TV3 CALLS ON MINISTER TO DROP MAD QUANGO LEVY

TV3 GROUP RELEASE
IMMEDIATE: Monday 1st March 2010 

· Extraordinary timing shows Department of Communications out of touch

· Bloated budget for BAI ridicules public sector reform

· Minister should fund public body from public purse

TV3 has written to the BAI and the Minister for Communications to urge them to save jobs by dropping the proposed Broadcast Levy. TV3 has pointed out that the levy is at a rate 70% higher than when originally drafted and is being introduced at the worst possible moment for the broadcast sector. When the levy was drafted in April 2008 the rate would have been 1% of advertising revenues. With the collapse in the advertising market and the massive increase in the BAI budget from €5.2m in 2009 to €7.6m in 2010, the levy will now cost 1.7% of advertising revenues. TV3 noted the contrast between the public sector BAI budget increase of 46% compared to double-digit percentage reductions in like-for-like costs by private sector broadcasters.

David McRedmond, CEO of TV3, said, “If the Minister is as committed to jobs as he claims then he will drop this ridiculous and badly-timed levy now. If he cannot fund it from his own Department, he has a massive licence fee income which could be used to fund the State’s Broadcast Authority without any additional burden on the taxpayer. Asking the private sector to fund public bodies through more job cuts and wage cuts is unacceptable. The burgeoning cost of a public sector organisation is something that should belong to the past. The BAI justifies its increase in costs because it now regulates RTÉ but it hasn’t yet issued any meaningful regulation to challenge RTÉ’s near-monopoly”

ENDS.

For further information:

Maureen Catterson
TV3 PRESS OFFICE
+353 1 419 3430
+353 87 7800 737
Maureen.catterson@tv3.ie
publicity@tv3.ie
www.tv3.ie