Last night's
love-in with RTE was a classic wolf in sheep's clothing. RTE decided to make a programme about television and its future, as part of the fiftieth anniversary programme, that was in effect an egregious, dishonest use of the license fee to defend the license fee itself. There was no real analysis of other markets and how they operate, because almost all of them operate differently to Ireland; some operate on a license fee without ads (Germany, France), while others operate on ads with no license fee (USA - though PBS is a specifically and exclusively federally funded organisation). RTE takes both, and screws up at both. For ad based content, you need to compete against other commercial channels - RTE's viewing figures have been steadily falling over the years. For license fee driven content, you need to advance the cultural and political objectives of the state:
within the last twelve months, the monstrous treatment of Fr Kevin Reynolds, TweetGate and Sean Gallagher, were swiftly followed by the
shutting of the London office of RTE.
