This week Minister for Media Catherine Martin announced a public funding package of €725 million for RTÉ over the next three years, divided between licence fee revenue and exchequer contributions.
The move follows years of fraught discussion – with several options discussed and lobbied for – on how the national broadcaster should be funded.
Many had believed the licence fee model to be outdated, not least because it is based on actually owning a TV. And in any case, licence fee evasion in Ireland is well above European norms – the system for collecting it is based on unreliable data and old technology – and that’s before the Ryan Tubridy-centred controversy last year which saw a sharp drop in licence fee income.
And if money is coming directly from the government doesn’t that bring its own risks – from political bias to a new administration cutting off funds.
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But is this new multiannual funding enough and is it fair? Irish Times media columnist Laura Slattery explains.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and Declan Conlon.
