RTÉ to close five studios and move operations to ITs

RTÉ is to close five of its regional studios and offices, and move operations into institutes of technology in the latest round of cost-saving measures.

The national broadcaster insisted the RTÉ brand is not for sale and that there will be no jobs losses as operations in Sligo, Dundalk, Galway, Athlone, and Waterford move base with a saving of over €1m a year.

The Belfast office is set to be reduced as the London office prepares to turn off the microphones for good.

“No matter where we go, we will not be bought. The brand is not for sale,” said Michael Lally, leader of the project group in charge of the change.

“In the same way RTÉ has had no difficulty reporting on its own internal difficulties in the last 12 months, the same editorial independence will apply.”

RTÉ offices in Cork and Limerick will remain and all regional correspondents will continue to operate, RTÉ announced in the week its London office closed down.

London editor and broadcaster Brian O’Connell, who along with the three other members of the bureau chose redundancy rather than return to Dublin, said the closure was “like a bereavement”.

Mr Lally yesterday said RTÉ was in a serious financial situation. He said the station still had to find €25m by the year’s end.

When it looked at the regional operations, he said it was faced with a lot of stark choices.

He said that in the last month Nuacht had filmed pieces on an iPhone and edited them on a tablet. “It is about new technology and being mobile. The idea of people sitting around in expensive studios — we have moved on from that,” he said, adding that broadcasters had to realise that things have changed greatly.

As part of the restructuring, RTÉ has already redeployed journalists from Cork, Limerick, and Belfast to Dublin. The TV programme Nationwide will remain at its Cork base and the new afternoon show Today will be broadcast from there from November. In Limerick the regional office and RTÉ Lyric FM will remain.