RTE and TV3 have welcomed proposed guidelines on public funding for broadcasters that the European Commission presented to representatives from European broadcasters yesterday.
The meeting was part of a Commission review of state aid to public broadcasters that has already involved consultation with governments from all member-states. The Commission hopes to publish its guidelines before the end of this year and RTE's Mr Adrian Moynes said last night that the latest draft introduced welcome clarity to a complex issue.
"It embodies a sensible approach to a difficult issue and we welcome that. There is much more clarity now about where the Commission's competence lies and what is the responsibility of the member-states," he said.
But TV3 claimed that the new guidelines would strengthen its argument that RT╔ should publish details of how the licence fee is spent and should only use public money to fulfil its public service remit.
The right of EU member-states to fund public broadcasters is protected by a protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty but private broadcasters complain that some publicly funded rivals are using state aid to compete unfairly. TV3 filed a formal complaint to the Commission more than two years ago over what it claims is RTE's use of the licence fee to compete commercially.
"We are pleased about this initiative. We hope the Communication will be adopted quickly so it will accelerate the consideration of our complaint," said TV3's Mr Mark Deering.
The new guidelines will ask member-states to provide for a clear and precise definition of the public service remit to be laid down in a specific service contract. But the Commission does not require that the programmes broadcast by the public service broadcasters are necessarily different from what the private operators already transmit.
The guidelines remind member-states and broadcasters that commercial activities have to be kept separate from public service activities so the definition of the public service remit should not include commercial activities.
TV3 complains RT╔ is using the licence fee to fund bids for popular, imported programmes rather than to finance production of commercially risky programmes.
The Commission will not consider any complaints from private broadcasters until the new guidelines are in place, so TV3's complaint against RT╔ is unlikely to be heard before next year.
