As part of a major restructuring plan at RTE, Managing Director Glen Killane has revealed that all Commissioning Editors will now become ‘Heads of Genre’, in line with the strategy as defined by the Channel Controllers, and assume additional responsibilities for delivering digital as well as TV content.
The restructuring follows George Dixon and Bill Malone taking up their positions as Channel Controllers for RTE One and RTE Two respectively, and is aimed at making RTE more competitive in the digital sector with a renewed focus on digital content.
Comedy has also been identified as a new priority for RTE, with the newly-created position of Head of Comedy, Music and Talent Development for TV and Digital to be given to RTE Two Commissioning Editor, Eddie Doyle.
The position of Head of Entertainment will be advertised within RTE shortly.
The other Commissioning Editors will be appointed to the following Genre Head positions: Jane Gogan- Head to Drama; Niamh O’Connor- Head to Factual, Documentary and Arts; Grainne McAleer to Head of Lifestyle and Formats; Ray McCarthy to Head of Regional and Education; Colm Crowley to Head of Production Cork; and Roger Childs to Head of Religion.
Steve Carson, director of programmes, will take up the position of Chief Editorial Advisor and Director of Factual Group and will also be head of regulatory affairs for television, maintaining an overview of content strategy for factual programming.
Dermot Horan, as Director of Broadcast, Acquisitions and RTE Global, will lead their international sales strategy to further exploit global market opportunities for content partnerships.
Building upon RTE Two’s Format Farm, Tonyia Dowling will head up format development and work with Dermot Horan, Steve Carson and Grainne McAleer on new format ideas.
Paul Loughrey will head a new Audience Insights department to provide input into channel strategy and performance based on audience research expertise in TV and Digital.
Sheila De Courcy will maintain responsibility for RTÉjr, including its budget allocation.
RTE One Controller George Dixon previously worked as Controller of Channel Management at Channel 4 since 2011, including acquisitions for Channel 4, E4, More4 and Film4, and for Channel 4's digital services and interactive media.
RTE Two Controller Bill Malone was Commissioning Editor for Entertainment in RTE Television for the past two years, managing programmes including The Late Late Show, The Saturday Night Show and The Voice of Ireland, and worked as a producer on Prime Time.
The RTE Player will also launch a new premium service in the next year in selected international markets, as a key service for the Irish diaspora.
