Noel Curran, Director General of RTE, has revealed that the national broadcaster intends to introduce premium content online in the next 6-8 months and to being charging for it internationally.
Speaking to the journalism students at the University of Limerick, Mr Curran also addressed topics like the wage structure applied to top RTE personalities and the future and sustainability of media outlets in the online age.
"RTE will move into the premium online space internationally in the next number of months", Curran explained. "We will start charging for some of our content internationally. Not news, not a lot of that general content but we will introduce premium content over the next six to eight months because we have to."
It is understood that RTE have taken this step to further monetise their output because of the impact being faced by media outlets in the free content digital landscape, where so much information and content is available free-of-charge on the internet.
Mr Curran also admitted that RTE paid some of its high-profile "too much" in the past and that a minimum 30% cut in salaries would be delivered.
