Viewers prepared to pay for RTÉ

THE average Irish household would be prepared to pay more for RTE's services each year than they currently do, a surprising new survey has found.

Despite a barrage of criticism about its performance in recent times, and grumbling about recent licence fee increases, the survey findings indicate that people generally remain favourably disposed towards the national public service broadcaster.

The survey found that the average household would be willing to pay €180 a year for RTE's services, which include television and radio stations, other media such as the RTE Guide and Aertel, and performing groups such as the National Symphony Orchestra.

That was €73 more than the price of the television licence fee at the time the survey was carried out in late 2002, when it stood at €107.

And it is €28 more than the current price, which rose to €152 last January.

All households with a television are obliged to purchase a licence, and the fees accrued go to RTE to fund its services. Last year, licence-fee revenues accounted for more than 50% of the broadcaster's total income.

The results of the survey are contained in a paper entitled Irish Public Service Broadcasting: A Contingent Valuation Analysis, which is published in the winter edition of the Economic and Social Review.

However, Liam Delaney of the Economic and Social Research Institute, who co-authored the paper with Francis O'Toole of Trinity College Dublin, said the findings should not be taken as an indication that the licence fee should be increased.

"My own intuition is that it's very difficult to go from a 'willing to pay' figure to saying that you should give (RTE) more money, because you have to take lots of other things into account, like how efficient the organisation is," Mr Delaney said.

The fact that people were prepared to pay more than the current licence fee did not necessarily mean they thought highly of RTE's services and felt it deserved more money. Rather, it was the amount they were prepared to pay to ensure the service survived.

"They're not willing to risk it going for that amount of money," Mr Delaney said. "They'd rather have it than face the uncertainty of it not being there. So I think that's what the willingness to pay represents."

RTE yesterday welcomed the suggestion that people would be prepared to pay more for its services, but said it would not comment further until it saw the paper.