In the changing landscape of Irish broadcasting, 2015 can be looked back as a time that saw deficits hitting many. RTÉ reported a deficit of €2.8m in 2015 with a projected loss of €20m for 2016 and UTV Ireland reported a €10.2m operating loss for the first half of the 2015. TV3 has also suffered losses last year of almost €17 million.
TV3's turnover which consists mostly of advertising revenue, fell 16 per cent to €39 million. After recording a pretax loss of €7.7 million in 2014 on turnover of €46.6 million, TV3 was further challenged in 2015 by new competition from the launch of UTV Ireland.
The channel’s former owners took the Republic of Ireland rights to ITV-distributed programming, such as soaps ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’, away from TV3, denting its share of peak-time audiences.
The absence of the two soaps would have impacted TV3’s advertising revenue, although there would also have been cost savings from not having to pay for the ITV content.
As Virgin Media completed its deal to buy TV3 last December, it has since acquired UTV Ireland and taken over its programming supply contract with ITV.
Following regulatory and government approval for this deal, the British soap operas will be moving back to the TV3 schedule from December 5th.
The broadcaster is also set to benefit from ITV’s decision to add a sixth weekly episode of ‘Coronation Street’ from late 2017.
TV3 spent €17 million on programme, film and sports rights in 2015, down from almost €25 million in 2014.
It gained some advertising cash back from its broadcasting of the Rugby World Cup in the autumn, having targeted about €6 million in ad revenue from what TV3 had hoped would be a ’brand-defining’ event.
Since the tournament, TV3 outbid RTÉ for the rights to the Six Nations rugby tournament from 2018, although both broadcasters, lost out to Eir Sport for the rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
TV3's operating expenses rose 2.9 per cent to €55.6 million. As of the end of 2015, TV3 Group employed 261 people, down from 274 a year earlier.
In comparison to last year TV3 is now in a much stronger financial position under its new ownership with Virgin Media and has signalled its intention to compete more strenuously with RTÉ.
The group is yet to outline its future plans for UTV Ireland, but it is anticipated that it will both rebrand the channel and cut jobs.
