RTE Revamp 2006

seamus21514

Does anybody know anything about it? It will be done by Red Bee Media.

Mossy Monk

rebranding time again?

i like how RTE One looks at the moment
not too fond of RTÉ Two though

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Same old ****, think you very much. Hardly worth starting a thread over.

lostexpectation

they siad they were going to redo the website, as in put effort into it.

FREEBBC

seamus21514 wrote:

Does anybody know anything about it? It will be done by Red Bee Media.

Red Bee media is the BBC company:)

flogen

FREEBBC wrote:

Red Bee media is the BBC company:)

Was; they sold it last year and now it's an independent company.

Wikipedia

Red Bee Media was formerly BBC Broadcast Limited. BBC Broadcast was created by the BBC in 2002, by placing a range of BBC channel creation and channel management services under one roof, as part of an agreement with the British Government to create a commercial division that could supplement the BBC licence fee income, thus keeping the licence fee increases down in the future. The other entities within the commercial division were BBC Worldwide, BBC Resources and BBC Technology.

On 1 August 2005, BBC Broadcast, together with its subsidiaries, was sold for GBP 166 million to Creative Broadcast Services Limited, a company specifically set up for the purchase which is jointly owned by Australian-based Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Bank Limited. As a consequence of the sale, the company was renamed "Red Bee Media" on 27th October 2005. Shortly after, Red Bee bought Broadcasting Data Services ("BDS") from BBC Worldwide thus strengthening their EPG and programme metadata offering.

Mossy Monk

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Same old ****, think you very much. Hardly worth starting a thread over.

did someone have a gun to your head when you made your reply? if you have nothing to say then dont bother

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Ah, but I did say something.... Look closely

Phen

I remember Marty Whelan said something about a new RTÉ logo on his radio show a good while back but I doubt they'll get rid of their logo - they have built up a successful branding image with it so it's not time for it to go yet.

seamus21514

That would be stupid, because the logo is fine. If there would be a new logo I'm sure we'd get something like this:
:mad:

Well, I hope the news revamp will be actully good quality.

patrickmooney

That would be more like something TV3 would have! Good though!

lostexpectation

flogen wrote:

Was; they sold it last year and now it's an independent company.

Wikipedia

tsk wow that was nicely hadnled privatisation!

seamus21514

patrickmooney wrote:

That would be more like something TV3 would have! Good though!

That was sarcastic. That is ITV 1's ident. Red bee did that. It is bland and uninspired. Red Bee is doing rte's ident's and news set, and with the possibility of a new logo, it would be bland like that. The current logo is fine though, especially with the styleized fada.

flogen

I think the RTÉ logo is fine; it's simple, clear and not too stuffy or fancy... given that they want to have brand uniformity across the channels and that RTÉ Two has only rebranded rather recently I doubt they will change the logo, however. The rebrand is for RTÉ One only and while the site is also being done up I doubt there'd be major changes in that regard.

I'd place my bets on a complete brand overhaul when they launch additional Digital TV services at the earliest, which is probably at least 2 years away.

seamus21514

Well, the part I'm looking forward to most is the new news set next month. I hope they actually put effort in to it.

Elmo

I think the RTÉ logo is fine; it's simple, clear and not too stuffy or fancy... given that they want to have brand uniformity across the channels and that RTÉ Two has only rebranded rather recently I doubt they will change the logo, however. The rebrand is for RTÉ One only and while the site is also being done up I doubt there'd be major changes in that regard.

I find the current branding of RTE boring and uninspired. RTE TWO's current GREEN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Idents are highly unimagintive, unlike the last Second channel rebrand of N2.

They need something like the Channel 4 Idents.

BBC2 needs a revamp IMO as does BBC1.

That was sarcastic. That is ITV 1's ident. Red bee did that. It is bland and uninspired. Red Bee is doing rte's ident's and news set, and with the possibility of a new logo, it would be bland like that. The current logo is fine though, especially with the styleized fada.

I don't think they plan a rebrand of RTÉ that would be DAFT after spending the last two years placing RTÉ in front of all of their TV Channels and Radio Stations, and other companies. Thank god TG4 were saved from such an uninspiring rebrand.

seamus21514

Well with the logo I was refering to phen's post.

flogen

Elmo wrote:

I find the current branding of RTE boring and uninspired. RTE TWO's current GREEN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Idents are highly unimagintive, unlike the last Second channel rebrand of N2.

They need something like the Channel 4 Idents.

