Annual Reports - RTÉ

ANNUAL REPORT & GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2007Since its inception in 1988 over €42.5million has been raised through the RTÉPeople in Need Telethon; RTÉ supportedthe Telethon across all output platformsin 2007.Diarmuid’s Pony Kids enjoyed strongaudiences and was nominated for anIFTA in the Factual EntertainmentCategory.RTÉ Diversity, Irish Language and EducationProgrammes covered many aspects of Irishlife during 2007, and also gave the vieweran insight into a diversity of stories abroad.During the year Scannal, Oileán and NíosGaelai gave some new perspectives on lifein Ireland. No Place Like Home and Farawayup Close, as well as Storybook, Tall, Darkand O’ hAilpín and The Turkish Wives Cluball covered differing aspects of the diversitytheme both at home and across the world.The Festival of World Cultures returned witha different style and gained new audiences.With over 650 hours of home-producedprogrammes made especially for youngerviewers, RTÉ’s Young People’s programmingbrings a wide range of stories andexperiences from across the country toyoungsters living in Ireland. Last year sawthe successful introduction of a range of newseries including WE:TV, Kazoo, Ice and TheOnce a Week Show.RTÉ Entertainment produced a strong mixtureof returning series and innovative new showsin 2007 with The RTÉ People in NeedTelethon giving the viewers a special night oflive television which attracted huge audiencesand raised over €6 million for Irish charities.RTÉ Drama highlights in 2007 includedDamage and the critically acclaimedProsperity, with Fair City and The Clinicretaining huge audiences.RTÉ Regional continued an increased focuson programmes from outside of Dublin withpopular series such as Beyond Endurance,following armchair explorers as theyendeavoured to follow in the footsteps ofShackleton in the Antarctic and ConsumingPassions which showcased seemingly ordinarypeople with unusual obsessions. Feud wasa dark and challenging series which told thestory behind the infighting of some of Ireland’sdeadliest gangs.2007 also saw the return of a number ofpreviously successful programmes includingVets On Call, Animal Rescue, CrackingCrime and Ear to the Ground. One-offdocumentaries included The Green and theGold, profiling the history of Kerry footballand Sign Magic, featuring the work of artist,Tomas Tuipear, who transformed towns inwest Cork with his work.SportRTÉ Sport produced 700 hours of Televisionprogramming in 2007, a year of several firstsfor sport in Ireland.The GAA opened Croke Park for rugby andsoccer internationals, all were shown liveon RTÉ. The historic Ireland versus Englandgame broke all previous records for a rugbymatch on Irish television, with an averageaudience of 1 million viewers, peaking at 1.2million, making it the second highest ratedprogramme of the year on television. (Source:AGB Nielsen Media Research).In the GAA Championships RTÉ Televisionproduced 52 live matches along with weeklyhighlights and the popular magazine showThe Road to Croker. Audience figures forboth live matches and The Sunday Gameshowed significant increases.In soccer, 2007 brought a conclusionto Ireland’s unsuccessful Europeanchampionships campaign, with ten of Ireland’stwelve matches shown live on RTÉ. On thedomestic front RTÉ’s coverage of the EircomLeague doubled to ten live games along withthree matches in the FAI Ford Cup and DerryCity’s Champions League qualifiers.Coverage during 2007 also includedChampions League; an unprecedented 30days of live horse racing from Irish courses aswell as coverage from Cheltenham, Aintreeand Ascot; the World Rally Championship,hosted in Ireland for the first time; highlightsfrom the World Athletics Championships inOsaka, with Sonia O’Sullivan joining our teamof analysts; and the European Indoors AthleticsChampionships, where David Gillick won agold in the 400m. In September, highlightsfrom the Special Olympics in Shanghai,brought back memories of 2003, when Irelandbecame the first country outside of the US tohost the event.11