RTÉ HAS ANNOUNCED that it broke even last year for the second year running.
The broadcaster released its annual report for 2014 today, turning in a break-even performance, despite its public funding declining by €5 million.
In the report, Director-General Noel Curran calls for licence fee reform, saying that Ireland’s is the lowest in western Europe and evasion of the fee remains over 15%.
The report says that the number of homes without a TV is “a concern”, with around 110,000 households currently without one.
In total, Irish people handed €178.6 million over to RTÉ in licence fees, while a further €149.6 million was raised commercially. The €4.3 million increase in commercial fees stemmed from a bump in TV advertising, but radio advertising was down €200,000.
There were 1,899 staff at the end of December, up 43 from 2013, around 300 of whom are casual employees.
TV accounts for 60% (€79 million) of RTÉ’s licence fee spending, with radio getting 22%, orchestras 6%, online 3% and TG4 4%.
The company spent around €20 million acquiring foreign programming, such as Eastenders, last year, spending €150 million on indigenous programming like Love/Hate. That represented an increase for Irish programming of around €7 million from 2013 and a decrease in the amount spent on foreign shows of about €2 million.
Overall, factoring in transmission, staff and programme costs, it costs RTÉ €13,800 an hour to broadcast RTÉ One, €8,600 for RTÉ Two, €3,600 for RTÉ Radio One, €1,300 for 2FM and €700 for Lyric FM.
2014′s most-watched show was, perhaps unsurprisingly, The Late Late Toy Show, which was seen by over 1.5 million viewers.
Noel Curran says that the returning of the broadcaster to break-even status after a few tough years was “huge progress”.
“RTÉ will continue to fulfil the obligations and responsibilities placed upon us, and to remain relevant and essential to the everyday lives of people in Ireland.
“Achieving a secure funding basis is critical to RTÉ’s future and to the wider cultural sector in Ireland.”
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