Who do I write to at RTE?

K4t

Entourage starts back on RTE 2 tonight-well actually it's technically tomorrow-at 12.10am!

The only decent comedy show, in fact show, on RTE 2 at the moment and they put it on at this ludicrous hour. I mean, they've got 'Makin' Jake' on at 9.00pm and then that rubbish 'Grey's Anatomy' on at 9.30pm.

This is an abomination.

Basq

Sweet... Makin' Jake is back. Any news of a Roaring Twenties second series?

This is RTÉ K4t. Get used to their shocking scheduling!

They're airing quality programmes like Eli Stone at 2am in the morning for fecks sake, while repeats of Father Ted (though I love it.. it's the 400th time I've seen 'Speed 3') and Naked Camera make up the prime time hours.

mike65

There is a whole bread about this scheduling marlarky somewhere.

K4t

basquille wrote: »

Sweet... Makin' Jake is back. Any news of a Roaring Twenties second series?

This is RTÉ K4t. Get used to their shocking scheduling!

They're airing quality programmes like Eli Stone at 2am in the morning for fecks sake, while repeats of Father Ted (though I love it.. it's the 400th time I've seen 'Speed 3') and Naked Camera make up the prime time hours.

I read somewhere that the reason for this crazy scheduling is that they buy up lots of US imports and show them at crazy hours just so TV3 and TG4 cannot show them at prime time. So essentially there is only one person losing out, the viewer! :rolleyes:

Entourage is a great show though. With half as much advertising as they give 'Grey's Anatomy' and a prime time slot, it would be a ratings winner for RTE imo.

Mr E

mike65 wrote: »

There is a whole bread about this scheduling marlarky somewhere.

Hungry, Mike?

ScumLord

K4t wrote: »

I read somewhere that the reason for this crazy scheduling is that they buy up lots of US imports and show them at crazy hours just so TV3 and TG4 cannot show them at prime time. So essentially there is only one person losing out, the viewer! :rolleyes:

Entourage is a great show though. With half as much advertising as they give 'Grey's Anatomy' and a prime time slot, it would be a ratings winner for RTE imo.

Why would RTE compete with one of it's own channels, TG4?

I've heard that too, but why show them during the middle of the night?

weekends

Anyone know when RTE will start to show season 5 of Lost - its back in the states in a couple of weeks and last year they were only a week behind?

tommyboy2222

I read somewhere that the reason for this crazy scheduling is that they buy up lots of US imports and show them at crazy hours just so TV3 and TG4 cannot show them at prime time. So essentially there is only one person losing out, the viewer!

Is that why they show "Psych" at 2:00 am on a Friday morning causing me to be knackered in work the next day ?!

Running Bing

Same story with "Mad Men". One of the finest television shows in years yet nobody seen it because it was on at dogs hours.


Nothing less than I have come to expect from RTE though....completely out of touch.

zAbbo

Babybing wrote: »

Same story with "Mad Men". One of the finest television shows in years yet nobody seen it because it was on at dogs hours.


Nothing less than I have come to expect from RTE though....completely out of touch.

Not out of touch at all, just buying up quality tv shows so TV3 can't get them.

jor el

zAbbo wrote: »

Not out of touch at all, just buying up quality tv shows so TV3 can't get them.

They were accused of this recently, and denied it. Hard to deny though, when the make it so glaringly obvious, that this is exactly what they're doing. I expect they'll be airing the new season of 24, at 4AM :rolleyes:

Mossy Monk

ScumLord wrote: »

Why would RTE compete with one of it's own channels, TG4?

TG4 is not owned by RTÉ.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

tdc

Are those Entourage episodes not repeats?

Just get the season 4 DVD and watch it when you feel like it

warrenstown

Someone wrote into the Mailbag section of The Ray Darcy Show today about Entourage being on late.

RTE's reply was that home produced programming gets priority when it comes to prime-time slots, and that they have a lot home produced stuff to show. Also, home-produced stuff gets a great audience while Entourage was attracting a niche audience.

