Vincent Boland: If RTÉ and the BBC are to stay the same, then they have to change
Public service broadcasting is in financial crisis. Now is the time to consider what it is actually for
The TV listings do not lie. Between 3pm and midnight last Tuesday, there was no Irish programming on RTÉ 2, the so-called national broadcaster’s second channel. Between the same hours on Wednesday, there was one Irish programme. It was called Open House, and it lasted ten minutes. The rest was not silence, alas, but Australian soap operas, American sitcoms and British dramas.
The absence of local programmes over such a long period of the broadcasting day last week was very telling. Amid the scandals, controversies and crises in Montrose, one question is not asked enough of RTÉ – what is it spending our TV licence fee money on? The broadcaster is fighting for its life, but still demands €160 a year from every household for the pleasure of watching. The RTÉ 2 listings for Tuesday and Wednesday offered terrible value for that money. If Home and Away and DIY SOS are the best it can do, RTÉ is doomed.
