MEDIA & MARKETING:The Coalition is under pressure to rein in RTÉ's online activities as industry revenues shrink

PROPOSALS BY the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to increase the amount of advertising allowed per day from the maximum of 15 per cent of total airtime daily up to 20 per cent on independent television stations are being resisted by the newspaper industry.

The new BAI policy would allow TV3, Setanta and City Channel to show 12 minutes of adverts per hour compared to the current limit of 10 minutes per hour.

Broadcasting authority policy officer Declan McLoughlin says the BAI is taking account of economic pressure on the independent TV sector as a result of falling advertising revenues and the competition Irish stations face from the UK.

National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI), the trade lobby group, is annoyed that the BAI refused to meet it to discuss the proposals. The association contends that if the changes are introduced, newspapers will likely suffer adverse consequences with more advertisers moving from print to TV.

NNI co-ordinating director Frank Cullen said: “The only possible response from other media competing for advertising spend will be to cut their prices even further. This race to the bottom could have catastrophic effects for the newspapers.”

The NNI is calling on the broadcasting authority to suspend the process until it has commissioned a review of the issues facing the media in Ireland. The BAI will consider on July 26th submissions from NNI and other parties and agree a final policy decision.

In another TV related tussle, NNI is lobbying hard for the Government to rein in RTÉ’s online activities.

“Newspapers face huge difficulties in asking readers to pay for online content when RTÉ is providing free online and mobile content. Newspapers’ ability to attract advertising revenue is diminished where the state-funded competitor is able unfairly to attract advertising spend,” said Cullen.

The national broadcaster recently trumpeted its media market clout when it declared: “RTÉ is Ireland’s cross-media leader. With two national television channels, 11 radio stations, Ireland’s number one media website and the country’s largest selling magazine, RTÉ can work with brands on integrated properties more effectively than any other broadcaster.”

RTÉ insists that none of its online activities is funded by licence-fee income. However, the news content, gathered as part of the public service remit and thus funded by the licence fee, is utilised across its many platforms.

Múirne Laffan, executive director of RTÉ Publishing, says: “RTÉ Publishing has been providing our online services for free but we have been an ad-funded model. What’s unfair about that? We spend money that we earn commercially to provide content on the web, mobile and other new media. We are operating as a content-provider in the online marketplace. That is not the same as being a newspaper publisher.”

According to Laffan, the broadcaster’s online division is not yet profitable but the business is growing. While RTÉ charges overseas users to download its news app, Laffan says there are no plans to charge for apps or online content in Ireland.

Concerns about unfair competition from state-funded broadcasters have also emerged in other EU member states. In the UK, the Newspaper Publishers Association has recently urged the BBC Trust to block the BBC from launching iPhone apps.

According to Cullen, the NNI wants “a clear divide between RTÉ’s public service and commercial activities”.

He adds: “There is a complete lack of transparency between RTÉ’s public service remit and its commercial activity. The question needs to be asked whether RTÉ is a public service broadcaster in the same way as the BBC . . . At the most, RTÉ’s online activities should be limited to TV and radio programming.

“Charging for content is a natural progression for newspaper publishers. But this is not an option that Irish publishers can properly exploit because RTÉ can offer consumers free access to . . . rte.ie. Even where newspaper publishers feel they can charge, their freedom to charge for news is unfairly constrained by the fact that RTÉ is able to offer its online news and apps for free.”