Under the provisions of the Broadcasting Act 2009, RTÉ is funded through a combination of licence fee revenues and commercial revenues, the latter being obtained largely from advertising. The licence fee revenues comprise both TV licence fees collected by An Post and an Exchequer contribution from the Department of Social Protection in respect of free TV licences. These revenues fund both RTÉ and the Broadcasting Fund, including the Sound and Vision Scheme, which all broadcasters all eligible to apply for.
Additional Exchequer funding for free licences and to replace TG4’s funding from the licence fee, resulted in additional funding of €8.6m and €9.3m to RTÉ in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
It is not intended to reduce the Exchequer allocation in respect of free licences, as the number of people who benefit from free licences continues to increase for demographic reasons, and it is appropriate that the State's allocation should reflect this. In addition, it should be noted that this Exchequer contribution to overall licence fee income is allocated to the Sound and Vision Scheme as well as to RTÉ.
The financial position of RTÉ is reviewed on an ongoing basis by way of a governance structure which includes my Department and NewERA. In addition, the Future of Media Commission has made recommendations to strengthen the accountability and oversight of RTE by Coimisiún na Meán, which my Department will be progressing. The Commission's report was published today.
Given the independence of RTÉ under Section 98 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, I have no role to play in the settlement of any liabilities by RTÉ with the Exchequer.
