Radio stations demand more funding for independent broadcasters

The group representing independent radio stations in Ireland has today called on the Government to move funding towards its members.

The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, which represents independent radio stations, has called on the government to move funding towards its members.

The group claims that government policy is biased in favour of RTÉ, particularly when it comes to the TV licence fee and the proposed household broadcast charge.

The call comes on world radio day - a UNESCO-recognised day - as the IBI claims its members command almost 70% of the time spent listening to radio.

"Unfortunately since coming to power, we feel the Government has utterly failed to deliver on its promise," said Chairman of the IBI, John Purcell.

"It made a promise in the programme for government that it would ensure that the future of independent and state-owned broadcasters would be a viable one, and that they would act to ensure that."

In the Programme for Government, the two parties promised to "examine the role" of the TV licence fee, with a one-line to commitment to "review the funding of public and independent broadcasters to ensure a healthy broadcasting environment in Ireland. "

Since the formation of this government, the IBI has campaigning against what they call an "unfair" licence fee, which they claim gives the state broadcaster an unfair advantage.

Purcell said that RTÉ's 2FM is competing with its members that follow a similar vein, and would be better served pursuing public service content only.

"2FM, for example, is a station we feel is wasting the frequencies that it's got and is basically competing with pop music stations with competitions and prizes and music and so on.

"We feel it would be far better for RTÉ to use those precious broadcasting frequencies for public service content."

The IBI has called for a share of the licence fee above and beyond the 5% currently allocated to the Sound and Vision fund for programme-making.

In addition, it wants a fund administered by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, divided among independent broadcasters who produce public affairs programming.

Its plan is that "qualifying content" would be supported up to 75% of its total costs, capped at €400,000 a year for local stations and €1m for national stations.