BBC2 needs a revamp IMO as does BBC1.

Yeah, but the actual RTÉ logo won't change (as you point out)

I don't think they plan a rebrand of RTÉ that would be DAFT after spending the last two years placing RTÉ in front of all of their TV Channels and Radio Stations, and other companies. Thank god TG4 were saved from such an uninspiring rebrand.

I'd say it would have been subjected to such only for the slight potential of it going independent in the near future (whatever small chance that is); they'd rather not rebrand it as RTÉ TG4 only for the station to have to rebrand back to TG4 in a few years time... that would make it TnaG -> TG4 -> RTÉ TG4 -> TG4

seamus21514

Well if they were to rebrand tg4 as rte, it would be rte cathair.

flogen

seamus21514 wrote:

Well if they were to rebrand tg4 as rte, it would be rte cathair.

What happened to RTÉ Trí?

watty

No TG4 is by legislation due to leave the RTE stable. It can't be rebranded RTE anything.

Though TV3 is the fouth channel and TG4 the third. An accident of Irish commerce.

seamus21514

I know, but i was say hypothetically, if it was to be branded as an RTE channel.

seamus21514

flogen wrote:

What happened to RTÉ Trí?

good point...

watty

Rather than spending money on Logos, branding and american junk I weish they would pay for some locally produced imaginative TV.

Elmo

What happened to RTÉ Trí?

that would be RTÉ á Trí

Well since much of what TG4 do is fairly independent it wouldn't be in their interest to be considered RTÉ.

seamus21514

They are in an temp set!!!

Owen

RTE? I purposefully don't watch it anymore. TG4 was a mistake, and shouldn't have been aired, the right thing to do would have been to create a sports channel instead of interrupting saturdays and sundays with sport on both RTE1 and RTE2 at the same time.

And don't get me started on the line up of programmes they still have!

RTE - Programming from 10 years ago trying to cut it today ...

seamus21514

The lighting in the tempp set is very dodgy, and there are no wide shots. Otherwise, the average guy probaly don't know that it is a temp news set.

also, when I"m at home, I watch tg4, more so than tv3. I think tg4 was a good idea cause i can speak it.

L1011

Can some arrange a txtspeek to Ireland translator please?

seamus21514

I didn't use text speak.

seamus21514

Some caps courtsey of Phen of TVF:




It's darker, no plasma, and I must say, If it had better lighting, it would look way better than the (as I'm happy to say now) "old" set. Looks way more spacious.

Elmo

TG4 was a mistake

No I think you might find that TV3 was the mistakes.
TG4 not only provide actually Public Service Broadcasting but have proven that other people outside of RTE can make far better TV on far less money.
TV3 could easily provide the sporting coverage, prime-time features and drama that TG4 provide and still have enough money to give to their shareholders. And still provide all the ITV 1 ****.

seamus21514

Can we get back on topic? if you want to talk about tg4 ot tv3, please do it in another thread please. This is about rte, not those channels.

L1011

seamus21514 wrote:

I didn't use text speak.

...made about as much sense as to me, to be honest.

Mossy Monk

good point. if anyone wants to talk about the merits of TV3 or TG4 please do so in another thread

thanks

seamus21514

Somebody over at TVF found out that the studio will a have a LED Videowall!

DMC

Ahh, it must be August in RTÉ News.... they only have to use the studio twice a day. People slag off RTÉ News for the 30 minute Six-one for the month, but, there would be an awful lot of filler if they continued to broadcast for the hour.

Anyway... I hope this thread isn't just a report on whats being discussed on another forum.

seamus21514

But the thing is, is that the leads on these dvelopments aren't happening here, so I look other plases. I got the leads from Telefis and Phen from TVF if you wanted to know.

here is the thread:
http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15258&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=708

Elmo

I amn't the best at writing post and most of my grammar is terrible (as is my spelling) But you should really read over your posts.

thanks for the link.

there would be an awful lot of filler if they continued to broadcast for the hour.

And their isn't any thing happening around the world, If WW3 starts in August RTE would still only have half an hour. It's not like they save money by having a half hour edition during august.

But this is Off the topic as pointed out in other posts.

DMC

Ah yes, TV Forum. Asa Hicks' site. Its a good vibrant forum, its not a place that I frequent too often, but certainly it has cornered the TV News and mock logos niche in the all the TV boards/forums/mailing lists that exist out there.

