![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rt-not-in-the-business-of-being-cheap-as-chips-says-kevin-bakhurst.jpg\")
Fine Gael TD Grace Boland (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\nRT\u00c9 is \u201cnot in the business of being cheap as chips\u201d, the national broadcaster\u2019s director-general said, as he admitted some outsourced productions have increased in price.<\/p>\n
Kevin Bakhurst said RT\u00c9 was \u201ctightening its belt\u201d as it strengthened its financial position and \u201creversed the trend of reporting deficits\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he said it was \u201cimpossible\u201d to give overall cost savings from outsourcing programmes to the independent sector<\/p>\n
Public service media… is a public good and it does require public investment<\/p>\n
Kevin Bakhurst <\/p>\n
Bakhurst appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday after new payment controversies emerged at the station, defending RT\u00c9 as not a \u201ctinpot\u201d organisation.<\/p>\n
On the overall financial position, he said the reversal from deficits arose out of \u201ctighter cost controls\u201d supported by a new commercial strategy \u2013 as well as the Government\u2019s multiannual funding commitment from 2025.<\/p>\n
The director-general said he would \u201cappeal very strongly\u201d for a similar multiannual commitment when it next comes for review in 2027.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst said RT\u00c9 was driving commercial funding \u201cas hard as we can\u201d, but added: \u201cIn the end, public service media \u2013 in my view and in our view \u2013 is a public good and it does require public investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked by Fine Gael TD Grace Boland how much additional state funding RT\u00c9 would be looking for from 2028, Bakhurst said discussions had not started.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe will need public funding. We will need funding from either the licence fee or a similar source of public funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fine Gael TD Grace Boland (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n
Asked if it would be a reduced amount, he said these were choices to be made by the media regulator, the Oireachtas and the Government.<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 has committed to outsourcing programming as part of a strategy of cost reduction and supporting the independent production sector.<\/p>\n
Up For The Match, which airs as two specials on the eves of the All-Ireland hurling and football finals, is among programmes to be outsourced.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst told the committee the revised format of the show will cost RT\u00c9 more than the in-house production.<\/p>\n
The director-general said the organisation makes a \u201cbusiness case\u201d for each outsourced programme but added that public value is a question of cost and \u201cdelivering the best quality programme\u201d for its audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe value of something is not just how much we pay for it; it\u2019s what the value is to the audience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Up For The Match is \u201ccosting a little bit more\u201d as it has changed from a studio-based show to a live production from Croke Park.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst said it had sought ideas from the independent sector through a \u201cproper process\u201d and \u201cchose the very best creative idea\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked for the overall cost saving from outsourcing, Mr Bakhurst said this was \u201cimpossible to say\u201d.<\/p>\n
They may use AI tools, but in the end, the humans will do the journalism<\/p>\n
Kevin Bakhurst<\/p>\n
He told Boland: \u201cIt\u2019s not solely about \u2018is it a cheaper programme?\u2019; we\u2019re not in the business of being cheap as chips. We\u2019re in the business of providing high-quality content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed on whether outsourcing had seen an increase in costs for taxpayers, he said: \u201cSome are cheaper and some are more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bakhurst said potential \u201cefficiencies\u201d identified in consultant-led reviews into the news and operations divisions will \u201cfeed into\u201d targets for voluntary exit programmes.<\/p>\n
He said artificial intelligence had replaced a \u201cvery insignificant number\u201d of jobs in RT\u00c9 so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re taking, you know, I would say a relatively measured approach to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said RT\u00c9 \u201cwill always have human oversight of journalistic decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked by Social Democrats TD Aiden Farrelly to clarify this comment, he said: \u201cWhat it means is you have editors and journalists and producers who are doing the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may use AI tools, but in the end, the humans will do the journalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to generate our journalism via AI, but AI is already a useful tool that we already use in some areas in news and current affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 is \u201cnot in the business of being cheap as chips\u201d, the national broadcaster\u2019s director-general said, as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-541127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}