RTÉ, which is expecting to post a €9 million surplus in 2005, has strongly voiced its opposition to any legislation which allows the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) to regulate the station.
RTÉ managing director Cathal Goan said several reports and submissions showed the BCI had failed to regulate effectively. He said the organisation was versed in regulating commercial services, whereas RTÉ was a public service broadcaster operating under a charter. He was speaking before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications.
He said the BCI presided over a set of rules that did not apply to RTÉ. He questioned the BCI's handling of certain issues in the last year. For example, he said the BCI failed to require commercial broadcasters to add subtitling to 100 per cent of their programming. He said something like subtitling was " a fundamental right" which should not be dependent on the commercial bottom line.
The comments by Mr Goan come at an interesting time. The Department of Communications is currently formulating a new broadcasting bill which will establish a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. This body is expected to regulate RTÉ, but Mr Goan warned the BCI should not necessarily take over the functions of this new body.
Mr Goan said if the BCI simply evolved into the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland there would be a clear conflict of interest, with the BCI regulating commercial services on one side and a public service broadcaster on the other.
Mr Goan said this point was previously made in 2003 when RTÉ addressed the committee.
Mr Goan said in relation to public service broadcasting "the rules, the considerations, that apply to that are different from those of a commercial station". He said the BCI was set up to do one thing, but was now being asked to do something else.
The tone of the station's presentation was overwhelmingly upbeat, with chairman Paddy Wright forecasting a €9 million surplus for 2005. He said the station's net cash flow was positive for the first time since 2000.
Mr Goan offered a strong defence of RTÉ Radio One and RTÉ 2 television and said both services were core to the station.
He acknowledged that RTÉ's children programmes had suffered from declining ratings, mainly due to the growth of dedicated children's channels like Nickelodeon.
Mr Goan said the Government was planning to trial a new digital television system shortly and he believed RTÉ's transmission arm was the best company to handle such projects.
Mr Goan also denied that RTÉ's leading presenters were compromised by commercial arrangements agreed outside the station. He said any work undertaken outside RTÉ had to be approved by a line manager.
