Dutch ruling could hit RTÉ funding

THE Dutch public service broadcaster has been ordered to pay back over €76 million in State aid in a European Commission ruling that could have implications for RTÉ.

The financial backing that NOS, the Dutch umbrella organisation of public broadcasters in the Netherlands, received between 1994 and 2005, was judged to be illegal.

The ruling could have implications for RTÉ since the European Commission is currently investigating similar complaints against the Irish national television and radio station.

Public broadcasters are allowed to receive funding from the State together with licence fee money on the basis that it provides a public service that would not be possible if it was confined to strictly commercial rules.

However, the latest investigation showed that the Netherlands contributed too much money to NOS.

Announcing the decision, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said they would have to repay the €76.3 million together with €4 million in interest.

Last year, the Commission told the Irish Government they would have to set up an independent authority to check how RTÉ spent its money, including the licence fee, due to rake in €200 million this year.

An investigation by the European Commission found there was too much blurring between what the station spends on public broadcasting and in other areas such as imported programmes. It wants to ensure there is no cross subsidisation of general programming by the licence fee money since this would work against fair competition between RTÉ and independent stations such as TV3.

Last August, TV3 accused RTÉ of abusing the licence fee process by using it to buy sole broadcasting rights to the UEFA Champions League for this autumn.

The Commission has determined public funding for broadcasting must not exceed the costs of providing the public service tasks defined by an individual Member State, without challenging Member States’ rights to define those public service tasks or to compensate broadcasters for performing them.

Yesterday’s decision only relates to the ad hoc funding and the licence fee issue is still under investigation.