RTÉ's chief financial officer Conor Hayes has told an Oireachtas Committee that RTÉ does not use television licence fee money to fund its online service.
He was responding to a previous claim made at the Communications Committee by the National Newspapers of Ireland that RTÉ's online services and advertising are anti-competitive because of licence fee support. The NNI said that RTÉ's 'anti-competitive behaviour' is preventing newspapers from being able to compete in a digital environment.
Conor Hayes told the committee that RTÉ acts fairly, competitively and transparently in its commercial activities and that it is fully compliant with the requirements of the 2009 Broadcasting Act.
RTE.ie provides vital news, information and other public service content, he said, citing one example as the travel and roads information it provided during the recent bad weather.
He said licence fee funding covers approximately half of RTÉ's public service activities, and the broadcaster has a critical need and legitimate obligation to generate the remainder of its budget requirements from commercial activities.
He said the shift to digital advertising has been an international rather than an Irish phenomenon and that the commercial challenges faced by the British and Irish newspaper industry have not been caused by RTÉ's online activities.
