COMMENT: We should only pay for what we watch online

HOW does television remain viable in a digital age? That’s the question exercising political minds as an Oireachtas committee gets set to grapple with the concept of the TV licence being extended to users of laptops, tablets and other devices.

The problem is, the national broadcaster is no longer the only show in town and the media landscape has changed radically since the days of ‘Wanderly Wagon’ and ‘Quicksilver’.

RTÉ’s independent rivals such as TV3 have long bemoaned the fact that the licence fee goes exclusively to Montrose and they have to compete on what they see as an unlevel playing pitch for a slice of the advertising revenue pie – much of which has migrated online.

This has also become a bugbear for newspapers and radio stations who had to invest heavily in online output while going head to head with RTÉ’s digital platforms.

It all comes down to how much we value the idea of public service broadcasting. RTÉ’s director general, Dee Forbes, recently argued that the licence fee should be doubled, pointing out that it currently equates to just over 40 cent per day. Not only does this go towards funding two television channels, we also get four radio stations, an orchestra and a range of digital services.

It certainly sounds like value for money and RTÉ is hard to equal when it comes to quality news and current affairs programming. 

Personally, I am willing to pay for good journalism, be it through the purchase of a newspaper or as part of my television licence fee. I am less happy to be funding country and western specials on ‘The Late Late Show’ or subsidising the inflated salaries enjoyed by some of RTÉ’s biggest stars.

As things stand, if you don’t want to pay your TV licence, you have two options: you refuse to buy one and run the risk of being hauled before a judge and fined or jailed (for a few hours anyway). Alternatively, you simply choose not to own a television.

However, under new proposals being considered, you would no longer be able to circumvent paying the licence fee by just watching ‘Home and Away’ on your laptop or tablet.

There is something manifestly unfair about this if you don’t own a television and restrict your online viewing to Netflix or YouTube. Why should you pay for something you don’t watch?

Perhaps the most obvious solution is for RTÉ to introduce a subscription charge for its digital services. If you wanted to watch the RTÉ Player on a computer, you’d have to pay for the privilege – ditto its news and entertainment sites.

Those who already hold a television licence could be exempt from the online subscription charge.

The Government should also look at ways of improving compliance rates by bringing licence fee evaders to heel in a more efficient and cost-effective manner than dragging them through the courts.