Molaim: "Go léifear an Bille seo don Dara Uair."
Ar an gcéad dul síos, ní miste dom a rá go mbeidh an-áthas orm má thograíonn Teachta ar bith ar an nGaeilge a úsáid le linn na díospóireachta seo. Beidh fáilte.
Ba mhaith liom i dtosach cúpla focal a rá faoin gcúlra atá leis an mBille seo. Tabharfaidh an Bille seo éifeacht do na beartais a d'fhógair mé ar 16 Feabhra 1993, chun alt 3 den Acht Craolacháin, 1990, a asighairm agus chun cúram reach-túil a chur ar RTE méid sonrach airgid a chur ar fáil gach bliain d'fhonn cláir theilifíse ón earnáil neamhspleách a chur a ndéanamh.
The Programme for a Partnership Government on broadcasting states:
Our policy will be to ensure that Irish TV and Radio Programming is of the highest quality and that it remains the preferred choice of a majority of Irish viewers by:
—Repeal of the "cap" contained in the 1990 Broadcasting Act, thus enabling RTE to improve the range and quality of the public service broadcasting that it can offer to the Irish public;
—Provision for access to broadcasting for the independent sector, thus enabling them to increase output and jobs in the audio-visual industry and giving them a firm home base to enable them to compete internationally;
—Measures to ensure that commercial local radio broadcasting remains viable;
—Ensuring that Irish advertisers have access, at a reasonable cost, to a strong domestic TV advertising medium.
The framework for broadcasting in this country is based on legislation that is over 30 years old. The Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960, under which RTE operates has been significantly revised on only one occasion, in 1976, and the legislation under which the independent broadcasting sector operates, the Radio and Television Act, 1988, is modelled largely on the legislation applicable to RTE. The foundation legislation comes from a time when public service broadcasting in Europe was the norm, when many Governments in Europe prohibited advertising on their broadcasting services; when the technology was such that there was very limited scope for people in one country to see the television programme services of their neighbours and when high powered telecommunications and broadcasting satellites did not exist. Today's broadcasting environment is unrecognisable from that of even ten years ago, never mind 30. Today the number of television channels available to viewers who choose to invest in the necessary receiving equipment is ever increasing; the majority of the new channels are supported by advertising and their primary purpose in life is to maximise profits for their owners by maximising audience share with programmes appealing often to the lowest common denominator. Even news and current affairs programming is increasingly seen as something that must be packaged to attract audience share, and perhaps packaged in a way that does not enable the viewer to be accurately and fully informed. It is perhaps worth noting that according to an OECD report published in 1992 entitled Telecommunication and Broadcasting — Convergence or Collision?, the revenue structures for the public broadcasting service industry in Europe in 1989, based on data from 18 countries was as follows: satellite and cable advertising 1.2 per cent; Pay TV 3.4 per cent; basic cable subscription 5.4 per cent; TV licence fees 12.4 per cent; broadcast TV advertising 77.6 per cent.
The reality is that international competition for Irish viewers is here to stay. It will not go away and there are no technical means at our disposal, even if we wanted to, to prevent reception of these services. Yet, the philosophy of public service broadcasting offers us the best model of democratic accountability.
Against this sort of background, there is clearly a pressing need to look seriously at the present structures for Irish broadcasting services to see in what respects they should be altered and strengthened to ensure that Irish TV and radio programming is of the highest quality and that it remains the preferred choice of Irish viewers, in spite of international competition. In this regard it is a measure of the relevance of home produced programmes on RTE to Irish audiences that these programmes attract the highest audiences. I am in the course of examining all the issues involved and I will of course, be consulting with interested parties as my thinking evolves, and I have begun such consultations. Whatever new structures are considered appropriate must guard against a gradual slipping away into an uncritical market led ideology.
However, it must be recognised that this process of review of the existing structures will take time. My aim is that whatever revisions are made will stand the test of time and will be relevant into the next century. In the meantime I am satisfied that there are urgent issues to be addressed arising especially from our experience of almost three years operation of section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990. The Bill before the House can be regarded as but the first and critical step in the implementation of a comprehensive package of legislative proposals on broadcasting. I believe that with these problems addressed in the Bill out of the way, the situation will exist whereby the regulatory structures for broadcasting in the longer term can be examined and considered calmly and completely in all their complexity.
The Bill has essentially two elements. It provides for the repeal of section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990, and restores the situation with regard to broadcast advertisements on RTE services that obtained prior to the enactment of the Broadcasting Act, 1990, that is that the total daily times and the maximum time in any one hour for broadcast advertisements fixed by the authority shall be subject to the approval of the Minister. It also restores the situation to what it was when applicants for independent broadcasting contracts sought their franchises from the Independent Radio and Television Commission.
