Director General of RTE, Mr Noel Curran, has revealed that the State broadcaster plans to introduce premium content online in the coming months and to start charging for it internationally.
Mr Curran was addressing an audience of University of Limerick journalism students, in a lecture that broached such topics as the high wages paid to top RTE employees and the future sustainability of media outlets.
‘RTÉ will move into the premium online space internationally in the next number of months. We will start charging for some of our content internationally. Not news, not a lot of that general content but we will introduce premium content over the next six to eight months because we have to,’ Mr Curran said.
The Director General admitted that the most pressing question all media outlets were confronted by was how they would continue to fund themselves in an age of limitless free content.
Mr Curran said that while RTE may have paid some of its high-profile broadcasters ‘too much’ in the past, the State broadcaster would deliver on a minimum 30% cut in salaries - which could extend to as far as 40% by the time contracts are renegotiated.
