NewsBrands: RTE’s 725m funding should not be used to ‘further distort the market’ [Video]

NewsBrands Ireland has called for assurances that RTE’s new funding plan will not be used to “further distort” the digital market.

Media Minister Catherine Martin announced a €725m funding package over the next three years for RTE on Tuesday afternoon.

The funding will come from three sources, TV licence payments, free TV licences and top-up funding from the Exchequer.

Following the press conference NewsBrands Ireland, the representative body for Ireland’s national news publishers, welcomed the announcement but warned against the national broadcaster further distorting the digital market which is already fiercely competitive.

Ireland’s news publishers compete with RTÉ for audience and advertisers, and Newsbrands were keen to highlight that RTÉ can leverage its privileged position as a publicly funded broadcaster to compete unfairly for online advertising, at the expense of independent news publishers.

CEO of NewsBrands Ireland, Ann Marie Lenihan, said: “At a time when news publishers are investing heavily in new online business models, the growing online offerings …