Pity, cause Enourtage is a great programme for the 10:30 or so slot, always puts a smile on my face!

p to the e

do you think RTE would fold to pressure from fans of programmes about changing time slots. i'm not a fan of Entourage per se but i really don't like the movement of The Panel. Do RTE listen to the viewers or just decide what they think the viewer would like

K4t

warrenstown wrote: »

RTE's reply was that home produced programming gets priority when it comes to prime-time slots, and that they have a lot home produced stuff to show. Also, home-produced stuff gets a great audience while Entourage was attracting a niche audience.

Typical RTE. Ignoring what the viewer wants in place of what RTE thinks the viewer wants :rolleyes:

Tipsy Mac

I'm enraged by RTE's recless attitude with my hard earned, my mate Ricky C says that Entourage is in the top 10 torrents each day after it goes out in the States, this puts it on par with Lost, Prison Break, Heroes, The Office, all shows which go out on prime time on all other channels. Why do they even bother purchasing Entourage with license payers money if they are going to show it at this time, it's a pure waste of my money, they should just bring the pile of cash they payed for it to the middle of Montrose and torch it, at least it would provide some heat and light to onlookers. I'd say TV3 would have snapped it up and shown it at an acceptable time had RTE not wasted our money and bought it for the sake of buying.

warrenstown

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

I'd say TV3 would have snapped it up and shown it at an acceptable time had RTE not wasted our money and bought it for the sake of buying.

Good point...I wonder did RTE do this on purpose, in that they had no intention of showing it at a reasonable hour (surely they knew this in advance since they commissioned the home made stuff months earlier) but bought it anyway so TV3 couldn't use it to gain a decent foothold in the market through viewers and advertising.

Or maybe not...

ironictoaster

I don't blame people who get their TV needs via the interweb. I watched the last episode of the latest season of Entourage two months ago, God nowhere RTÉ is.

Home produced programming? Father Ted is certainly not home-grown material. I'd rather watch a decent TV show than a really crappy Irish version of some UK/US show.

The Sparrow

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Why do they even bother purchasing Entourage with license payers money if they are going to show it at this time, it's a pure waste of my money, they should just bring the pile of cash they payed for it to the middle of Montrose and torch it, at least it would provide some heat and light to onlookers. I'd say TV3 would have snapped it up and shown it at an acceptable time had RTE not wasted our money and bought it for the sake of buying.

I presume that RTE most likely bought a package that included all future seasons of Entourage as well as other HBO shows. Plus they did put the first two series of Entourage in a very good slot directly after Lost in what is pretty much the RTE 2 prime time schedule.

Obviously it wasn't doing too well for them so they decided to put the rest of the seasons (which they had most likely already agreed to pick up) at a later time as the the viewing figures didn't justify keeping it where they had it after Lost.

So really this is one case of RTE actually listening to their viewers who clearly didn't watch Entourage in the numbers that they had hoped. There are a lot of things that you can moan at RTE about but this is not one of them.

And I am a big Entourage fan in case anyone is wondering.

lostexpectation

rte puts hows on at 1pm and then claims it only has niche audience...

Mr. Frost

go lid! And own


Don't rely on RTE!

Tipsy Mac

woooo232 wrote: »

So really this is one case of RTE actually listening to their viewers who clearly didn't watch Entourage in the numbers that they had hoped. There are a lot of things that you can moan at RTE about but this is not one of them.
.

Well why did they not just refuse Season 5 then and let TV3 show it instead and save license payers money. They have payed the same money for it if they showed it at 10pm or 3am.

The Sparrow

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Well why did they not just refuse Season 5 then and let TV3 show it instead and save license payers money. They have payed the same money for it if they showed it at 10pm or 3am.

Because when they picked it up the first series it was most likely part of an agreement to pick up all future seasons as well as other HBO shows. So they could hardly pull out of later seasons. It's pretty simple really.

Of all of the shows that you can complain about RTE burying this is not one of them. They put it in a very good slot for the first two series and promo'd it heavily alongside Lost. Bottom line is that it obviously didn't do well enough to justify being kept in that position. But as RTE were more than likely tied into contractually picking up future seasons they had to show it some where.

