RTÉ’S NEW director general Noel Curran has begun a major review of its structures and output to ensure the broadcaster remains relevant in the digital age and can operate in a financially viable manner.

In a note to staff yesterday, seen by The Irish Times, Mr Curran said the broadcaster would report a “substantial deficit” in its funding this year due to a reduction in licence fee income and the downturn in commercial revenue.

“This year will see substantial reductions in operating costs with more reductions in 2012. All aspects of our cost base are being examined,” he said.

RTÉ has yet to publish its 2010 annual report but its revenues in 2009 declined to €374.9 million from €440.7 million.

While its licence fee income was steady at just more than €200 million a year, total commercial revenues declined to €174.7 million from €239.9 million in 2008.

Its operating costs fell by 13 per cent to €401 million that year.

While RTÉ “must constantly strive to maintain and increase” its commercial income, Mr Curran said it should “remember” it depends on the licence fee.

“We must realise the importance of this to the mission of the organisation and be aware of the case for its maintenance.”

Mr Curran has set up an Output Strategy Group to review its overall television, news, radio and online content. He said the first meeting considered a number of “key questions” – “younger audiences and the work we can do to serve and satisfy them; how the organisation can respond to national crisis while remaining editorially independent; and the current review of RTÉ Two television”.

This group is being chaired by Mr Curran. He said it was important RTÉ was “structured properly” to ensure it was “best aligned to the new digital and economic realities that we all face”.

Mr Curran said RTÉ must not “stagnate as an organisation in these difficult times”.

He has initiated a digital strategy review, led by Glen Killane in its television arm and Muirne Laffan in publishing. “It will examine and make proposals on various aspects of RTÉ’s digital migration – from future online development and integration, to interaction with social media, to various platform options, to HD and increased access to the archive, among others,” Mr Curran explained.

He confirmed RTÉ will make a proposal to the National Newspapers of Ireland group about sharing its television news material on a pilot basis, as revealed by The Irish Times this month.

He said the catalyst for this was a conviction that RTÉ should seek strategic partnerships in the Irish media sector.

“We should seek out those with whom we share an interest in serving the public with Irish-originated media content of quality, produced from a sustainable base of enterprise.”

He is also undertaking a “major review” of RTÉ’s role in arts and culture, led by Clare Duignan, managing director of radio.