If Irish television is to have a strong future, Irish channels should be given priority on the electronic programme guide (EPG), an Oireachtas committee has been told.
The EPG determines the order that channels appear on televisions. Most platforms currently run RTÉ 1 first, followed by RTÉ 2. The NTL platform then runs BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4, while the Sky platform runs RTÉ's channels, followed by TV3 and TG4.
This was not regulated, however, and was at the discretion of the platform providers, Channel 6 chairman Pat Donnelly told the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
The committee is discussing proposed new broadcasting legislation.
Mr Donnelly said that unless regulations were introduced to ensure Irish channels licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland were prioritised on the EPG, there was a danger they would be placed farther and farther down channel lists.
"It goes without saying that the positioning of an Irish channel on these EPGs can have a crucial effect on that channel's capacity to prosper," he said.
The committee was also told that RTÉ's "refusal" to allow independent television producers retain rights over the programmes they produce for the station was hindering development of a dynamic independent sector.
James Hickey, deputy chair of the Irish Screen Producers of Ireland, said that in Britain the independent regulator of the communications industry, Ofcom, dictated that independent producers, rather than the commissioning broadcaster, retained rights over the programmes they produced. This meant the producers could market their programmes internationally, he said.
Conor Sweeney of RTÉ said producers could try to sell their programmes and the royalties would be shared 50:50 with producers and the station.
Mr Hickey said, however, that RTÉ was not marketing Irish programmes internationally and independent producers had to "go cap in hand every time to RTÉ to ask permission" if they wanted to sell their programme on the international market. "If producers retained the rights, they'd be more ambitious and dynamic," he said.
