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CHANGING THE TIME that The Late Late Toy Show airs would be “like getting rid of the Angelus”, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has told the Oireachtas Media Committee.
Bakhurst and other executives from the national broadcaster appeared before the committee this afternoon to answer questions on policy, governance, expenditure and administration.
The committee heard that RTÉ is looking to outsource its Lotto programming while Fair City may have to be made offsite going forward.
During the committee, Bakhurst was asked about the time that The Late Late Toy Show is broadcast.
This year’s show, which was broadcast last Friday, began at 9.35pm and finished just after midnight.
Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan said he “could not overemphasise” how successful the Toy Show is, but told Bakhurst that “every constituent in Wexford-Wicklow” asked him the following morning about the time that the show starts.
“It’s literally turned into a children’s stamina Olympics, and no one in the Brennan household got a gold medal,” he said.
During this year’s Toy Show, people also took to social media to say that they felt the show was on quite late in the evening when it comes to children being able to watch it and questioned whether an earlier time would be more appropriate.
Bakhurst said this year’s show was “massively successful”.
“At one point, four million people watched it on TV, 640,ooo watched it on the Player – not just in Ireland, globally,” he said.
“I have to say Patrick Kielty did a fantastic job, the kids on it were great, and I should also mention the Irish audience has donated €4.6 million to the Toy Show appeal. That’s over €30 million now that we’ve raised.”
On the airing time, Bakhurst did not appear convinced that changing it would be the right move.
“We have looked at the earlier time slot,” he said.
That would be changing a very successful institution. It’s almost like getting rid of the Angelus.
Committee chair Alan Kelly chimed in to say that children “get a night of staying up, I think they prefer it”.
“I’d keep it the way it is,” Kelly added.
Bakhurst also told the committee that RTÉ is looking at outsourcing its Lottery programming.
Under questioning from Social Democrat TD Sinéad Gibney at the Oireachtas Media Committee meeting today on what services RTÉ aims to source from the commercial sector, Bakhurst said that “radio, sport, news and current affairs will remain in-house”.
“We’ve already talked about Fair City and The Late Late publicly, and we’re doing feasibility on those,” he said.
He said Fair City will have to be made “off site” as RTÉ’s presence on the Donnybrook campus reduces, adding that the organisation was exploring whether it would continue as a “fully independent” or “hybrid” production.
Asked if there were any other programmes being assessed, Bakhurst said: “There are a few smaller things, yes.”
He added: “The Lotto will be going out, because that costs us a lot of money to do, and there’s a better way to do it and it also enables us to let a few more people leave who we couldn’t leave this year.”
Bakhurst also said RTÉ was working with an independent production company to create religious services programming, replacing the studio mass on Sunday.
He has repeatedly stated his intention to make the broadcaster a leaner organisation as it seeks to cut costs, the most significant of his efforts at RTÉ the capping of salaries at €250,000 per annum.
Bakhurst also told the Media Committee that he has not applied for the top job at the BBC.
BBC director-general Tim Davie announced his resignation in November following criticism of edits made to a speech made by US President Donald Trump in a Panorama documentary.
When asked if he would be applying for the job, Bakhurst said: “I don’t think I can leave because Marty Morrissey has told me I’m not allowed to.”
Later pressed on whether he would commit to staying at RTÉ for the duration of his contract, Bakhurst said: “Look, I haven’t applied and I’m very happy doing this job, that’s all I can say.”
He joked again in reference to his friendship with RTÉ sports commentator Morrissey: “But Marty’s (view) is obviously more important than my view on it.”
Bakhurst began his career at the BBC in 1990. He served as editor of the BBC Ten O’Clock News between 2003 and 2005 and went on to become the controller of the BBC News channel for seven years, before joining RTÉ for the first time in 2012.
He later returned to his native England to take up a post at Ofcom, the regulatory watchdog for the broadcasting industry in the UK.
He oversaw work on content standards and policy at Ofcom, including “taking on regulation of the BBC and preparations to become the regulator for video sharing platforms in the UK”, before being named to the Ofcom executive board in 2020.
With reporting from Press Association
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