RTÉ

RTÉ is Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster.

Across the organisation’s platforms RTÉ reaches 34% of Irish TV viewers, 47% of adult radio listeners and 24% of Irish adults access its news content online. It is the most trusted source for news amongst Irish adults, with 71% saying they trust the news provided by the organisation.

RTÉ’s objective and mission as a Public Service Broadcaster is to: “champion Irish culture by captivating audiences with trusted, engaging and challenging content; celebrating our country’s rich diversity; and cultivating Ireland’s talent.” and to “To enrich Irish life with content that challenges, educates and entertains.”

In 2022 RTÉ reported income of €347.7 Million, this included licence fee revenue of €195.6M and commercial revenue from advertising and sponsorship of €152.1M, in this year they operated at a loss of -€2.8M.

RTÉ operates across multiple platforms. It has 4 TV channels, RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, RTÉ News and RTÉ Jr. RTÉ Player is their On Demand TV service. They also own and operate four radio stations, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ Lyric FM and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. They also produce podcasts. RTÉ.ie is the online presence for the broadcaster incorporating news, entertainment, archives, education and On Demand content.

RTÉ is Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster, it is a statutory corporation and is governed by the RTÉ Board (formerly the RETÉ Authority). There are 12 members on the board, six Board members are nominated by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Four members are proposed to the Minister by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. The Director General of RTÉ is an ex-officio member and one member of RTÉ staff is appointed following an election. RTÉ is regulated by Coimisiún na Meán (Media Commission of Ireland). Day to day management of RTÉ operations is the responsibility of the RTÉ Executive, a committee of senior management members in RTÉ.

RTÉs traces its origins back to 1926 when the 2RN radio service began broadcasting from Dublin. 2RN was established within the Department of Post and Telegraphs to manage and run the public service broadcaster. It was funded through a listener paid licence fee and advertising revenue. In 1938 it was renamed Radio Éireann. Up until 1960 the broadcasting service was a section of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs and everyone working within it were civil servants, directly employed by the Government.

The television service began broadcasting on New Year’s Eve 1961 following years of debate in government about the merits and costs of establishing a domestic television service. Under the Broadcasting Act of 1960 the government established a statutory company Radio Éireann to manage Irish radio and television, moving management and operation of the corporation outside the direct ownership and control of the Civil Service. The Government established the Authority Board to manage and operate the corporation. In 1966 the name was changed under legislation to Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). The 2009 Broadcasting Act included changes to the RTÉ organisational structure with the introduction of a provision to establish an Audience Council to represent the views of listeners and viewers. There was also a name change for the RTÉ Authority, changed to the RTÉ Board. The Act also updated the spelling of the company name to Raidió Teilifís Éireann, reflecting the true Irish language spelling of the name.

Governance of RTÉ is the ultimate responsibility of the RTÉ Board, a group of 12 people who serve on the Board for five year terms, a maximum of two terms. The Board includes people from a variety of backgrounds including media and the arts, academia, business and technology sectors. Six members of the Board are appointed directly by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; a further four members are proposed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media to the minister; the RTÉ Director General and one nominated member of RTÉ staff take up the final two places on the Board. The Board formulates policy and strategy for RTÉ setting these for the RTÉ Executive who implement strategy and are responsible for the day to day running of the organisation. The Executive in turn is responsible for ensuring RTÉ’s ongoing editorial independence.

This act also established the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) as the single content regulator for Irish media, merging the work of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. The Act included the ability for the BAI to impose fines where broadcasters broke codes of conduct or licence requirements. In 2023 Coimisiún na Méan was established to take over from the BAI and take on an extended remit to include online media safety and regulation in addition to broadcast media.

RTÉ continues to operate a dual funding model with income from the licence fee and advertising. In recent years it has attempted to diversify its income streams with a number of projects aimed at the international Irish diaspora market such as the international RTÉ Player; a subscription version of its streaming platform; and GAA Go, a partnership with the Gaelic Athletic Association. GAA Go streams live Gaelic games and and on demand GAA content. This service was subject to some controversy as it put previously free to air match coverage behind a paywall and in 2017 the Competition and Consumer Protection Committee launched an investigation into any potential breaches of competition law.

2023 Payments scandal

In June 2023 it emerged that RTÉ had paid presenter Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than his publicly reported salary between 2017 and 2022. . Between 2020 and 2022 additional payments had been paid to him via a system of “barter accounts” located in the UK. Throughout the summer of 2023 RTÉ senior management appeared before the Oireachtas Media Commission and revelations also emerged that the barter accounts had been used to pay for corporate entertainment for advertising clients, details of management culture and exit payments for high earners. To date, former Director General Dee Forbes was forced to resign, new Director General Kevin Bakhurst has dissolved the RTÉ Executive Board and established an interim leadership team and the future of RTÉ public funding is under review. Since the scandal was revealed the number of Irish people paying for the licence fee has fallen, with estimates of €21 Million in lost licence fee revenue by the end of this year as a result of the controversy.