As for the 30 minute news, I think its connected and not too OT from the rebrand, in that it certainly gives them the time to rejig the studio.

WW3 could be occuring in the Middle East at the mo, but Irish politicians are camping it up in Galway, business news is light enough, and its the silly season in the press. RTÉ News has the right balance during August, I feel.

Anyway, before I digress any further...

watty

I have to listen to BBC r4 fior an extra half hour. All year they get up about an hour later than BBC, so why should I grumble about the extra 1/2 hr of stupid music instead of a rolliing news / magasine / current affairs in the morning.

seamus21514

What does this have to do with an RTE Revamp? Start a new thread if your willing to talk about it.

DMC

Its relevant to the RTÉ news slowdown during August, like Six-One is reduced to 30 minutes, Morning Ireland gets a lie-in until 7:30am.

Mossy Monk

seamus21514 wrote:

What does this have to do with an RTE Revamp? Start a new thread if your willing to talk about it.

in future please report a post if you are feeling it is in the wrong place

Elmo

While not wanting to go off the topic. I will try to tie in what I am about to say with regards to the RTE Revamp.

I assume the RTE Revamp is part of getting ready for DTT. They want a News Channel, and the other TV News Outlets aren't cutting their news outputs. Surely if RTE want a News Channel they shouldn't be cutting their News output during the summer months. IMO.

I hope that this ties in nicely to their revamp.

flogen

Elmo wrote:

While not wanting to go off the topic. I will try to tie in what I am about to say with regards to the RTE Revamp.

I assume the RTE Revamp is part of getting ready for DTT. They want a News Channel, and the other TV News Outlets aren't cutting their news outputs. Surely if RTE want a News Channel they shouldn't be cutting their News output during the summer months. IMO.

I hope that this ties in nicely to their revamp.

Well yes, there's no hope for an RTÉ News Channel if they can't put out a full news bulletin for a decent portion of the year; what are they going to do? Switch off RTÉ News 24 during the summer or just show the entire back catalogue of Prime Time and QandA?

seamus21514

Another problem with the news channel is that it couldn't be rolling cause of some gaelic bulitens. Sure, I speak it, but I don't mind watching english tv, but I know other people would fight it.

DMC

People still seem to think that RTÉ will launch a news channel... in reality, it won't happen, in so far as they still don't have breakfast TV nor does it have the money or will to do it. RTÉ gave up on the idea years ago. Rolling news channels are very expensive, as ITV found out last year. They saw that they can better use their news funds in boosting the main channels local and national news bulletins, rather than have a news channel that wasnt live all the time and as perpetually in 3rd place.

Just because DTT is becoming a reality doesnt mean that we'll see a news channel.

Telefís

Absolutely – certainly anything like the scale of News 24 or Sky is off the cards, though an ‘information’ channel is still very much a possibility. How News would to relate to that is unclear, but it could run along the lines of the first 20-30 minutes of every hour being news, and the remainder standard programming. As we’ve seen, the Scandinavian broadcasters have had difficulty with rolling news on DTT and they’re in a similar market to RTÉ, even with larger audiences. In Denmark apparently the above limited model is being adopted.

The best we could hope for here, indeed all we really need here, are more regular bulletins on one of the additional channels, and a greater commitment to regional coverage – rather than constant rolling coverage which is simply unnecessary, let alone financially unfeasible. Apparently RTÉ’s proposals are currently before Cabinet…


Regarding the relaunch, it isn’t taking place to accommodate DTT – though it does conveniently coincide with it – but rather it’s simply time for a revamp. Three years have now passed which is the standard period, but moreover for what has been probably the worst news pres package ever concocted by the station, and they know it. It’s very much time to get rid!


To summarise on what we’ve established so far:

The set was transferred in the dark hours of last Sunday night from Studio 3 to a temporary studio elsewhere in the Television Building, leaving the regular facility free for refurbishment works.

The changeover has happened four weeks in advance of transmission of the new look in September, much longer than the typical two weeks RTÉ uses, suggesting a complex refit of both studio and news gallery.

This is mainly taking place to accommodate the introduction of 16:9 to RTÉ News which takes place in September – currently the last bastion of 4:3 in RTÉ along with its Nationwide arm. Most gallery equipment and all monitors have to be converted or replaced, and the five cameras likewise – I imagine they’re about 10 years old now anyway.

