TV3 makes first time profit of €905,000

BROADCASTER TV3 made its first profits last year after seven years on air.

Accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office show the station made pre-tax profits for the year to end August 2004 of €905,000. This reverses a loss of €1.3 million in the previous 12-month period.

Turnover for the year rose from €41.3 million to €43 million, though that would have been higher were it not for a slowdown in advertising spend towards the end of 2003, the beginning of TV3’s financial year.

“In the past year TV3 strengthened its position as the second most viewed channel and maintains that position as it began a new operating year. The focus of TV3 is to continue to grow its core business through viewership and support a major restructuring of the regulation of the state broadcast system to improve choice for Irish consumers with Irish based and regulated private broadcasting,” said the directors in the accounts.

The station has benefited from ratings hits such as I’m A Celebrity, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Ireland AM.

Though enjoying a ratings boom, it could be affected by Channel Five, the new station backed by former Crimeline presenter David Harvey, due to begin broadcasting later this year.

The maiden profit helped reduce TV3’s built-up losses to €6 million.

The company had assets of nearly €60 million at the end of August 2004.

TV3 also kept its costs down, with the wages bill for its 186 employees falling from €6.6m to €6.4m. Canadian media group CanWest and British broadcaster ITV each own 45% of TV3. The station’s chairman, James Morris, the owner of the Windmill Lane studio, holds the remaining shares.

In the accounts the directors expressed “mounting concerns” over the increased in the licence fee granted to RTÉ.

“The directors do not believe that the regulatory safeguards mandated at a European level, to ensure more competition between commercial and State-funded broadcasters, have been fully implemented into Irish law.

“TV3 believes this is illustrated by the number of new channels set up in the UK targeting Ireland to avoid Irish regulation.

“The Government has been made aware of our continuing concerns and its impact, not only on TV3, but also in future investment in Irish-based and regulated television broadcasting.

“TV3 has had numerous contacts with European Commission officials to update the TV3 complaint against the Irish Government over issues related to the use of State aid by RTÉ and TG4.”