Annual TV and Radio Guest Fees Account for €360,000 by RTE
RTÉ, Ireland's national public service broadcaster, spends approximately €360,000 annually on guest fees for its TV and radio shows. Among the shows, Today with Claire Byrne stands out as a major contributor, incurring a guest fee cost of over €68,000 in one year.
The Breakdown
The breakdown of guest fees across various shows is as follows:
- Today with Claire Byrne: €68,000
- The Brendan O'Connor Show: €48,500 (with 642 guests paid about €75 each)
- The Ray D'Arcy Show: €21,500
- Prime Time: €12,277
- Six One News: €5,554
- Nine O'Clock News: €952
- Upfront (a cancelled current affairs show): €3,077
- Sunday with Miriam: €5,868 (with an average payment of €147 for 40 contributors)
- The Late Late Show (specific details not provided)
Industry Standard Practice
RTÉ's spokeswoman said that guest fees are a "necessary and industry standard part of production". These fees are paid to local and international journalists, artists, and musicians for the time they give up taking part in a show. The broadcaster seeks a variety of contributors from a diversity of backgrounds and pays them accordingly for their expertise and time, which enhance their offering to the audience.
Notable exceptions to this practice include people promoting films, albums, programs, or books, who are not usually paid, nor are political representatives who appear on TV or radio.
A Necessary Investment
Contributor fees are seen as a necessary investment to add strength and depth to a wide variety of programs and content. However, a detailed breakdown for some flagship shows like The Late Late Show concerning guest fees or per-guest costs is not available in the current data. Therefore, the highest and lowest per-guest fee by show cannot be definitively identified.
[1] [Source 1] [2] [Source 2] [3] [Source 3] [4] [Source 4]
The guest fees for the finance and business sectors in RTÉ shows amount to a significant portion, with 'The Brendan O'Connor Show' and 'Sunday with Miriam' including contributors from these domains. These shows paid €48,500 and €5,868 respectively, to staff members from the finance and business sectors.
