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SALES OF RTÉ shows Taken Down, Hardy Bucks and Operation Transformation last year contributed to RTÉ’s commercial arm increasing its pre-tax profits by 22% to €8.89 million.
New accounts filed by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC show that the slimmed down division recorded the increase in pre-tax profits in spite of revenues decreasing by 9% from €20.26 million to €18.47 million.
The commercial division generates revenues from overseas sales of shows, sponsorship and sales of the RTÉ Guide. The profits it delivered last year were not enough to prevent the national broadcaster recording an overall loss of €13 million for 2018.
Director General of RTÉ Dee Forbes said last month that RTÉ’s financial situation “is unlike anything it has seen before” and “it won’t be possible to continue as they are” with staff bracing themselves for the completion of a review into RTÉ’s operations.
Successful year for drama and comedy
According to the directors’ report for the commercial arm, overall revenues and costs reduced last year primarily due to the transfer of GAAGO activities into a separately established joint venture company.
The directors state that TV programmes had a strong performance with growth in drama content sales.
The report states that it was a very successful year for RTÉ drama and comedy. It states that Stuart Carolan’s Taken Down secured a significant distribution deal and a broadcast sale to ARTE France and Germany.
According to the report, Hardy Bucks was licensed to Netflix worldwide while The Clinic – which helped launch the acting careers of Amy Huberman and Chris O’Dowd – was re-licensed to Acorn TV USA and UK.
The directors state the division’s Lifestyle division continues to deliver with Dermot Bannon’s Room To Improve and Donal Skehan’s ‘Donal’s ‘Meals in Minutes’ securing international sales across the UK, Europe and Australia as well as First Dates and back catalogue Rachel Allen.
The directors also state that the Kathryn Thomas presented Operation Transformation was sold to SC4 in Wales.
OT RTÉ / Twitter
OT RTÉ / Twitter / Twitter
The directors add that in line with the Press sector, the RTÉ Guide had a challenging year with a small decline year-on-year in revenues from advertising and circulation partly compensated by a cover price increase.
The directors state that the pre-tax profits for the year was significantly higher than the previous year as a moderate decrease in revenues was more than compensated for by a much larger reduction in costs.
Staff costs
Numbers employed by the firm last year reduced from 35 to 23 and staff costs reduced from €2.5 million to €1.73 million
The accounts disclose that the GAAGO joint venture recorded revenues of €1.33 million last year and recorded profits of €118,000.
Offering an insight into RTÉ’s commercial operation, the accounts show that the firm’s income from advertising and sponsorship reduced from €874,000 to €710,000.
The company’s revenues from ‘content, merchandising and related sales’ reduced from €13.3 million to €12.17 million while facilities income reduced from €2.6 million to €2.3 million.
The company’s circulation income reduced from €3.3 million to to €3.19 million.
On the firm’s costs, they show that the print run for the RTÉ Guide totalled €1.29 million for the year.
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I wonder if someone did take him out 30 years ago, would Zimbabwe be the basket case he turned it into, or would some other “leader”, equally malingnant have just taken his place.
It’s tempting to write Africa off, but these things are not inevitable. The neighbours in Botswana were a landlocked, diamond rich former colony. Not an obvious candidate for success. And yet they were, partly because of Seretse Khama’s leadership, but also because people kept voting for him.
Unfortunately, for every relative success story there are 50 failed states. Nation building is hard and requires guts, enterprise, selflessness and vision. Mugabe wasn’t even asked to nation build. He was handed a fully functioning, very rich and successful country and managed to level it in less than a generation. That takes mean spiritness, stupidity, and the most crass selfishness and myopic vision, which, unfortunately, seems to be the calibre of most African leaders. Take and destroy is what they do and in the meantime, the west continues to do what the west does best. Assuage our feelings of western guilt by feeding, clothing and vaccinating the Africans left behind by their very own “leaders”.
We can write much of Africa off if the Chinese economy falters, And also, we can take Australia with it.
Problem with africa is its full of africans
“Unfortunate event”
In who’s eyes ????
Funny that at Mandela’s memorial when the camera would go to different world leaders the crowd would cheer or boo depending on who it was on. Mugabe got a massive cheer and Bush Jnr got a massive boo. Ya no your screwed when Mugabe gets a bigger cheer than ya!
It was an ANC crowd at the funeral & Mugabe was a big supporter if the ANC during apartheid times so I’d be sure that’s why he was cheered rather than for his recent policies.
That says a lot more about the crowd than it does about Bush Jr.
Whatever you can accuse Bush Jr. of, laying waste to his country, starving his people, killing the productive farmers and having an ugly greedy, mean wife isnt among them. An ANC crowd can turn into a vicious mob at the turn of a hair. Being rational abd discerning is not their thing.
Hurricane Katrina anyone? ;)
Sadly, probably the latter.
Problem with Africa is the tribal government system, and the mentality of it’s people.
@coom
Same could be said for a lot of countries..including ours!
Christina who wrote that paper? Dept of the Taoiseach?
While it is true that Robert Mugabe has a few character flaws, it cannot be denied that he is an active leader who stands up for his people. Much better than the shower we have running this country, he is. You can bet Robert Mugabe would have burned the bondholders and sent the IMF home with a flea in their ear.
Pity he didn’t have a fatal “accident” here.
Proably after totruring them first…Thing is we can elect another incompetant shower to govern us.Mugabe is there forever like a big black blood sucking tick on Zimbabwae.But then thats what happens if you let Marxist gun waving loons loose on a perfectly functioning and producing ,albeit not without is fault state.Turn it into a dictatorship that makes the previous oppression by whomever look like paradise.
have your say