Sir, – For the past few days I have been defending the TV licence fee. Drawing on a population that is less than Manchester and Birmingham combined, RTÉ does a great job, especially if you are a radio listener. Morning Ireland, Arena, John Creedon, to mention but three of my favourites, and even some of the drama and documentaries on Newstalk, are funded by the licence fee.
But over a very wet and soggy bank holiday at home in Kerry I realise that it doesn’t matter how many household devices or how many streaming services we pay for; if we do not have viable broadband then it is all merely academic. From May to September I cannot watch television delivered by Sky unless I cut down the tree whose leaves are blocking my satellite dish; the film I wanted to watch on Saturday on RTÉ was not available on Sky Go; the RTÉ Player on my laptop valiantly buffered its way through two-thirds of the film and I watched the remaining third on my phone, which incidentally had no reception during the day. – Yours, etc,
FLICKA SMALL,
Kenmare,
Co Kerry.