rt and rte redirect here . for other uses see rte disambiguation . raidi teilif s ireann type statutory corporation industry broadcasting founded 1 june 1960 ; 56 years ago 1960 06 01 headquarters donnybrook dublin ireland area served republic of ireland & northern ireland worldwide via internet satellite digital and analogue services key people dee forbes director general moya doherty chair of board services television and radio services publishing and e publishing teletext & web commercial telecoms services orchestras and performing arts and related . revenue 327.6 million 2013 number of employees 1 856 as of 31 december 2013 1 divisions rt television rt radio rt news and current affairs rt performing groups rt digital corporate hq central shared services subsidiaries rt commercial enterprises limited rt music limited saorview 2rn website www.rte.ie raidi teilif s ireann 2 irish pronunciation rad o t l f i e r n listen ; radio and television of ireland ; abbreviated as rt is a semi state company and the national public service broadcaster of ireland . it both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television radio and the internet . the radio service began on 1 january 1926 3 while regular television broadcasts began on 31 december 1961 4 making it one of the oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters in the world . rt also publishes a magazine called the rt guide published weekly which is orientated around rt television and radio . rt is financed by a television licence fee and through advertising . some rt services are only funded by advertising while other rt services are only funded by the licence fee . rt is a statutory body run by a board appointed by the government of ireland . general management of the organisation is in the hands of the executive board headed by the director general . rt is regulated by the broadcasting authority of ireland . radio ireann rt s predecessor and at the time a section of the department of posts and telegraphs was one of 23 founding organisations of the european broadcasting union in 1950 . contents 1 history 1.1 establishment and name 1.2 broadcasting ban 2 income and expenditure 2.1 budget 2.2 breakdown of the licence fee 2.3 rt personality salaries 3 organisation 3.1 rt board and executive board 4 broadcasting 4.1 radio 4.2 television 4.3 news 4.4 sport 4.5 internet 4.6 rt player 4.7 rt and netflix 5 other activities 5.1 digital 5.2 orchestras quartet & choirs 5.3 infrastructure 5.3.1 saorview 5.3.2 saorsat 5.4 library 5.5 logos 6 future of rt 6.1 finances 7 controversies involving rt 8 see also 9 further reading 10 references 11 external links history edit this section deals with the history of rt as an organisation . for details on this history of the various services see the separate articles on those services . for history of the broadcasting service prior to 1960 see minister for posts and telegraphs and rt radio 1 . establishment and name edit broadcasting in ireland began in 1926 with 2rn in dublin . from that date until june 1960 the broadcasting service 2rn later radio ireann operated as a section of the department of posts and telegraphs and those working for the service were directly employed by the irish government and regarded as civil servants . rt was established on 1 june 1960 as radio ireann under the broadcasting authority act 1960 the principal legislation under which it operates . the existing radio ireann service was transferred to the new authority which was also made responsible for the new television service telef s ireann . the television service started broadcasting on 31 december 1961 from the kippure transmitter site near dublin . eamonn andrews was the first chairman of radio ireann the first director general was edward roth . the name of the authority was changed at the suggestion of ine n cheanainn to radio telef s ireann 5 by the broadcasting authority amendment act 1966 and both the radio and television services became known as rt in that year . the broadcasting act 2009 section 113 changed the name of the organisation from radio telef s ireann to raidi teilif s ireann to reflect the proper spelling of the name in irish . however the station retains radio telef s ireann carved in stone at the entrance to its donnybrook headquarters in dublin . broadcasting ban edit under section 31 of the broadcasting authority act 1960 the minister for posts and telegraphs of the day could direct rt not to broadcast any matter or any matter of any particular class . 6 in 1971 the first such directive was issued by gerry collins directing rt not to broadcast any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in promotes encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objective by violent means . 7 a year later collins dismissed the entire rt authority over a report of an interview with se n mac st of in the chief of staff of the provisional ira . rt reporter kevin o kelly who reported the mac stiof in interview was jailed briefly for contempt in a court case arising out of the interview . kelly refused to identify mac stiof in s as the voice on a tape seized from his house by the garda s och na police . in 1976 conor cruise o brien minister for posts and telegraphs amended section 31 and thereafter issued a new annually based directive to the rt authority . 