Poll: Are you worried about who owns Ireland's media?

THE ISSUE OF who owns what Irish media outlet was again raised after the announcement that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is to takeover the Wireless Group, formerly UTV.

A survey carried out earlier this year found that Irish people are avid consumers of news, with 84% of respondents accessing some news every day and more than half accessing news several times a day.

Several new media outlets, such as Her.ie and Joe.ie owner Maxim Media, have also been established in Ireland in recent years.

However, a report carried out for the European Commission earlier this year found that Ireland is exposed to a “high risk” over its concentration of media ownership.

The study noted that Irish competition imposes no maximum media ownership thresholds, although a 2014 Act points to the “undesirability of allowing any one undertaking to hold significant interests [20% share] within a sector or across different sectors of media business in the State”.

It added that businessman Denis O’Brien ”enjoys a dominant position within the print and the commercial radio sector”.

This is due to his near 30% share in Ireland’s largest print group Independent News and Media and his position as the chairman and principal shareholder of Communicorp, which accounts for 20% of the radio market in Ireland.

Multiple reports at the weekend suggested that Irish-American businessman John Malone’s Liberty Global, which acquired TV3 last year, is weighing up a takeover of fledgling television station UTV Ireland.

This follows on from news last week that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which owns a string of Irish editions of several publications including the Sunday Times, has made an offer for Wireless Group, which owns half a dozen Irish radio stations.

So with all that in mind, we’re asking readers: Are you worried about who owns Ireland’s media?