| Republican News · Thursday 23 January 2003
Times have changed Time was that writing about the media in Ireland began and ended with Independent Newspapers, RTÉ and an Irish Times locked in its tower of all that is good and pure in South Dublin. Now, while the Times is still regrouping after running up million euro losses, the face of the media industry in Ireland has changed fundamentally. More than ten years of commercial radio and nearly 30 new stations, two new domestic terrestrial TV stations, ever growing cable and satellite services and a phenomenal pace of technological change has created a larger, more diverse, but also more connected media industry. While we used to think of media as being something to do with newspapers, radio and television, our canvas today is much more broad and covers everything from the web and mobile phones to video rental stores and the humble local newspaper. All of these things and more are part of modern media markets that ultimately defy definition. For example, Independent Newspapers, a company of the last century, is now renamed Independent News and Media (INM) and is a company for the future. What has also changed is the role of Independent News and Media. Yes it is still the dominant force and is today a much larger and more profitable company than five or ten years ago, but they are not having it all their own way. Other media multinationals are here in numbers and with deep pockets, snapping up newspapers and radio stations, having already hoovered up cable companies, Internet service providers, phone companies and even video shop chains. What is certain is that Irish-owned media is thin on the ground in Ireland today.
The Independent Empire The demise of the Press Group in 1995 created a crisis for the Dublin government, which had up until then refused to regulate media ownership in the print industry, letting the Independent's stable of papers grow and grow. The closure of the three Press titles meant that in key markets, the Independent was now not just the dominant force but the only one. In the lucrative Dublin evening market, the Herald had a clear field and in terms of a national daily broadsheet, the Independent was being read all over the 26 Counties, with the Examiner and Times unable to break out of their local markets. The response of the government was to prevent an INM bailout of the Press Group and halt it increasing its shareholding in the Sunday Tribune. At the time of the Press Group collapse, Independent had built up a 29.9% share in the Tribune and nearly 25% of the Press Group. This was a temporary setback for INM. It began to consolidate its holdings in Australia, South Africa and bought more extensively into the British regional and national press, culminating in the successful takeover of the two English Independent broadsheet titles. Its Irish interests only account for 28% of total INM business. By this stage in the 26 Counties, INM had an impressive stable of papers. Nationally it had complete ownership of the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday World, a 50% stake in the Star, 30% in the Sunday Tribune and 11 regional papers, based mainly on the East coast (see panel 1). However its market power does not end there; it also has ownership of Newspread, a distribution company that along with Easons dominates the distribution of printed papers and magazines in the 26 Counties. In the last year, the final cornerstone in INM's print business was laid, with the opening of its high tech printing works on the Naas Road. Print media is only one aspect of Independent News and Media's business. It has moved into the cable TV business through Chorus, which along with NTL has bought out all the small cable operators, giving us two cable giants. INM has also become an all-Ireland media company, with its purchase in the Six Counties of the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life which, in a move to pacify unionist opposition to the buyout, are run through INM's British operations. Independent's media web does not quite end here. The purchase of Eircom's fixed line business for ¤3 billion by the Tony O'Reilly-led Valentia consortium has created another link to INM, as it is O'Reilly and his family who are the driving force behind INM business strategy.
The new kids INM is still a growing company in Irish media markets, but it is not alone. New market entrants have shown the same acquisitiveness and desire for market power and some have much deeper pockets than Beano O'Reilly and his family.
Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) Three years ago it would have been a case of Scottish Radio who? This is a company that own now owns five papers in the 26 Counties (see Panel 2). Last year, it paid ¤9.1 million for the Longford Leader, 15 times its annual profits and with a circulation of 13,000. That works out at around ¤700 per buyer of the paper. This came after spending ¤35 million on the Kilkenny People Group, ¤1.5 million on the Leitrim Observer, and ¤60 million to buy the 74% of Today FM they didn't already own. In July, SRH tried to buy up the Country Station Dublin 106, but the deal collapsed. SRH is also an all-Ireland media group. In the Six Counties, it owns Downtown Radio, Cool FM and the Morton chain of 12 local newspapers.
Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) The mainstay of this company is the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo, but TCH has also been on the acquisition trail, especially as it tries to break out of its southern base into the lucrative Dublin and East coast markets. Its first approach has been to revamp the Examiner, which went from being the Cork Examiner, to The Examiner and now the Irish Examiner. Last April, TCH paid ¤10 million for the Sunday Business Post, its sixth purchase in two years. It has nine local papers (see panel 3) and radio interests that include North West Radio and Mid West Radio and the youth orientated Red FM in Cork. TCH is still looking for other purchases in radio, print or even Internet, where it has interests in RecruitIreland.com and MotorNet.ie.
Murdoch Media Rupert Murdoch's News International is a strange beast in the Irish media industry. It has yet to acquire any Irish-owned outlets but has instead imported its four British brands of Times, Sun, Sunday Times and News of the World with varying degrees of success. All have significantly increased Irish content and this is reflected in growing sales. The other arm of Murdoch BskyB has been flexing muscle in the Irish market, with its capture of the television rights to FAI European qualifier matches. The outcry has now subsided and it is clear that neither outraged public opinion nor the Dublin government could change the sneak deal. Earlier in 2002, RTÉ also did a deal with SKY to carry their channels on its satellite platform.
UTV UTV is one of the strangest players in the Irish media industry. One of the most profitable but least active TV franchises in the British ITV system, it now wants to become an Irish media giant. UTV was to be the original anchor shareholder in TV3. Then they fell out with the 26-County regulators and offloaded their share to CanWest Global. CanWest, the largest purchaser of US TV and film output outside of the USA and who own TV3 clone stations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, then turned around and bought 30% of UTV's shares in sneak stock market manoeuvres. UTV is now not just a TV station but is also trying to establish itself as an Internet Service Provider on the island and has branched out into radio now also. The station now owns County Sound in Cork and last April splashed out ¤15.7 million on Limerick's Treaty Radio. Just before Christmas, UTV jumped again, shelling out ¤14 million for Dublin's Lite FM which, with a 12% share of the Dublin market, is barely breaking even. The Broadcasting Commission in Ireland had prevented UTV from buying FM104, but once its licence is renewed, it too is bound to be back on the market, along with many other stations. UTV is also involved in a company called Bocom, which supplies advertising, news and weather content to high quality plasma screens used increasingly in public areas.
TV3 Although only one company, TV3 is the Trojan horse in the Irish media. Originally owned by a range of Irish investors and the already mentioned CanWest Global, it is on the verge of becoming a subsidiary of Granada, Britain's largest commercial TV company, which is on the verge of taking over its nearest competitor, Carlton communications. Granada's growth was prompted by laxer ownership regulations in the 1990s and what was a market of 15 commercial TV stations in Britain has been concentrated into two major players, and now looks like being just one. ¤48 million got Granada 45% of TV3 in 2000 and already under pressure RTÉ had to then cope with the immediate loss of Coronation Street. The combination of Granada's huge library of TV programmes and the buying power of both Granada and CanWest to secure US imports has eroded RTÉ's market share and advertising revenue. Now Granada is looking to buy out CanWest altogether. The merger with Carlton will mean that UTV will probably become part of the group. Then we will have our first all-Ireland TV group, albeit a wholly British owned one and with none of the obligations RTÉ has to produce domestic programmes.
