The Government has published the results of an independent review on the impact of RTÉ's television licence fee on all broadcasters.
The review found that there was no evidence that RTÉ was using the licence fee proceeds to act in an anti-competitive manner in relation to the purchase of programming rights, or in relation to the selling of advertising.
The Government decision of December 2003 to increase the cost of a television licence by €2 included a condition that an external review was carried out.
The review was carried out independently by a team of consultants headed by a London based firm, Europe Economics, and included Irish firms Curtin Dorgan Associates and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The work required for the report was strongly evidenced based and also involved interviews with representatives from the key industry players. The work was carried out in October and November of this year.
The review focussed in the main on the television sector. It examined the potential impact in relation to both the acquisition of programming rights and on advertising rates.
In a statement, RTÉ welcomed the finding of the report, and said it was vindication of the funding of Public Service Broadcasting.
The full report can be seen here