The Bill also provides that RTE must make specific amounts available for programmes commissioned from the independent television production sector in each financial year. The independent production sector has already proven itself to be able to make programmes of the highest quality and capable of significant international success. Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990 placed two restrictions on RTE in relation to advertising;
(i) a limit on the revenue which RTE could earn from advertising and
(ii) a reduction of 25 per cent in the amount of airtime which RTE could make available for advertising.
This latter restriction was perhaps the most damaging for all the sectors associated with broadcast advertising. The intention was to divert advertising revenue from RTE to independent broadcasters. At the time the Act was framed, the independent national radio service — Century Radio — was in financial trouble. It was hoped that the independent television channel would be on air quickly and that both would provide a strong alternative advertising vehicle to absorb the advertising diverted from RTE. Since the Act was passed, Century Radio has closed down and the independent television channel has not emerged. I should stress that at no stage did I ever accept the logic or indeed the object of such provision, as I do not believe that one sector has to be starved in order to promote another. The capping provisions have failed manifestly to deliver any of the intended benefits and the very inflexibility of the provisions has resulted only in serious and continuing damage to RTE, to advertisers and advertising agencies and to independent programme makers — I must emphasise with attendant job endangering and job losses. Viewed from a certain perspective, a perspective which I do not share, section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990, might have seemed like a good bet. It was always certainly a gamble. Experience has shown that unfortunately the future development of broadcasting was wagered on what turned out to be non-runners.
The fundamental difficulty with the 1990 capping provisions is that they institutionalise the concept that various groups of Irish citizens are target audiences and "market segments" to be exploited by broadcasters. The 1990 Act says to broadcasters both in public and private ownership that one part of the "market" is yours, this part is not. Your audience share should be this, your competitors' share should be that. Broadcasters are condemned to spend their time maximising their share of the audience in order to prove their success. If they are too successful within this pitifully narrow scope, they are, particularly if they are in public ownership, in trouble because then they have more than their "fair" share, they are accused of abusing their dominant position and there is a cry for a further levelling of the playing pitch. This rhetoric enjoyed a particular currency a few years ago.
To my mind, this attitude has nothing to do with what broadcasting is about. The norms of creativity and critical capacity must be affirmed and supported in broadcasting and indeed in RTE. At its best, a broadcasting service, public or private, community, local or national, is both an expression and a reflection of our culture and aspirations. Broadcasting is about creativity mixed with a capacity to be critical. It is about people being able to look at themselves critically and take control of change rather than be the victims of change as they are in pure marketled commercial broadcasting. Broadcasting is at once a window on the world and on our own community, a mirror in which we can see the best and the worst in ourselves. It can be an eye, a lifeline, even a friend.
Broadcasting has the power to release the creative talent of a community and of a nation, to lift national morale and to harness all that is best in ourselves. The true potential of our radio and television services will never be realised if they are treated as just another commodity to a standardised formula like sausage meat, to be produced as cheaply as possible as if the only measures of the success of any particular programme are the size of its audience share and of its profits. With the growing internationalisation of broadcasting services, there is no shortage of bargain basement television and radio producing bland pap both in its conception and execution. Must we really condemn our own broadcasting services to compete at this level? Surely it is far better to encourage our own programme makers to continue to provide quality material which is relevant to Irish viewers and listeners. Irish broadcasters must be encouraged to provide an antidote to the trans-national factory sale approach to broadcasting. We as regulators must insist that broadcasters continue to educate and inform as well as entertain.
I have been available since I took office to meet and listen to all those with an interest in the fate of section 3 of the 1990 Act. Virtually all sectors directly affected by the 1990 Act have stressed to me the severe operational difficulties they have experienced with the legislation. RTE has found it impossible to live within the provisions of section 3 of the 1990 Act unless it literally turned away business or employs some mechanism which would have distorted the advertising market to a devastating extent. If RTE was forced in 1993 to observe the cap on advertising plus the cumulative effect of the last two years, additional distortions will arise which will result in possibly irreparable damage. As a result of the capping provisions many advertising production companies are now understood to be in severe financial difficulties. To continue with the provision would leave RTE faced with the prospect of letting up to a possible 300 staff go.