8 rt was now explicitly banned from broadcasting interviews or reports of interviews with spokespersons for sinn f in the provisional ira or any organisation banned in northern ireland under the uk s northern ireland emergency provisions act 1973 . these directives were reissued on an annual basis until the final one appeared in january 1993 . 9 during the late 1970s rt was accused of extending the censorship rules into a system of self censorship . a small minority of programme makers also emerged who approved of section 31 particularly supporters of the workers party formerly sinn f in the workers party including eoghan harris and gerry gregg who opposed that party s official policy . opponents of censorship were portrayed as secret ira sympathizers . the effect of this ban was greater than and similar to though less harsh than clarification needed the censorship provision introduced in 1988 in the united kingdom . the uk ban did not prevent reports of interviews with spokespersons . this allowed interviews using actors voices dubbing the direct speech of censored persons . this was not permissible on rt . in 1992 93 in o toole vs rt rt was found by the high court and supreme court to have illegally and unconstitutionally extended the censorship ban to sinn f in members who were not speaking on behalf of the party . the rt ban did not affect uk stations broadcasting in the republic of ireland as until 1988 at least viewers in the republic were still able to hear the voices of sinn f in representatives . income and expenditure edit budget edit the following figures were issued by rt as part of their annual report in 2012 . 10 in 2012 rt received in total 180 894 000 in public funding from the licence fee it also received 127 100 000 in commercial revenue . rt total expenditure in 2012 was 327 023 000 . they had restructuring costs of 46 161 000 in 2012 . losses for the year came to 65 147 000 . profit and loss across radio television and online services . income type rt one rt two rt television radio 1 2fm lyric fm rnag total radio rt performing groups rt . ie dtt costs other channels tg4 support licence fee 56 139 53 456 109 595 14 472 5 439 5 871 10 697 36 479 11 949 4 069 3 366 1 752 7 764 commercial income 65 351 30 007 95 358 17 619 5 452 700 n a 23 771 2 608 4 295 n a n a n a total income 121 490 83 463 204 953 32 091 10 891 6 571 10 697 60 250 14 557 8 364 3 366 1 752 7 764 expenditure 129 737 91 313 221 050 35 720 11 488 6 571 10 697 64 476 14 557 8 962 3 366 1 752 7 764 profit loss 8 247 7 850 16 097 2 125 797 0 0 2 922 0 598 0 0 0 rt receives income from two main sources the television licence fee . within the state it is necessary to pay a fee of 160 per annum to legally possess any piece of equipment capable of receiving television signals not necessarily those of rt . this money is collected by an post on behalf of the minister for communications energy and natural resources . the state pays for tv licence inspectors who have the power to obtain and execute search warrants of private houses . failure to possess a valid television licence can result in a fine and a criminal record . commercial revenue including the sale of advertising and sponsorship . in the early 1990s minister ray burke imposed commercial revenue quotas to limit the amount of revenue that rt could procure through advertising in view of the corporation s licence fee income . while such quotas were later removed rt radio and television is still limited to 6 minutes of advertising per hour . the commercial division owned 0.086 % of the intelsat satellite firm which they sold in 2005 . even though commercial quotas have been removed commercial revenue and the license fee each contribute roughly half of the organization s income . the licence fee does not fund rt 2fm rt aertel rt guide or the website rt . ie 11 however each of these brands are indirectly funded by the licence fee through the use of content that is funded by the licence fee such as news and current affairs . breakdown of the licence fee edit breakdown of the tv licence 11 12 use 2010 2009 2008 rt one 61.03 62.00 59.35 rt 2 36.20 31.57 34.09 rt television total 97.23 93.56 93.44 rt radio 1 13.08 16.70 14.24 rt 2fm 0.00 0.00 0.00 rt rnag 8.50 9.06 10.73 rt lyric fm 5.05 5.24 5.78 rt radio total 26.63 31.00 30.75 rt performing groups 9.07 9.48 11.02 rt total 132.93 134.05 135.21 rt support to tg4 6.36 7.50 7.89 bai levy 1.04 0.63 0.00 bai sound and vision fund 10.57 8.45 7.53 an post collection costs 9.10 9.37 9.37 total non rt costs 27.07 25.95 24.79 total cost 160.00 160.00 160.00 rt personality salaries edit rt s director general in october 2009 said there was no question that by today s standards the salaries paid to its top presenters in 2008 were excessive . i have to repeat that they were set at a different time in a different competitive reality where some of this talent might be up for poaching by other organisations and in rt s view at the time they delivered value for money . 13 fine gael said the high salaries were rubbing salt in the wounds for people who had lost their jobs or taken significant pay cuts . labour criticised rt for not releasing the data sooner and said this information should be easily available and there should be no question of concealing it or making it in any way inaccessible . 14 many of the highest paid stars are not technically members of staff but are paid through separate companies enabling them and the station to avoid paying tax on their salaries . 15 organisation edit main articles rt authority rt executive and director general of rt rt board and executive board edit