It doesn't work that new series of TV shows switch between networks. In fact I can't think of any high profile programming that has switched between stations. When you take shows like Entourage or Lost or whatever you sign agreements to also pick up future seasons in case it is a hit.

Elmo

Here is the nice reply I got about RTÉ Thursday night movie: -

Thank you for writing to RTE. While I appreciate that interrupting the Thursday movie is frustrating to some viewers, it is a scheduling strategy that has turned Thursday into the strongest night on RTE Two and a strategy we have no plans to change. The key issue is the 2130 junction, this is whenlarge numbers of viewers are finishing watching the Nine O'clock News, wecan capture a large proportion of this shifting audience by starting ourmovie on RTE Two at 2130 not 2100. A 2130 start means we must break the forNews at 2300, since Oct 2004 we have made a consistent effort to keep theNews at 2300, which was not the case in the past. You are entirely wrong to suggest that we do not compete with RTE One on RTE Two between 1900-2100. What we do on RTE Two is largely target those viewerswho do not watch Soaps and Lifestyle programming, which tends to be maleup-market viewers, hence the History and Wildlife. This is a strategy thatis also pursued on BBC Two and Channel 4, I used to be Deputy Scheduler for BBC Two, so I know this to be a fact. It is a strategy that is working extremely well for us and provides those viewers up do not want to watch soaps and lifestyle programmes on RTE One with a real alternative on RTE Two. However, given our limited resources it makes strategic sense to target ournew home production at those parts of the schedule where RTE One is not asstrong as it is between 1900-2100, hence our decision to commission new programming at the post-2100 schedule on RTE Two. As much as possible, we pursue a complimentary scheduling strategy across both channels, hence we attempt to appeal to different audiences at the sametime. You should note that in share terms we had an extremely good year in 2004,our overall National Peak Share for All Individuals was up by 1.2% sharepoints to 43.8% across both channels, as was just about very other majordemographic in all the key dayparts. So clearly we are doing something right and justifying the licence fee increase by bringing such a significant increase in share performance in a time of unprecedented competition. With such an onslaught of digital competition, very few Public Service Broadcasters in Europe can say they are increasing their share performance. However, we are not smug about this and recognise that we have an on-going challenge to keep viewers watching both RTE One and Two. Once again thank you for taking the time to write to RTE. While I appreciate you have strong views on these issues, I unfortunately do not have the time to engage in on-going debate about the scheduling strategy of RTE Television. I am happy to explain why we do things but I would be neglectingthe rest of my responsibilities if I spent long periods of time explaininge very scheduling decision we take. So I would ask you, if possible, toa ddress these issues with RTE on a somewhat less frequent basis.

I may have annoied Mr. Fitzpatrick. That was 2005. I have another reply which was just as bad.

andrew fitzpatrick is the head of scheduling I stopped writting along time ago.

Elmo

woooo232 wrote: »

So really this is one case of RTE actually listening to their viewers who clearly didn't watch Entourage in the numbers that they had hoped. There are a lot of things that you can moan at RTE about but this is not one of them.

The problem with this agrument (which RTÉ gave me) is that none of the shows that they show late night have ever seen Prime Time. Entorage started in a Late Night Slot, it was never tested in Prime Time.

Fair enough the Practice and 24 had lost viewers in Prime Time but not enough to justify the move to late night.

Tipsy Mac

Let me look at available slots, Wednesday nights look what they are showing...

21:00 CSI: Miami (Repeat) (T) A swimming star is stalked and her boyfriend murdered.
21:55 CSI: NY (Repeat) (T) Mac examines the case of a base jumper seemingly killed when he hit a flock of pigeons, while Stella investigates a man's death on the day of his daughter's 16th birthday party.

Both repeats back to back, unbelievable, surely Entourage could have went in here at 21:55 seeing as it had never been shown in Ireland before, doesn't make commercial sense at all, no wonder they are losing millions.

Of all of the shows that you can complain about RTE burying this is not one of them. They put it in a very good slot for the first two series and promo'd it heavily alongside Lost. Bottom line is that it obviously didn't do well enough to justify being kept in that position. But as RTE were more than likely tied into contractually picking up future seasons they had to show it some where.

The big problem was they started showing it about 2 series behind where it was actually at, you could almost buy it on DVD when RTE was only showing the same series, they didn't give it the same chance as Lost, Prison Break where they were showing it only a couple or weeks behind the US.

Elmo

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Both repeats back to back, unbelievable, surely Entourage could have went in here at 21:55 seeing as it had never been shown in Ireland before, doesn't make commercial sense at all, no wonder they are losing millions.

RTE have not lost any of their audience this year. They are lossing money due to the economic downturn.

But you are right, RTÉ heavily promoted this late night show.

TheBlock

Elmo wrote: »

Here is the nice reply I got about RTÉ Thursday night movie: -



I may have annoied Mr. Fitzpatrick. That was 2005. I have another reply which was just as bad.

I stopped writting along time ago.

Don't think it very fair putting out a guys work email address on a message board. Especially when the majority of comments on said board regarding the company he works for are negative.

I would have thought all complaints should have been directed at the corporate communications department? This is what these guys are paid to do.

Elmo

TheBlock wrote: »

Don't think it very fair putting out a guys work email address on a message board. Especially when the majority of comments on said board regarding the company he works for are negative.

I would have thought all complaints should have been directed at the corporate communications department? This is what these guys are paid to do.

I could just direct you to the RTÉ website. or you could complain to info@rte.ie who will pass your email on to Andrew who in turn will reply to your email.

If you want to email anyone in RTÉ firstname.surname@rte.ie

The information is available. There is nothing wrong with the audience talking to a TV station or its management. If they cann't handle it then they should set up a separate email for the audience and for business.

How do you think I got his email address?

If he reads boards he knows I am quite cabable of defending RTÉ. I am quite netural with regards RTÉ.

TheBlock

Just don't think its right posting someones email address on a website. Especially after he had explained to you that his job involved a lot more than answering peoples queries regarding scheduling. Info@rte.ie would have been a better one to post if you had to post one or complaints@rte.ie.

I know plenty of peoples email addresses who work both in the State and Semi state oragnisations I wouldn't post them on a message board.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that RTE should be immune from criticism.

Elmo

TheBlock wrote: »

Just don't think its right posting someones email address on a website. Especially after he had explained to you that his job involved a lot more than answering peoples queries regarding scheduling. Info@rte.ie would have been a better one to post if you had to post one or complaints@rte.ie.

I know plenty of peoples email addresses who work both in the State and Semi state oragnisations I wouldn't post them on a message board.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that RTE should be immune from criticism.

The problem is that this has been an issue with RTÉ for a very long time. It has got to the point where people need to start responing in a manner becoming of a State employee. None of my email ever got nasty and he refused to answer any of them until I actually asked his seniors, not their responsiblity. He could have dealt with my queary promptly and I wouldn't have had to email him again, I emailed only 3 times before getting a responce, which then asked me not to email so much!!!

The situation with the RTÉ TWO Schedule is dreadful. And has been for a very long time. I am annoied that on this site alone their have been huge number of people asky WHY DO RTÉ SHOW GOOD PROGRAMS AFTER MIDNIGHT?

He is the head of Scheduling. Email removed but Intelligent people of boards should give a guess to his email address

TheBlock

Elmo wrote: »

The problem is that this has been an issue with RTÉ for a very long time. It has got to the point where people need to start responing in a manner becoming of a State employee. None of my email ever got nasty and he refused to answer any of them until I actually asked his seniors, not their responsiblity. He could have dealt with my queary promptly and I wouldn't have had to email him again, I emailed only 3 times before getting a responce, which then asked me not to email so much!!!

The situation with the RTÉ TWO Schedule is dreadful. And has been for a very long time. I am annoied that on this site alone their have been huge number of people asky WHY DO RTÉ SHOW GOOD PROGRAMS AFTER MIDNIGHT?

He is the head of Scheduling. Email removed but Intelligent people of boards should give a guess to his email address

I am not for one minute doubting you had reason to email him directly and that was your perogitive. My piont was by posting his email address online you could have been opening him up to a raft of email which even he did decide to reply to he may not have had the time to do that and carry out his other responsibilities which include getting the schedule to make most sense for the viewers .
The best way to get answers is to firsly email the two adresses stated and if not satisfied then do as you done and escalate up the Gravy Food Chain.

Elmo

TheBlock wrote: »

My piont was by posting his email address online you could have been opening him up to a raft of email which even he did decide to reply to he may not have had the time to do that and carry out his other responsibilities which include getting the schedule to make most sense for the viewers .

If he is an intelligent person, which I am sure he is, he could reply to a raft of emails with one email BCCed to the people asking this question. and should this continue to be an issue then he should resolve the issue.

The problem lies with the fact that RTÉ seem to think that it is an issue with just one show. Yet if you get in 5 emails asking why 5 different shows are put on so late, you should give the people a standard responce. since this is the same problem regarless if the emailer is talking about 24 or Entorage or Medium etc.

TheBlock

Elmo wrote: »

If he is an intelligent person, which I am sure he is, he could reply to a raft of emails with one email BCCed to the people asking this question. and should this continue to be an issue then he should resolve the issue.

The problem lies with the fact that RTÉ seem to think that it is an issue with just one show. Yet if you get in 5 emails asking why 5 different shows are put on so late, you should give the people a standard responce. since this is the same problem regarless if the emailer is talking about 24 or Entorage or Medium etc.

Agreed.

The Sparrow

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Both repeats back to back, unbelievable, surely Entourage could have went in here at 21:55 seeing as it had never been shown in Ireland before, doesn't make commercial sense at all, no wonder they are losing millions.

Of course it makes commercial sense. I guarantee that CSI repeats attract more viewers than Entourage no matter what the time slot. It is just the way of the world.

YOU may have noticed that no other network started showing Entourage. So without rte it may never have aired here.[

o
he problem with this agrument (which RTÉ gave me) is that none of the shows that they show late night have ever seen Prime Time. Entorage sta

10-11 is pretty much Prime Time for RTE 2 and Enthourage got a good run there but ultimately failed.

Elmo

woooo232 wrote: »

10-11 is pretty much Prime Time for RTE 2 and Enthourage got a good run there but ultimately failed.

10 - 11 is part of Prime-time but it was at 10:50 when it first started. A tiny bit out of prime-time. And AFAIK it was show after RTE News.

Why not try it at 9pm? It would take a hit from the news but surely would be better then another repeat of Father Ted.

Or put it on after CSI, or before Grey Anotomy. I wonder how many people have heard of either Mad Men or Entourage?


Also if they know it is going to do so badly why not just let the other channels buy the shows. I know TV3 wouldn't be interested in Mad Men, so why bother with Mad Men when you know TG4 would pick it up.

shamblertine

This isn't just a problem with rte, tg4 are showing curb your enthusiam (one of the best comedy programmes this decade imho) at 12.50 am tomorrow morning. Ridiculous.

Elmo

shamblertine wrote: »

This isn't just a problem with rte, tg4 are showing curb your enthusiam (one of the best comedy programmes this decade imho) at 12.50 am tomorrow morning. Ridiculous.

Aren't these repeats? They did show them in prime time when it first started.

I have also noticed it on the BBC, and they have 2 other channel that they could put some shows on. BBC Three might improve if it put Medium on during prime time. And why is The Closer on so late on More 4, surely it would be better than repeats of Come Dine With, Location Location Location etc.

shamblertine

Elmo wrote: »

Aren't these repeats? They did show them in prime time when it first started.

I have also noticed it on the BBC, and they have 2 other channel that they could put some shows on. BBC Three might improve if it put Medium on during prime time. And why is The Closer on so late on More 4, surely it would be better than repeats of Come Dine With, Location Location Location etc.

I'm not sure, its the episode where Larry steals flowers from Marty Funkhousers mothers grave. I've only ever seen this show on at ridiculous o'clock.

