Newstalk condemns RTÉ refusal to air advertisement

Newstalk says RTÉ’s refusal to screen an advertisement promoting the independent radio station contravenes its public sector broadcasting remit.

“RTÉ’s decision not to accept the advertisement is motivated solely by its determination to curb the listenership of a competitor,” said Newstalk’s chief executive, Gerard Whelan.

“We submitted an advertisement and RTÉ took an arbitrary decision to reject it,” he said.

A spokesperson for Newstalk said the television advertisement is part of the station’s Move the Dial campaign to attract more listeners.

“RTÉ is subsidised by the taxpayer and in 2012 it generated a licence fee income of approximately €181m. It also took in advertising revenue of approximately €156m in the same year.

“Now they want to stamp out the competition. This is clearly anti-competitive and an abuse of its position,” said Mr Whelan.

He said RTÉ’s guidelines for rejecting advertisements from competition should be made public in the interests of transparency.

Newstalk is considering lodging a formal complaint to the Competition Authority and is also taking legal advice on the matter.

RTÉ spokeswoman Maureen Catterson said the advertisement could not be accepted because it urges viewers to “move the dial”, in effect a call to action that breached its advertising code.

She said the station had no problem airing advertising from competing media and previously this had included Newstalk, TV3, Today FM and Sky.

Ms Catterson said RTÉ have not, as yet, received new advertising copy from Newstalk.

A spokesperson for the Department of Communications said the department did not have a role to play in RTÉ’s commercial policy on advertising.