260 firms pitch for slice of €40m RTÉ content cash

Up to 260 independent production companies made almost 1,000 different pitches to RTÉ to secure some of the €40m available to make television and radio programmes, last year.

Some of the best known independently produced work includes hit dramas such as Love/Hate, Amber and Clean Break which currently occupies RTÉ’s primetime Sunday night slot.

The annual report from RTÉ’s Independent Production Unit confirms that from the 997 proposals for TV and radio work, the unit commissioned 132 TV programmes and 12 radio shows.

This resulted in 490 hours of TV and 249 hours of radio. The figures show the vast majority of firms are based in Dublin where 144 are located with 82 located outside the capital.

In addition to the €39.5m committed by RTÉ for new commissions in 2014, producers of RTÉ-commissioned programming attracted funding of €11.3m showing that the total value of independent RTÉ shows amounted to €50.8m.

The report shows RTÉ spent €8.7m on ‘Lifestyle and Formats’ that includes shows such as Operation Transformation and the total broadcast hours for ‘lifestyle and formats’ amounted to 114.5 hours.

A further €9m was spent for 123 hours on ‘drama’, ‘sport’ and ‘young people’.