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TV licence sales are continuing to plunge almost a year after a series of scandals rocked RTÉ, with new figures showing that sales were down 13.5 per cent in May.
63,631 households paid the €160 licence fee in May this year – compared to 73,598 one year previously, in May 2023 – a drop of 13.5 per cent. It is a bigger drop than the one seen in April – when sales were down 6.1 per cent on April 2023.
The figures supplied by An Post, which collects the licence fee, shows that approximately 326,000 households paid the licence fee between January and May 2023, compared to 373,906 in the first five months of 2023. This is a drop of 12.8 per cent, or 47,706 fewer households paying the licence fee.
This amounts to a drop in revenue for RTE of some €7.6 million for the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
The revelation that a series of secret payments had been made to former RTÉ broadcaster Ryan Tubridy, some through a barter account, first came to light on 22nd June last year, sparking fury from the public and some calls to boycott the broadcaster.
It comes after it was reported in April that An Post was forced to stop TV licence inspections and offer “resilience” training to staff owing to public anger caused by the payments scandal at the broadcaster.
While inspections have now resumed, recent figures show that the total number of fines issued for having no TV licence fell 40 per cent in the last 12 months.
However, with no sign of a recovery in licence fee revenue, the government has pledged to make a decision on a new funding model before the Dáil breaks for the summer in early July.
Asked about plans to reform the license fee last week, Media Minister Catherine Martin said the need for funding reform was a “key issue,” however it had been brought into sharp focus by the decline of TV licence fee receipts since last summer.
Discussing the need for a “more sustainable” funding model, the Media Minister told the Dáil: “A number of potential funding options have been discussed, including that of direct Exchequer support. As I have said on many occasions, what matters is that we deliver a funding model that is sustainable, protects media independence and is publicly acceptable.”
Amid accusations of a lack of political will to make a decision regarding funding for the licence fee, Minister Martin admitted: “
“These reforms will not take place overnight. There will need to be legislative change to replace the current system, which will of course take some time, as will the implementation of a new model.”
An implementation plan is due before the end of June, with the Media Minister telling the House: “We are absolutely united in taking this decision before the summer.”
It recently came to light that An Post had asked the government for more than €500,000 to cover its losses from collecting TV licences last year, after seeing a sharp drop in payments.
Convictions for non-payment of a television licence increased sharply between January 2022 and January this year. In December 2022, 255 convictions were recorded. That figure increased to 296 last December and then to 454 in January.
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