The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) today announced details of the latest package of funding recommendations to have been ratified by the Authority at its most recent meeting.
A funding total of €5.136m has been allocated to 29 TV projects and 93 radio projects. Of this total, €4.562m of the allocation is for TV projects, while €574k goes to support radio projects. When completed, the funded projects will be broadcast by a range of community, commercial and public service broadcasters across the country. The projects being offered funding will explore the themes of Irish culture, heritage and experience and the successful projects also include an adult/media literacy series.
Highlights of this twentieth round of the Scheme include:
- 305 applications were assessed by the BAI in this round, encompassing 24 different genre/format categories. The total amount of funding requested was €20.08m
- The package of funding recommendations includes all qualifying radio projects and 50% of the qualifying television projects
- The two most supported programme formats are documentary, which received 35% of the total funding allocation and drama, which received 28%. Other formats supported included entertainment (10%) education (11%) and animation (5%)
- Programmes in receipt of funding will be broadcast across 39 different channels; 8 television and 31 radio
Speaking about the announcement, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the BAI said “Round 20 of Sound & Vision II has again seen an increase in the number of applications received and the funding amounts requested, which greatly exceeded the capacity of the fund to deliver. However, through the careful management of revenue associated with the fund, an additional €400k in excess of the indicative allocation could be made available to fund projects.”
The Authority also noted that the quality of applications remain high with 60% qualifying from the panel assessment process. O’Keeffe added that; “The total value of applications supported by the broadcasters is significantly in excess of the overall amount of funding available in the round. In the context of the BAI’s own resource capacity, this is an issue that will require dialogue with the broadcasters and careful consideration in the context of subsequent rounds in 2014 and beyond.”
The BAI will now commence contract negotiations with all successful applicants. A full list of the projects being offered funding is available here.
