The founder and chief executive of television production company Shinawil has warned that it is unsustainable for the independent production sector that RTÉ has not had a licence fee increase since 2008, with inflation now running at 8 per cent.
Larry Bass made the observation on Wednesday as the 2021 RTÉ Independent Production report showed the national broadcaster increased its spend on commissioned programmes in 2021 by €6.7 million, or 18.4 per cent, to €43.57 million.
The increase was RTÉ largely making up for an underspend of €3.7 million on commissioned programmes in 2020 brought about by Covid-19 impact on the industry.
Mr Bass’s Shinawil produces ratings winners such as Dancing with the Stars and Home of the Year, and the company features as one of the most prominent makers of content for RTÉ in the annual report.
However, Mr Bass warned on Wednesday that unless the Government makes a decision on the future of public service broadcasting funding, he fears that RTÉ will not be able to afford many shows of significant scale to compete with international streamers.
He pointed out that inflation is now running at more than 8 per cent yet RTÉ has not had a licence fee increase since 2008.
He said: “We are expected to cut budgets to deliver future shows. It is unsustainable.”
Mr Bass asked: “Do we as Irish people want to watch Irish content on TV? If ‘yes’, then it must be paid for. If ‘no’, then we should stop any further spending as you cannot compete with inferior content.”
The report shows that last year, RTÉ’s spend on commissioned shows for TV totalled €42.27 million and €1.3 million for radio.
The report reveals that programmes with a value of €25.7 million, representing 59 per cent of the new commissions, were awarded to 10 companies in 2021.
Some 293 firms made 981 proposals for TV, with RTÉ awarding 137 commissions for 537 hours of programming.
This compared to 239 companies making 882 proposals for TV and RTÉ awarding 124 commissions for 502 hours of TV in 2020.
The report states that the total value of RTÉ independent television programming activities in 2021, inclusive of all third-party funding, was €60.9 million.
This takes into account Broadcasting of Ireland Authority-funded programming of €4.37 million, co-funding programming of €9.8 million and section 481 tax credit programming totalling €3.29 million.