Advertisers' and advertising agencies' main concern has been the huge rise in the cost of advertising which resulted from the reduction in advertising minutage imposed by the 1990 Act. Industry sources estimate an increase of almost 55 per cent in the cost since the introduction of the 1990 Act. This alone results in difficulties for small to medium sized advertisers in marketing products and in developing-promoting new or small indigenous brand names on RTE television; diversion of advertising to other television stations there are also indications that significant amounts are simply being withheld and of increasing amounts of non media "below the line" expenditure; indications that bigger diversion to UK terrestrial and satellite channels will occur if the Act is not changed and marketing control and-or the budgets of international companies reverting to head offices outside the country with negative consequences for advertising agencies, production houses and industry generally.
Independent television producers are seeking the removal of the cap on RTE advertising revenue as the imposition of the cap resulted in a reduction in the amount of independent programmes commissioned by the station. The figures are there to substantiate this. It had the effect of initially freezing, then forcing a decline in the activity and the number of people employed. They also feel that the continuation of the cap is preventing RTE from developing a constructive policy on independently produced programme commissions.
The national newspaper industry is virtually alone in its support of the Broadcasting Act, 1990. Their position is that the Act should not be changed and should be implemented rigidly. They argue that as RTE is in receipt of both licence fees and advertising revenue, RTE can keep the cost of TV advertising artificially low at the expense of the newspapers. They contend that significant advertising would be diverted to them in the long run if the Act remains in force and that to revert to the pre-1990 situation would have serious implications for the financial viability of the newspaper industry. Perhaps the strongest assumption and the base of their case is that advertising revenue easily migrates from the visual medium, that is television, to the print medium, that is newspapers.
There is little doubt that the newspaper industry has difficulties. They are faced with increasing competition from UK papers which can be produced more economically than Irish newspapers given the UK economies of scale. However, there is no underlying evidence to show that newspapers have benefited significantly from the 1990 Act. On the contrary major advertisers have made it quite clear to me that their advertising budgets for media other than television — newspapers both national and provincial, local broadcasting and so on — have had to be curtailed in order to maintain their presence on television. Industry figures also show a catastrophic drop in the number of days spent shooting commercials here from 147 in 1989 to 67 in the first ten months of 1992 reflecting a huge loss of income to freelance film makers in Ireland.
The reduction in advertising time imposed by the Act and resulting increase in advertising costs has clearly demonstrated that certain categories of advertisers are prepared to spend virtually any amount to maintain a presence on television. Because of RTE's preempt system of selling advertising time — a sort of auction — smaller Irish companies have been forced off television altogether, reduced the level of promotion for smaller brands and reduced the number of new television advertisements being made. It is vitally important to the economy that indigenous companies and companies promoting brands developed in Ireland have access to a domestic television advertising medium at a reasonable price and that RTE does not have to rely on multinational companies to provide its advertising revenues.
I mentioned earlier that advertising revenue is being diverted out of the Irish economy. I am very concerned that revenue should have to be diverted to foreign stations because of an artificial distortion of the Irish television advertising market. While there are differences of opinion as to the amount actually being diverted to non-Irish stations so far, there is no doubt that non-Irish stations are aggressively seeking advertising business here and it must be accepted that the current situation allows the real possibility of significant diversion with its related job effect.
The majority of the concerns expressed to me are genuine and need immediate attention if the situation is not to get progressively worse and significant job losses throughout the economy are to be avoided. However, I have to say that I have not seen any convincing evidence that would support the view of the national newspapers of Ireland that a significant part of frustrated television advertising revenue would divert from RTE to them if the 1990 Act is not amended. Any benefit which might accrue to the newspapers would come at an unacceptably high cost to the other sectors which I have already mentioned and to the economy as a whole. It is for these reasons that I am proposing the repeal of section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990, as an immediate measure.
Turning to the independent television sector, this is a sector which has already proved itself to be capable of producing a range of high quality programmes. The sector has a strong export orientation and I believe that, to realise its full potential, the sector must have a guaranteed domestic base through RTE services, as the national, and at present, only television broadcaster. More and more reliance is being placed by broadcasters in other countries on the output of the independent production sector. The sector in Ireland is capable of high profile morale boosting success and a mature sector has the capacity to sustain substantial growth in skilled jobs. We are all aware of the phenomenal screen success in recent years of the Irish film makers and Members of the House will want to join me in congratulating them. We must ensure that everything possible is done to nuture and release this great reservoir of talent.
In one sense creative talent is a national resource like mineral wealth, agriculture, or natural gas resources. Talent provides the opportunity for wealth creation and jobs if it is exploited properly and sensitively. It is unique in that it cannot be measured in terms of population size, nor is its potential dependent on market share. It does not depend on geography or geology nor on the size of a country. We can truly say that we are as rich as any other country in this resource. Accordingly, it is not simply sensible that we invest in our creative talent resource, it is imperative. Irish film makers have already demonstrated their abilities. What makes their case so urgent in these times is the potential for the creation of highly skilled employment. We must provide a strong domestic base to enable them to build on their international success. It is no longer appropriate, given the importance of the sector, to leave its development entirely at the discretion of the RTE Authority.
