RTE managed to form a good old fashioned storm in a teacup for themselves this morning when director general Dee Forbes told Sean O’Rourke that she thought the license fee should be doubled.
Her exact words were: "The licence fee is 40 cent a day. That’s what it costs the Irish viewer. I think that’s incredible value for money. Quite honestly I think it should be double that.
“Look at the Scandinavian markets where the licence fee is double that and you see what they’re getting for that. The more money we have to play with content the more we can do."
However, after said media storm, Forbes has clarified what she meant, telling independent.ie: "What I was saying was that the licence fee here in Ireland is incredible value at 40 cent a day. The breadth of value and programming of everything that goes out from RTÉ every day for 40 cent a day is incredible. A cup of coffee here in the canteen is €1.60...
"What I was saying was that it’s good value - it is more in other markets - it was really around value…
"If it was doubled, would it be good value? Of course it would! But I’m not for one minute calling for a doubling of a licence fee because it’s not practical."
That, our dear friends, is the sound of someone digging up.
