'Reruns of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang won't cut it for RTÉ', says new media minister

Patrick O'Donovan said the younger generations have turned the dial away from terrestrial TV and hold the attitude that it is 'for old people'. Picture: Arthur Ellis

RTÉ is facing a crisis unless there is a radical shift in content to entice the younger generation away from streaming services, the new media minister has said.

Patrick O'Donovan said the younger generations have turned the dial away from terrestrial TV and hold the attitude that it is "for old people". Whether or not they can be lured back is going to be "a big test" for public service broadcasters, Mr O'Donovan said.

"I don't see that generation coming back, not unless there is a radical shift within what we deem to be public service broadcast to actually bring them back," he said, adding that repeats of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Willy Wonka from the 70s will not cut it.

Action needs to be taken now to see what can be done for public service broadcasting to compete with YouTube and streaming services.

The questions need to be asked as to why have they left, can they come back, and if they come back, what are they coming back to, Mr O'Donovan said.

"This is the next generation of people that are going to be asked to pay the television licence and they are already gone," said Mr O'Donovan.

It is not just television that is facing difficulty, radio has also been abandoned by younger generations in favour of music streaming platforms and podcasts, he added.

'They don't know what a radio is'

"They don't call it the radio because they don't know what a radio is and they certainly don't listen to it," the Limerick TD said.

"They certainly would not be listening to drone FM on a Saturday afternoon."

Speaking before his appointment as Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Mr O'Donovan said: "This is a train going to hit a whole form of an industry that is so important and so crucial to the workings of our democracy and we are all kind of meandering along."

The online alternatives to conventional TV are not a bad thing, he said, as they offer a lot of positive things and young people can find content tailored to their specific interests, be it farming or fashion.

Mr O'Donovan said that it is not just Ireland that needs to look at the issues facing public service broadcasting but also European legislators, although he said he does not see an appetite to tackle the matter on an EU level.

Despite the problems outlined by Mr O'Donovan previously, he told the Irish Examiner that he is excited to get to grips with them with the support of officials in his department.

He pointed to the success of Cúla4, the dedicated Irish-language channel as an example of positive change, calling it a sea change in the children's TV sector.

"RTÉ has seen how they need to modernise, to become more efficient, in order to be sustainable into the future," said Mr O'Donovan.

"This represents a major challenge for them, but also for us as a Government. We need to secure the future of public service media, and I am looking forward to working closely with a range of media outlets in order to do so."