The embarrassing row at board level over the appointment of RTÉ's next director general has been resolved, with confirmation that Kevin Bakhurst has taken up the job. With his background in senior management at the BBC, RTÉ and UK regulator Ofcom, Bakhurst was always seen, fairly or unfairly, as the “continuity” candidate. That impression will have been reinforced by the controversy over whether An Post chief executive David McRedmond’s application for the position received the consideration it deserved. As a former head of RTÉ's commercial rival TV3 (now Virgin TV), McRedmond was reportedly seen by some RTÉ board members as a more transformative choice.
But transformation is on the agenda regardless. The challenges confronting Bakhurst and RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh may be identical to those faced by their predecessors, but they become ever more pressing. First and foremost is the need to reimagine public service broadcasting in the era of YouTube, Netflix and Spotify. Old-fashioned linear TV and radio remains popular with a significant section of the population, but that segment is ageing and shrinking.
For RTÉ, as for every media company, this demographic trend points to a bleak commercial destiny of declining advertising revenues. And the claim to speak to the nation – the justification for financial support from the State – is undermined by the absence of younger viewers and listeners.
RTÉ has been ill-served by successive governments, which have contorted themselves to avoid confronting the manifest shortcomings of the current system of State subvention via the TV licence fee. An immediate challenge for Bakhurst will be to show that he can succeed where his predecessors failed in resolving this issue. But he also needs to bring a sense of renewal and revival to RTÉ. Too many of its flagship formats are tired; too many of its faces feel over-familiar. There is scant evidence of an appetite for risk or innovation.
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