Pat Kenny firm’s accumulated profits swell to €1.36m

Newstalk and TV3 presenter’s pay from company down 50% on previous year

Newstalk and TV3 current affairs presenter Pat Kenny. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
Newstalk and TV3 current affairs presenter Pat Kenny. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Pat Kenny's media company saw its accumulated profits rise to almost €1.36 million in the year to the end of June 2017, accounts filed to the Companies Office for Pat Kenny Media Services Limited show.

Accumulated profits at the broadcaster’s company increased €163,814 in the period, according to the abridged accounts. This follows a rise of €213,177 in the previous 12 months.

The directors are Mr Kenny – a former Late Late Show and Prime Time presenter – and his wife, Kathy Kenny. Their remuneration from the company halved from €408,099 to €202,150 in the period.

Mr Kenny (70), who left RTÉ after several decades in 2013, is now employed by both Denis O'Brien's Communicorp Media and the Virgin Media-owned TV3 Group.

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Peak audience

His three-hour programme on Communicorp's Newstalk has 148,000 listeners, according to the latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures for the year to the end of March 2018.

This is not far from Mr Kenny's peak audience of 151,000, which was recorded in the JNLR survey for July 2016 to the end of June 2017. He is the most popular presenter on Newstalk, although Ivan Yates is closing in with an audience of 145,000 at drive time.

Mr Kenny has also hosted The Pat Kenny Show (previously called Pat Kenny Tonight), TV3's Wednesday evening current affairs programme, since 2016.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics