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The backstage drama behind RTÉ's new season

Some shows have been dropped, and many old faces are back, but the schedule isn’t as bare as expected. MICK HEANEY  looks at what it says about RTÉ’s cash troubles, and BERNICE HARRISON  gives a critic’s view

FOR ANYONE wondering how RTÉ has changed in the face of fiscal rectitude, the annual announcement of the new television season provides a telling barometer. In August 2008, as the network’s management team unveiled the line-up for the coming year, they sounded a bullish note. Noel Curran, the then-managing director of television, spoke of the “scale and ambition” of the new schedule and the “huge energy” around RTÉ, while Clare Duignan, the then-director of programmes, highlighted the “strength of commercial income”. It was the last hurrah for such confidence: the following month, the cataclysmic banking crisis struck.

With the network nursing a deficit of €34 million, yesterday’s launch of the 2011-12 television season had a more sober and reflective tone, compared to the back-slapping celebrations of yore. Glen Killane, the current managing director of television, talked in his speech about the “very substantial challenges” facing the cash-strapped national broadcaster, while re-affirming RTÉ’s commitment to its core programming functions.

Despite the sombre sentiments, however, the latest TV schedule is not nearly as threadbare as one might expect. The season promises 49 new home-produced documentaries and series, with a further 64 shows returning to our screens. there are surprisingly few high-profile casualties among the new schedule.

The station’s drama slate remains largely intact, even if there are now only 72 hours of home-produced fare, down 10 hours on last season. Fair City  , such programmes are part of a drive to ensure that RTÉ 2 has a lighter flavour during the week.

In keeping with Curran’s desire to preserve the network’s core public service functions, there has been no visible diminution of the current news and current affairs output, though budgets there have been cut in line with other departments, leading to less resources behind the scenes. The arts output seems particularly slim, with The View  the only such cultural show promised for the remainder of 2011. But there is a promise of a much rejuvenated artistic schedule in the new year, under the aegis of incoming arts commissioning editor Sarah Ryder.