Broadcasting Act 2009

The Broadcasting Act 2009 (Number 18 of 2009) is an Act of the Oireachtas of Ireland. It was signed into law on 12 July 2009, although the provisions relating to the establishment of the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland did not come into force until a Statutory Instrument was made giving them effect on 30 September 2009.

The Act covers mainly regulation and broadcasting and digital switchover in Ireland.

The Act provides for the establishment of a single content regulator, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), which will take over the roles currently held by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) in as well as a range of new functions and was constituted during 2009 and the existing bodies were wound up on the same date. There will continue to be an element of separation, with a Contract Awards Committee and Compliance Committee being constituted as committees of the BAI's main board.

The BAI will have power to award programme contracts (as at present, the Commission for Communications Regulation will continue to issue the broadcasting licences proper) in the independent sector and ensure that all broadcasters, public and private, comply with contract conditions and standard. It will regulate enforcement of sound broadcasting conditions and public service broadcasters for the first time as well as commercial broadcasters, with RTÉ and TG4 becoming semi state companies and will take on a greater role in terrestrial television regulation as new Irish channels emerge on the new more spectrum capacity extensive DTT platform.

Television and radio stations will face fines of up to €250,000 if they infringe codes of conduct or licence requirements under the Act's stricter enforcement mechanism. These new financial penalties replace the current limited redress available to the BCI of revoking licences for infringement of licences or codes.

Modernisation of sound broadcasting contracts including the availability of 'fast-tracked' applications, licence enforcement, legal definitions regarding TV licence and contract awards are a features of the new law.

Changes to the public service broadcasters and the allocation of public funding is also heralded in the new Act following on from discussion with the European Commission recently. It updates and revises the legislation relating to RTÉ and TG4 and establishes the framework for two new public service broadcasters, an Irish Film Channel and an Oireachtas channel.

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