We’ve also stumbled on the tender issued by RTÉ a few months ago in search of large LED screens for use in the new studio design which pretty much fit exactly the dimensions of Studio 3. It is very interesting that they’re willing to spend this amount of cash, and that the pres of bulletins may way alter radically with use of graphics or even just a decent LED backdrop:

Publication Date: 31 May 2006

Radio Telefis Eireann, (RTE), Ireland's national Broadcasting Services, wishes to enter into technical dialogue with interested parties in consideration of purchasing an LED panel display approximately 13,8 metres long by 1,5 metres high for use as part of the set in a television news studio. As yet no firm decision has been taken as to the procurement specification that will be used. The contracting authority invites interested parties to contact us with a view to investigating options available. RTE will be particularly interested to here from companies who already provide such services to television broadcasters. The object of the technical dialogue will therefore be to enable RTE to assess all possible procurement variations.


They also recently issued a tender for improved sat and fibre links, again tying in nicely with what one would assume to be increased use of reporter stand-up acts and increased international coverage:

Publication Date: 4 July 2006

Radio Telefis Eireann, (RTE), Ireland's National Broadcasting Services, wishes to enter into technical dialogue with interested parties in consideration of acquiring contribution links for television and radio programme content acquisition, primarily sourced from Europe including but not confined to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Such capacity may include permanent leased satellite capacity, fixed and switchable fibre links together with occasional satellite and fibre capacity. As yet no firm decision has been taken as to the procurement specification or specifications that may be used. The contracting authority invites interested parties to contact us with a view to investigating options available. RTE will be particularly interested to hear from companies with experience of providing programme content contribution links solutions to broadcasters. The object of the dialogue will be to enable RTE to assess all possible procurement variations.

Good news given the appalling unreliability of current feeds – often going down mid-bulletin. International feeds also tend to have poor transfer quality with RTÉ for some reason. The station seems to be limited in booking times in their use of sats as highlighted a few times on Prime Times, so it’s good news in this regard too.

All in all, a very exciting September ahead!

flogen

DMC wrote:

People still seem to think that RTÉ will launch a news channel... in reality, it won't happen, in so far as they still don't have breakfast TV nor does it have the money or will to do it. RTÉ gave up on the idea years ago. Rolling news channels are very expensive, as ITV found out last year. They saw that they can better use their news funds in boosting the main channels local and national news bulletins, rather than have a news channel that wasnt live all the time and as perpetually in 3rd place.

Just because DTT is becoming a reality doesnt mean that we'll see a news channel.

I agree that a news channel would be a big drain and it's far from a safe bet; I'd imagine that if they do anything along those line it might be a factual channel that features educational programming in the morning, documentaries in the afteroon and current affairs in the evening-night, all of this supplimented by brief hourly news bulletins and simulcasts of the regular RTÉ News broadcasts and current affairs programming... even that would be pushing it IMO (even if you include a high number of imported programming)

Elmo

I don't see why RTE couldn't provide a news channel. It wouldn't have to go out for 24 hours.

07:00 - 09:00 Good Morning
09:00 - 12:00 International News with Hourly News Updates
12:00 -14:00 Lunch News, Sport and Business
14:00-17:00 International News with Hourly News Updates
17:00 - 19:00 Good Afternoon (Including 6.1)
19:00 - 19:30 Nationwide (Local News)
19:30 - 21:00 International News with Hourly News Updates
21:00 - 22:00 9News (With Local News at 21:30)
22:00 - 24:00 Current Affairs (Prime Time, Q&A etc Repeats with News updates on the hour and News Review Show e.g. News 2 becomes more like Newsnight)
24:00 - 07:00 Internation News and Repeats with Hourly News Updates.

12hour news service would be impossible. Espically when TV3's new owners (or owners to be) look towards a cheap News Channel. Extra News Output wouldn't need to be of the highest quality but more news would be need.

Remember RTE's newsroom is very large and a 24 hour news service as outline about could be taken care of with economies of scale which it would get out of RTE NEWS.

6 CHANNELS THREE COMMERCIAL ONES SUPPORTING THE REST

E.g.

RTE ONE (Remains as is)
RTE TWO (Gets rid of The Den and any PSB that it might think it has)
The Den/RTE THREE (Commerical Channel aimed at the 12 - 35 year old age group)
Cub's Den/RTE FOUR (PBS, info, children's channel 0-12 years)
RTE NEWS
RTE SPORT

RTE SPORT, RTE TWO AND RTE THREE being the commerical stations. Remember most Digital TV is just a repeat of what is on the main channels nothing more totally ****. IMO.