RTÉ is facing cash pressures in the forthcoming years and saw reform efforts stall in the period leading up to the end of 2024, Coimisiún na Meán has found.
A statutory five-year funding review carried out by the media regulator and brought to Cabinet by Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan has found that audiences are declining, with a quarter of the population watching less than one minute of broadcast television per week.
The review noted that the national broadcaster is at a “delicate juncture” with a cost base that is “challenging to reduce in the short to medium term”. While in the past, RTÉ has relied on land sales at its Montrose campus or by increasing debt, it warns “there are now no such ready levers to pull”.
“Operating cash outflow (exacerbated in the short term by the upfront cost of the voluntary exit programme) is likely in 2027 to bring RTÉ to the lower limit of what is prudent for net cash, albeit with the potential for a recovery thereafter,” said Coimisún na Meán.
READ MORE
While it said that RTÉ has done well to maintain audience share under tight financial constraints, it argued it has “not been able to execute the organisational transformation it hoped for”. Coimisún na Meán cites financial constraints, limits on its staffing flexibility and “significant distractions” such as the Covid-19 pandemic and RTÉ’s governance crisis as the reason.
The report indicated there has been a long-running decline in TV viewing by children and young adults, but that viewing by older audiences has held up well, with those aged 55 or over now providing almost 60 per cent of total consumption.
While streaming platforms owned by broadcasters are helping to offset some of the viewing decline, they represent just 7 per cent of viewing for the broadcaster and 3 per cent for TG4. By contrast, multinational subscription services for video-on-demand companies like Netflix are widespread, with three-quarters of adults reporting they use that particular streaming service.
TV advertising is down 8 per cent in real terms since 2019, and “may now fall faster as digital players continue to grow and linear viewing declines”, the reports noted. Funding for public service media as a percentage of gross domestic product has fallen across Europe, but the Irish decline was “appreciably faster” and Irish funding, once above the average, now matches European averages.
There are encouraging findings for TG4, which has “displayed dynamism” in expanding its offering and redeploying funds to pursue its priorities, said Coimisiún na Meán. “In doing so, it has taken advantage of its increased funding and its strategic flexibility as a publisher-broadcaster model.”
RTÉ had expected a 27 per cent increase in nominal public funding by 2022, but the actual increase was 5 per cent. Despite a sharp increase in 2024 after the outgoing government agreed a bailout package, “this still left public funding below that in 2017, adjusted for inflation”.
The report noted that “despite lower than expected funding, RTÉ’s viewing share has been close to its initial targets across the period. Radio share has seen a downward drift below targets. Time spent with the [RTÉ] Player has been increasing steadily.”
It also noted that “delivery of the promised increases in funding and support for the [voluntary exit programme] are both essential to protect the balance sheet and to enable the start of the strategic transition to hybrid production”.
It is expected that Coimisiún na Meán will recommend additional funding above that approved by the Government.
However, Mr O’Donovan is understood to be of the view that decisions made by the last government – to allocate €240 million to RTÉ in 2026 and €260 million in 2027 – represent significant extra public funding to it and TG4, which is to receive €65.4 million next year
The Coalition intends to consider 2027 funding in line with available budget resources.
