Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
13/10/2011

TV3 Wins Major Competition Authority Complaint Against RTÉ

After lodging a complaint, TV3 today received confirmation from the Competition Authority that it had completed the investigation of RTÉ’s commercial practices over two years.
RTÉ has entered into a settlement with the Authority and been forced to abolish its “share deal” scheme. TV3 had alleged that RTÉ was operating an unfair market and abusing its dominance in TV advertising by demanding advertisers spend a percentage share of their total TV advertising with RTÉ. The Competition Authority will publish RTÉ’s undertakings with the Authority’s Enforcement Decision “in due course”.
TV3 estimates that the operation of unfair share deals may not only have cost TV3 Group directly in excess of €30m over the past five years, but severely and adversely impacted on its employees and its stakeholders.
Independent analysis commissioned by TV3 shows the Irish ad market fell by close to 50% peak to trough, a far greater collapse than for the overall economy. The analysis also shows that a recovery in the market has been stymied by RTÉ’s business practices. RTÉ, in addition to receiving €200m annual funding from the taxpayer also has the highest share of TV advertising in their market of any State broadcaster in the EU.
Commenting on the Competition Authority’s investigation, David McRedmond Chief Executive Officer of TV3 Group said: "The State Aid of RTÉ has led to a shocking abuse of dominance as the broadcaster has been totally unregulated. Government and the regulators must now step in to rescue the ad market. RTÉ’s dual-funding model has failed, and now that this market abuse has been uncovered regulators must ensure transparency and fairness in RTÉ’s commercial operations. We want immediate action."
Pat Kiely, Commercial Director of TV3 Group said: “In our dealings with advertisers and their agencies, the RTE Share Deals have been a grossly unfair impediment. At a time when TV3’s audience has been growing significantly (set against RTE’s decline) advertisers have been massively restricted in allocating their ad spend in line with this trend and punished when they attempted to do so. Nor should RTÉ be allowed to sell below cost to the detriment of the whole industry.”
(BMcN/GK)
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

20/11/2023
Series Mania Launches New Competition
Given the tremendous response and success of last year's inaugural launch of 'Series Mania's Creative Campaign Award', Laurence Herszberg, founder and
14/03/2024
Triveni Digital's Mark Corl To Share ATSC 3.0 Advancements
Triveni Digital has announced that the company's senior vice president of emergent technology development, Mark Corl, will share ATSC 3.0 advancements
23/05/2023
A+E Networks Appoints VP Of Commercial Advertising And Partnerships
Marianna Kritikos has been appointed A+E Networks EMEA's Vice President of Commercial Advertising and Partnerships. Following her strong performance a
04/05/2023
ThinkAnalytics Appoints Strategic Advisor, Advertising
ThinkAnalytics has appointed Jo Kinsella as Strategic Advisor, Advertising. Kinsella will provide strategic guidance on go-to-market and work alongsid
19/10/2011
Irish Broadcaster Adds RTÉ Radio Player
The RTÉ Player, launched in 2009, has established itself as Ireland's premier on-demand service for programmes originally aired on RTÉ Television - wi
01/09/2023
FOR-A Brings Koala To Market
FOR-A is bringing to market Koala, a completely innovative approach to camera tracking. The device, designed and built by FOR-A Europe and available i
05/01/2024
AGI Technology To Elevate The Storage Product Market
As 2023 concludes, AGI Technology, a Taiwanese storage brand, is set to elevate the storage product market with an unprecedented release. Shattering t
13/04/2023
TV3 Deploys Riedel Artist Ecosystem
Riedel Communications has announced that TV3, the primary television channel of the Catalan public media company Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiov
18/08/2017
RTÉ To Develop 'Next Generation' RTÉ Player
RTÉ has announced its plans to develop the next generation RTÉ Player, Ireland's number one broadcaster video-on-demand service. It is expected that t
25/03/2024
Ease Live Launches Contextual On-Stream Advertising Capability
Ease Live, an Evertz company, has announced the launch of contextual on-stream advertising capability for live sports through its interactive graphics
19/04/2010
Live Streaming Success For TV3
Internet users can now see their favourite Irish TV programmes live. Dublin-based tv3 is allowing viewers to watch many of the most popular sports, ne
02/09/2011
RTÉ Radio Set To Launch New Player
The boss of RTÉ Radio has welcomed the announcement of RTÉ Radio's new 2011-2012 season. The new season again features RTÉ Radio's top-rating programm
19/06/2006
RTÉ Banks On SysMedia System For High Speed Teletext Updates
SysMedia has provided RTÉ with an innovative IP-based teletext page editing system that allows bookmakers across the country to provide rapid updates
13/03/2023
ITV Launches Recovery Budget Planner Tool
ITV has alunched a Recovery Budget Planner tool for advertisers. Commissioned by ITV AdLabs, ITV’s commercial innovations umbrella, the free Recovery
05/06/2012
TV3 Becomes The 1st TV Station In Spain On Google TV
TV3 - Televisió de Catalunya is now on Google TV. From now on, users of this device can now download the application from TV3 that enables TV viewers