RTÉ will be Ireland’s “primary streaming service” under “ambitious” new plans, according to its Director General.
A five-year plan for the national broadcaster was unveiled by Kevin Bakhurst today, who hopes it will steady the ship and safeguard the organisations future.
Called the New Direction Strategy, it will see increased investment towards the RTÉ Player and the development of a new product, an audio streaming app.
On The Hard Shoulder today, Mr Bakhurst said the plan signals a new era for the organisation.
“There have been three eras of RTÉ, starting 100 years ago with radio,” he said.
“Then there was a TV era, and this is the digital era, this is how we will deliver great content for audiences in the digital era.”
RTÉ transparency
The Director General said RTÉ must “demonstrate really robust financial management transparency”.
“We need to show that we are looking after the hard-earned money that people spend on RTÉ and spend it in a way that provides value for money for audiences,” he said.
“At the end of this five-year plan, we've done the numbers, and RTÉ will be a sustainable organisation financially.
“It will be able to stand on its own two feet and not come back looking for continual extra funding from Government.”
The RTÉ Montrose campus in Donnybrook, Dublin, 24-08-2009. Image: Mark Stedman/RollingNewsRTÉ also aims to cut 400 jobs over the next five years as part of the plan and secure a €20 million bailout from Government.
Mr Bakhurst said it will soon be a much more efficient organisation.
“We’ll be investing more with independent partners around Ireland to produce content away from Donnybrook,” he said.
“We looked at the existing site at Donnybrook and there are a number of very old buildings we’re working in now, 50 or 60 years old.
“The cost of remaining in all those buildings would have been around 300 million over the five years of this strategy.
“So, we’ve chosen not to spend a huge amount of money on the buildings and instead spend it on more brilliant content, high-quality news, current affairs, drama and investigations.”
Audio streaming app
Mr Bakhurst said a new audio-streaming product is on the way.
“It will provide a much better digital platform for our audience who are not just consuming our linear existing radio stations, but on-demand content too like podcasts,” he said.
“We also need to invest in a new news app to give a better performance for audiences and provide a better platform for trusted news content.
“We are becoming the primary streaming service and it’s very ambitious for us to do that.”
You can listen back here:
Main image: New RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst at the broadcaster's headquarters in Donnybrook, 10-07-2023. Image: PA Images / Alamy
