Vol. 549 No. 3
347 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands her views on the serious loss in advertising revenue achieved by RTE in 2001 of ?13 million; her further views on the revenue stream oncoming to RTE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6811/02]
RTE's principal sources of revenue are proceeds from the television licence fee and earnings from advertising. As regards future revenue from the television licence fee, the Deputy will be aware that when the Government approved the interim increase last July, it agreed that it would consider a further increase in the licence fee from 1 April 2003 subject to prior independent verification that certain conditions had been met. RTE has advised me that its advertising revenue projections for 2001 were not achieved and I understand that the authority has taken cognisance of this in framing its budget for the current year.
