The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has expressed its disappointment with the new funding model for RTÉ.The Cabinet agreed the plan, which will see public funding up to €725 million for the broadcaster over the next three years.The TV Licence will be retained at the current rate of €160 per year, but will be supplemented by Exchequer funding on a three-year basis.This figure includes both free and purchased TV licences, and the Exchequer funding top-up to bring it up to the agreed level.The RTÉ Trade Union Group said that staff at the broadcaster "are dismayed and disappointed", and described the TV licence as "outdated and inequitable".While it welcomed multi-annual funding, it accused the Government of having made a "politically cowardly" decision which is "the worst of both worlds".SIPTU issued a separate statement saying that its members employed at RTÉ do not agree with the Government's funding plan.Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, NUJ Irish Secretary Séamus Dooley claimed the can had been "kicked down the road" and that inevitably the TV Licence system would have to be abolished.He said he is concerned that An Post has been given a three-year window to use technology to upgrade a system that is "not fit for purpose".The multi-annual funding gives a limited degree of certainty to RTÉ, Mr Dooley added, but does not explain how the broadcaster is "going to fill the gaps", insisting they cannot be filled by redundancies.He rejected the idea that direct funding would have represented political interference, saying that "political inaction over many years has lead us to where we are today".Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have been sympathetic, Mr Dooley added, but "sympathy alone doesn't butter parsnips".Virgin Media also criticised the decision, and accused the Government of failing to "financially recognise and support our Public Service Broadcasting remit".Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin, Managing Director of Virgin Media Television, said that the funding "further distorts the market".She warned that "RTÉ will now be in a more dominant position than ever before".The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) said that any increase in funding for media and broadcasting as part of the RTÉ funding model "doesn't translate into money for independent radio stations automatically".Under the new plan, independent broadcasters will be able to apply for an additional €4m as part of the Broadcasting and Media Fund in 2025, which will rise to €22.2m as part of the Cabinet decision.IBI Chair John Purcell, who is also CEO of KCLR 96FM, said that funding, as it currently stands, can also be applied for by newspapers and websites.It is "good to see that apparently RTÉ has achieved the certainty of multi-annual funding and can look ahead for three years, and so on," he added."I think what we need to get out of today is progress and focus on the needs of our sector," Mr Purcell said.He also said the commercial radio sector is "not unregulated" and "like RTÉ we share many attributes".Mr Purcell told RTÉ's News at One: "We are licensed, we are subject to broadcasting regulation, we cannot take political advertising, we are required to be impartial, balanced, fair and governed by a plethora of statutory obligations."So while it is a positive development that we note that there is additional funding for a media scheme, the department and the regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, must take regard of the unique pressures that radio stations are under."Mr Purcell said the sector is under "severe pressure" and that just as RTÉ has had an "existential crisis" over the last 12 months, local, regional and national independent radio is in "something of a crisis in relation to continuing to provide our news services, so we believe due regard needs to be given to that".He added that the IBI would have preferred if some of the pool of money announced by the Government had been specifically ringfenced for independent radio.
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