As part of my longer-term proposals for the restructuring of Irish broadcasting I plan to create a regulatory environment which will further foster the development of the sector. However, immediate statutory provisions aimed at ensuring its short term survival and development are necessary. To this end I am proposing a provision whereby RTE will be required to make available specific amounts of money each year for programmes commissioned from the independent sector. I should emphasise, of course, that money available for commissioning programmes cannot be confined to the Irish independent production sector but I am confident that the Irish sector will be able to secure the maximum number of commissions consistent with the resources available to it. I will now deal with the main provisions of the Bill.
Section 2 provides that the total daily times for advertising and the maximum times for advertising in any one hour on RTE services fixed by the RTE Authority shall be subject to the approval of the Minister. This is, in effect, a restoration of the situation which obtained under the Broadcasting Authority Acts before the enactment of the Broadcasting Act, 1990.
Section 3 provides for the repeal of section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, 1990, with effect from 1 September 1992. RTE would have reached the limit on revenues imposed by that section after this date.
Section 4 of the Bill provides that RTE must make specific amounts of money available in each financial year for programmes commissioned from the independent television production sector. The amount to be set aside for this purpose will be £5 million in 1994, rising in stages to £10 million in 1998 and to 20 per cent of television programme expenditure in 1999 and thereafter or £12.5 million, whichever is the greater. The amount of £12.5 million will be adjusted annually in line with changes in the consumer price index.
Under this section, the RTE authority will be required to keep a special account — termed the "independent" television programmes account"— into which the moneys to be made available under this section for programmes to be commissioned from the independent sector are to be paid. The funds in the account can only be used for this purpose. In each financial year the amounts specified above must be paid into the account and all the funds in the account must be spent or contractually committed in that financial year, unless it is impracticable to do so. The requirement to spend all the money in the independent programmes account is not, therefore, absolute. I believe that RTE must remain in control of its own schedules and must be responsible for determining the quality of the programmes which it transmits. An absolute requirement to spend a specific amount of money in each year or indeed a requirement to devote a particular quota of broadcasting hours to independently produced programmes could lead to a situation where money was being spent on independent commissions regardless of quality. However, I should stress in the strongest terms possible, that I do not foresee any realistic prospect of any significant amount of money being left unspent at the end of any year because of lack of capability in the independent production sector to meet RTE requirements. I expect RTE to work closely with the sector so that independent film makers are commissioned to provide quality programmes across the whole range of RTE output.
Subsection (5) of section 4 provides that if any of the moneys in the independent television programmes account remain to be expended after the end of the financial year in which they were paid in, the amount not spent must remain in the independent television programmes account in addition to the following year's allocation unless I, as Minister, authorise RTE to withdraw the unspent portion. Under section 6 RTE will have to make a special report to me on the operation of the independent television programmes account each year, including its activities as respects the commissioning of programmes and any other matter which I may direct. It is my intention that this report shall contain a complete list of the programmes and programme makers commissioned in each financial year. The section also provides that the report shall be laid before both House of the Oireachtas. This will ensure that the independent programmes account is operated in a completely transparent manner.
The Bill goes to considerable lengths in section 5 to define "independent television programme". The essence of the definition is that an independent television programme is a programme made by a person who has control of the participants, the persons involved in making the programme, and the equipment and facilities used in making the programme, and is neither a subsidiary nor a holding company of a broadcaster.
I regard the provisions in the Bill as interim measures designed to address specific issues that are immediate and to give prompt effect to the commitments on broadcasting in the Programme for a Partnership Government. I am aware of concerns expressed by some local radio operators to the effect that while the 1990 cap imposed on RTE had no identifiable beneficial effect on their sector, to restore the pre-1990 situation without any further measures to assist the local radio sector will damage the growth of independent broadcasting. Fears have also been expressed that the restoration of the pre-1990 situation would allow RTE to use unfairly its dominant broadcasting position to undermine local radio stations.
Let me be quite clear about this. I will not stand for any abuses by RTE of its position in Irish broadcasting. The sources of funding available to RTE under the Broadcasting Authority Acts are intended to allow RTE as our national station to provide a range of broadcasting services that is responsive to the needs and desires of the nation. RTE was not established to set up markets, to target audience segments or to crush other broadcasters. The Irish audience has shown time and time again that it wants intelligent high quality programmes and that it wants a choice of services. Indeed, I was very heartened to hear from certain independent radio broadcasters that their listeners are demanding a significant output of news and current affairs programming of high quality and of interest and relevance to the communities they serve.
