Broadcasting charge may replace TV licence fee in Ireland in 2015

17 Jul 2013

A new public service broadcasting charge in Ireland may replace and not exceed the current €160 TV licence fee beginning 1 January 2015.

Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte has published proposals to replace the TV licence fee with a public service broadcasting charge that would apply to all households.

He is expected to begin a public consultation on how the public service broadcasting charge will be applied and collected.

Rabbitte will also put forth new legislation to revise governance arrangements for the amount of advertising both public and commercial broadcasters are allowed to broadcast, RTÉ reported.

This could involve a cap in the number of minutes of advertising per hour that public-service broadcasters are allowed to transmit.

Watching TV image via Shutterstock

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com