The minnows with bite One group trying to grow to avoid being eaten by the sharks is the Leader Group, which includes five titles, including the Leinster Leader. In 2001, it bought the Dundalk Democrat. This year, the Leinster Leader consolidated its position further by buying the Limerick Leader Stable for _¤20 million. other group of titles is owned by the British Trinity Mirror Group and includes the Derry Journal as well as the Newsletter in Belfast. Trinity Mirror has over 250 titles in Britain and its Irish operations are only a small part of the group. Their strategy in Ireland is unclear as they spent ¤7 million in 1997 buying the Sunday Business Post only to sell it last year. For now, they seem content to have a small northern presence. Then are there the ever-decreasing number of smaller independents, such as the Connacht Tribune and Meath Chronicle. The Chronicle, which has not just a strong news title but also an extensive print works, was sold just weeks ago for ¤30.5 million to Dunfermline Press, another Scottish newspaper group.
The great white sharks While we often think of media as covering newspapers, radio and TV, phone communication is every bit as important and as profitable. Five years ago, Ireland had domestically owned fixed line, mobile and cable companies. Today, the complete opposite is the case. What was Eircell is now part of Vodafone, which is the world's largest mobile phone company, with over 100 million customers in 28 states and one of the largest communication companies. 02 was the mobile subsidiary of British Telecom, which bought ESAT Digifone in 2000 for over £2 billion. Eircom is now owned by the O'Reilly-led Valentia consortium NTL is familiar to soccer fans as its logo is on Celtic, Rangers, Newcastle and Aston Villa shirts. It spent the late 1990s building one of the world's largest cable companies, acquiring the Irish Cablelink company from RTÉ and Eircom for over ¤500 million. Now it is struggling against bankruptcy but still as a company dwarfs most of the Irish media giants.
The Silent Giants So, who are Ireland's largest and most potent media companies? Well they are not O'Reilly or Murdoch but two silent giants, AoL Time Warner and Viacom, which have a huge grip on our media consumption. Most people who use a computer end up using Microsoft products and most people who watch TV end up watching a Time Warner programme or film. Not convinced? Well have you watched Friends, Band Of Brothers, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, the West Wing or ER lately? These are just some of Time Warner's products. Maybe you have CNN on your cable. Maybe you have watched one of the first two Lord Of the Rings films or watched Harry Potter? Oh, and by the way, Warner Music is the world's largest music company too. And we didn't mention the magazines or Internet products sold by AoL either. Viacom is another silent media giant. Have you rented a video lately? Well if you went to Xtravision or Blockbuster you were handing over money to Viacom. Have you been to a UCI cinema? Well again Viacom is one the beneficiaries. Have you watched a Paramount of United International Pictures film? Maybe you have been watching MTV or Nickelodeon or the Letterman show or CBS news or Crime Scene Investigates, Rugrats, Buffy, Survivor or maybe the latest Star Trek spin off. Well, this consumption is again racking up the dollars for Viacom.
Happy endings? We use media products all the time for information, entertainment and business. What is an important web of products and physical infrastructure in Ireland is now almost completely out of Irish hands. Chances are these companies will keep you reading, watching, listening and talking, but what are the real costs, short and long term?
Independent News and Media
Daily Irish Independent Daily Star (50%) Evening Herald
Sunday Sunday Independent Sunday World Sunday Tribune (30%)
Six Counties Belfast Telegraph Sunday Life
Local Papers The Kerryman The Corkman Drogheda Independent Dundalk Argus Fingal Independent Bray People Wexford People Wicklow People Carlow People New Ross Standard Gorey Guardian
New Media Chorus Unison.ie
Scottish Radio Holdings
Local papers Longford Leader, Kilkenny People Group Tipperary Star National and Munster Advertiser Leitrim Observer Morton Group (12 papers)
Radio Today FM Downtown Radio Cool FM
Thomas Crosbie Holdings
Papers Irish Examiner Evening Echo Sunday Business Post
Local Papers The Kingdom Sligo Weekender Newry Democrat Down Democrat Western People Waterford News and Star The Nationalist Kildare Nationalist Laois Nationalist
Radio North West Radio Mid West Radio Red FM in Cork.
New Media RecruitIreland.com MotorNet.ie. Thomas Crosbie Media
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