Fighting Irish

tdc wrote: »

Are those Entourage episodes not repeats?

Just get the season 4 DVD and watch it when you feel like it

i think they are

Fighting Irish

anyway, who the fook wants to watch tv with adds

downloading ftw

shamblertine

Fighting Irish wrote: »

anyway, who the fook wants to watch tv with adds

downloading ftw

we live in ireland, only about 2% of the population have internet speeds quick enough to make downloading worthwhile

Fighting Irish

shamblertine wrote: »

we live in ireland, only about 2% of the population have internet speeds quick enough to make downloading worthwhile

1mb is grand


and lol @ 2%

Mint Sauce

have RTE even been advertising the new season of Entourage, love this show, didn't even realise it was back on till i noticed this thread a few minutes ago, am asuming this is the season where they have just completed filming medievean

K4t

irish-stew wrote: »

have RTE even been advertising the new season of Entourage, love this show, didn't even realise it was back on till i noticed this thread a few minutes ago, am asuming this is the season where they have just completed filming medievean

Yeah, first episode was on set in Cuba and it finished with the last scene being completed. The episode was alright, not great for Entourage standard. It will pick up once Ari comes into it more imo.

Solair

I would suggest that you take a look at:

http://www.rte.ie/about/contact.html

Or, call the RTE Information Unit team on 01 208 3434 (e-mail: info(at)rte.ie). They accept phone calls, faxes, emails and letters in either English or Irish. Overall, it's quite an easy organisation to get in touch with!

I don't agree with publishing anyone's email address on a public forum. Those email addresses are for business use and people need to be able to open their account without having to be knee deep in spam generated by online spam bots that trawl for valid email addresses.

Also, within any organisation, particularly one like RTE which has a very high public profile and regularly deals with controversial issues likely to provoke large amounts of feedback, it's very unfair to expect everyone within the organisation to deal with the general public. They have jobs to do and there is a dedicated team that are fully resourced and setup to deal with public queries.

It's one thing where you've got an organisation, like certain telecommunications companies etc, which seem to deliberately make it almost impossible for customers to get through to them. There might be some legitimate use in posting alternative contact details. But, I don't think this applies to RTE!

Elmo

Solair wrote: »

Also, within any organisation, particularly one like RTE which has a very high public profile and regularly deals with controversial issues likely to provoke large amounts of feedback, it's very unfair to expect everyone within the organisation to deal with the general public. They have jobs to do and there is a dedicated team that are fully resourced and setup to deal with public queries.

This has been an on going issue at RTÉ for the past 10 years. They continue to just come up with excuses.

They have a scheduling department who should look after their own complaints, it is rare that the schedule get controversial, bar showing Die Hard at 7pm. (Yes, they did do that)

Poochie05

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

I'd say TV3 would have snapped it up and shown it at an acceptable time had RTE not wasted our money and bought it for the sake of buying.

Don't assume TV3 would be much better. Just look at how they treated The Shield, stopping with only 2 episodes left to go on S6 and no sign of them being aired. They also abandoned Chuck, after unceremoniously moving it around the schedules and recently I was following a repeat of 30 Rock S1 (after many recommendations to watch it) which was on Fri night at 10:30, then with only a few eps to go they moved it to the early hours of wednesday morning (2am) without any warning. Thankfully Sky + picked this up. As I have Sky+ I don't mind the graveyard scheduling on RTE but wish they would advertise the programmes more. Since I subscribed to Digiguide however, this is no longer as much of a problem.:)

lostexpectation

rte have explained the sceduling decisions there still incomprehensible. and bizarre.

anyway look at article
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/just-how-do-shows-panned-by-so-many-critics-ever-get-onto-rte-1597751.html

How come so many viewers enjoyed something that was roundly slated in the other media? "Failte Towers was a successful example of intelligent, popular, character-driven observational programming, which Irish audiences warmed to," says Eddie Doyle, who was one of the key figures in green-lighting the project. RTE commissioning editor for TV entertainment.