’s services, ”is broad and of a public service nature and is required to trade commercially in order to pay its way.”

The Oireachtas Joint Committee was further told that no licence fee funding is used in the operation of RTÉ’s Online service. Where News and other content is provided through the service, this has already been paid for by the Irish public through their licence fees. The work of adapting this content for web use, and the extensive origination and transmission of other content on the site, is supported exclusively by RTÉ’s own commercial income both from the site and from other commercial activity.

Mr Hayes also responded to the NNI’s claims that RTÉ’s activity prevents the newspapers from earning a fair share of the available advertising market, saying: “Contrary to what has been suggested by NNI, RTÉ is not a dominant player in the online revenue and advertising market in Ireland,”he stated. “In fact, of a reported total Irish on-line advertising spend of €97 million in 2009, as estimated in the IAB Adspend Study of April 2010, RTÉ’s share was just €2½ million or less than 3% of the market. The RTÉ figure is specifically disclosed in our annual report should you wish to check the figures for yourself. The assertion made by NNI is therefore wrong.”

He added that the real challenge to both RTÉ and the newspapers in the Irish online market was the presence of very large operators such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others, alongside newly-established advertising networks and media distributors such as Sky and UPC. ”New’ media is no longer ‘New’, it is here to stay,” he concluded. ”The clock can’t be turned back.” A spokesperson for the NNI declined to comment on the issue when contacted by IFTN.

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