After the enactment of this Bill the total daily times for broadcasting advertisements fixed by the Authority and the maximum periods so fixed to be given to advertisements in any hour shall be subject to the consent of the Minister. I will have no hesitation in withholding my consent if I feel RTE is abusing its position in any way. I wish to emphasise that I am personally committed to the undertaking in the Programme for a Partnership Government to the effect that measures will be taken to ensure the continued viability of local radio and I will be looking, in particular, at what I consider to be the crucial role of community radio which, perhaps, has not been adequately addressed until now. However, in general, I believe that there are few immediate measures that can be taken to meet the objectives of developing a strong independent radio sector. Such measures that might appropriately be taken are of a more long term nature and should be dealt with in my proposals for the radical restructuring of the broadcasting sector as a whole.
The Bill before the House has been the subject of particularly ill-informed comment in one newspaper yesterday. Deputies will appreciate if I am slow to praise the investigative qualities of the newspaper in question for having managed to get sight of a Bill which was presented to the Oireachtas and published over a week ago.
In the article in question, it was suggested that while the Bill, if enacted, will lift the 1990 cap on RTE revenues, it will also give me as Minister a new sinister power to approve or disapprove RTE advertising rates. This is not the case. As I have explained, section 2 of the Bill simply restores the situation to that which obtained since 1976 right up to the enactment of the Broadcasting Act, 1990. Section 20 of the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960, as amended by the 1976 Act, provided that the total daily times and the maximum time in any one hour for broadcast advertisements fixed by the RTE Authority shall be subject to the approval of the Minister. I fail to see how the restoration of the situation which operated from 1976 up to 1990 can be seen as a new power with sinister undertones for the future of RTE.
My record in the defence of RTE as our national broadcaster is clear. I have always believed that RTE has done a magnificant job in providing a national broadcasting service both on radio and television that is public service oriented and which is relevant to and popular with Irish audiences. I could list all RTE's major achievements down the years, but I do not think this is necessary as I am sure there is no argument in this House on the subject. RTE has nurtured some of our very best broadcasters and film makers. The credit for the revival of interest in our enviable traditional music culture, for example, can be fairly ascribed to a number of dedicated individuals in RTE.
With regard to another comment in the article to which I refer, Deputies who have given the Bill even the most cursory examination will be aware that there is no power to sequester funds from RTE contained in the Bill.
Turning to the independent television production sector, the suggestion that my proposals requiring RTE to make specific amounts available for programmes commissioned by the independent sector is an attempt to privatise RTE programme production is patently ridiculous. As I have said, the independent production sector has shown itself capable of producing a range of high quality programming. Irish programme makers in this sector must have a stable domestic outlet for their talents if the independent production sector is to realise its potential. RTE is, in any event, under EC law required, as with any other broadcaster in Europe, to devote a proportion of its output to independently produced programmes. RTE is already committed to increasing independent productions on its services. My proposals simply formalise the position and set down a reasonable time table for reaching a reasonable output. These proposals will create high quality sustainable jobs in this exciting sector. It is not an attempt to privatise RTE in any way. RTE remains in control of its schedule and is the arbiter of the quality of the programme proposals made to it. Money is not being diverted from RTE; the money will have to be spent on making programmes in any case.
I was also amazed at the suggestion that a carefully drafted provision in section 5 defining exactly what is meant by an independent television programme is seen as a sign of distrust of RTE. What would the anonymous writer have preferred? I read, with sadness, that anonymous appellation, a special correspondent who must have been so afraid of what I was doing that she or he could not put their name to the article — what a sad development in The Irish Times. Would the anonymous writer have preferred a loosely worded provision? I repeat I do not distrust RTE. I simply want to make my intentions absolutely clear to this House in the first place. I make no apologies for carefully drafted or tightly worded legislative proposals.
Sa bhfad-théarma, is i an phríomhaidhm a bheidh agam ná deimhin a dhéanamh de, feadh mo chumas, go mbunófar na struchtúir chuí a fhéachfaidh chuige go leanfaidh na seirbhísí chraolacháin sa tír seo de bheith ag freagairt do riachtanais agus do mhianta lucht féachana agus éisteachta agus go dtabharfaidh siad léargas ar na gnéithe éag-súla atá mar chodanna dár gcultúr.
Molaim an Bille don Teach.
