Newstalk have said they are "hugely disappointed" following RTÉ's claim that the broadcast of Newstalk's 'Move the Dial' TV ad on the state broadcaster last week was an error.
RTÉ aired the Newstalk 'Move the Dial' ad in full last week for the first time, following over one year refusing to do so. For the past year the broadcaster had deemed that the 'Move the Dial' slogan within the ad was a “call to action”, and thus against the station’s guidelines. The ad was barred from being aired on RTÉ.
It emerged earlier today that the ad had aired in its entirety, including the 'Move the Dial' slogan, but RTÉ has since told TheJournal.ie that: "a commercial which was not approved for broadcast on RTÉ was inadvertently loaded into our computerised transmission system and was therefore broadcast in error."
Despite initially appearing to have been a change of policy from RTE, the statement clarified that: "the relevant copy has now been removed and replaced by the copy approved for broadcast. There has been no change to RTÉ Guidelines in regard to approving copy."
Following RTE's initial refusal Newstalk offered alternative versions of the ad, without the slogan, which were also rejected by the state broadcaster.
Cliona Hayes, Group Marketing Director of Communicorp, responded to RTE's statement saying:“we are hugely disappointed to hear this was a mistake after RTÉ airing the ad numerous times over a full week. Just when we thought that RTE had come to their senses.
"As we have said before, RTÉ’s decision not to accept the ad in its original format is motivated by the desire to diminish the effectiveness of Newstalk’s campaign, and to curb the listenership of a competitor.
"This is clearly anti-competitive and an abuse of its dominant position. We lodged a complaint with the CCPC (Competition and Consumer Protection Commission) over a year ago and we expect to receive a decision presently," she added.
In April of last year Newstalk lodged an official complaint with the CCPC claiming a breach of the Irish and EU competition rules. Newstalk also lodged a complaint with the EU commission in Brussels, arguing that the TV licence fee money paid to RTE was not in accordance with state aid rules set out in the EU treaty. This investigation is ongoing.
