The RTÉ annual report indicates that the state broadcaster delivered a ”highly creditable organisational response” to a continuing grave financial challenge according to the annual report for 2010.
The 2010 report indicates an improved outcome at RTÉ with a Net Deficit of €4.7 million, down from €16.5 million (before exceptional restructuring charges) in 2009. RTÉ Chairman Tom Savage says that the 2010 report shows that the state broadcaster carried through the programme of managed cost reduction that commenced in previous years in response to “a rapid decline of commercial revenues.” He commented on the report saying “this has been a remarkable turnaround, reflecting considerable management application and overall organisational discipline in very difficult times.”
Despite the cost-cutting put into place at the broadcaster, RTÉ acknowledges that ”the public funding base of RTÉ’s operations has been put sharply in focus, to an unexpected degree” and that this “must be a matter of concern.” Chairman Tom Savage also acknowledged that the December 2010 Government Budget together with changes introduced in the 2009 Broadcasting Act have put added financial pressure on the State Broadcaster. Combined, they added a further burden on €20 million per year on RTÉ, made up of both reduced public funding and added regulatory costs.
Director General Noel Curran, who took up the post in February 2011, says the impact of this additional burden in 2010 is behind the 2010 Net Deficit and that otherwise RTÉ would have been in a position to report a small Net Surplus for 2010. Progress documented in the report include a continued development of online and mobile services, secured planning for the redevelopment of RTE’s Donnybrook base and RTENL continued the implementation of the infrastructure for DTT and the launch of the SAOIRVIEW Platform.
Chairman Savage summarised the medium-term challenge facing RTÉ in his statement saying: “The Board is conscious of the severe and continuing pressures on all parts of national and public budgets, and of the obligation on all public bodies to contribute proportionately to recovery and to burden-sharing. RTÉ has not shirked its duty in this regard. The issue for the Board and the organisation is that, having managed the impact of the largest commercial revenue fall-off experienced by any similar broadcaster, RTÉ is now facing substantial further impacts in its public funding.
If 2009 had brought a grave challenge, and 2010 appeared to have consolidated a managed stabilisation, the organisation now moves into 2011 facing renewed uncertainties.”
RTÉ’s Annual Report and Group Financial Statements for 2010 was approved by the Board of RTÉ on 24th March 2011 and submitted for approval by Government on March 31st 2011. The full report is available here: www.rte.ie
