RTE needs to tighten belt. [Article]

mike65

Okay its from the Sindo but what the hell

By NIAMH HORAN Entertainment News Reporter EXCLUSIVE

Sunday May 31 2009

RTE is losing €1m a week and will not be able to pay staff by October unless a programme of salary cuts and redundancies is implemented in the coming weeks.

The crisis comes amid growing anger among staff at the level of pay and bonuses paid to the director-general and senior management over the past number of years.

The bankruptcy warning has come from management at the State broadcaster and the director-general Cathal Goan has cautioned that up to 300 jobs are now under threat.

The cash-strapped station is facing a "worst case scenario" of a budget loss of up to €100m -- far more than the current estimate of €68m.

The news comes as staff at the national broadcaster continue to ballot this week on whether or not to accept proposed pay cuts of up to 12.5 per cent. A well-placed source at RTE has described the station as "sitting on a knife-edge", as the proposal is about to be put to a staff vote.

"This is make or break for RTE. There will be no other offers put on the table. Staff have been told that management is drawing up a list of people who they are going to make redundant, if necessary, to save money. The entire organisation is sitting on a knife-edge now."

Speaking about the prospect that RTE could run out of money by October because of high costs and a collapse in advertising revenue, a spokesperson for the station said: "We need to claw back €68m. It poses a significant cash crisis for RTE. Otherwise the station will be in serious financial difficulty."

Asked about the warning that several hundred jobs are now under serious threat at the station, the spokesperson continued: "There has been an ongoing negotiation process over the last month and if that fails Mr Goan has made it clear to staff that we will have to look at alternatives. And there aren't that many alternatives available."

Meanwhile, tension within the organisation is said to have reached fever pitch. Last week a number of staff placed 'vote no' posters around the Donnybrook complex only to have them ripped down shortly afterwards.

There is also growing resentment among workers over the level of executive pay.

In 2007 Cathal Goan earned €441,000, more than US President Barack Obama. In the same year Mr Goan's basic salary was €283,000, his performance-related bonus was €108,000, his pension supplement was €23,000 and his other benefits amounted to €27,000. His salary was up from €360,000 on the previous year.

In the same year, managing directors in RTE earned between €150,000 and €200,000. They also received a bonus of €20,000, a 'performance-related uplift' of €5,200 and another €30,000 for simply being a member of the executive board.

The figures are the last official earnings to have been released by the state broadcaster. Management have said they have since taken pay cuts to their bonuses but the publication of the 2008 Annual Report, currently due out, has been delayed.

All members on the executive board also receive €12,000 a year for driving their cars to work. The 'car allowance' is given to managers who simply park in the station car park at Donnybrook.

RTE are looking for a five per cent reduction on the first €50,000 in earnings, seven and a half per cent on the next €50,000, 10 per cent on those earning between €100,000 and €150,000 and 12.5 per cent between €150,000 and €250,000.

DMC

Yes, its the Sindo, but it also appears in the Tribune.

What would the Sindo talk about if RTÉ collapsed in the morning?

But in all seriousness, there are huge problems in Donnybrook. Revenue is down, but wages and staff are not. Something has to give. And in this climate, better to be in a job and take a pay cut, than to be a media wannabe on the dole.

Pat Gleeson

DMC wrote: »

Something has to give. And in this climate, better to be in a job and take a pay cut, than to be a media wannabe on the dole.

Since when did public service unions live in the real world? This added to the greed of public service management causes all this strife. It's our money they waste, wasted by people who find it easy to do so. I used to work for the public service, and I know what goes on.

DMC

Totally agree Pat, they are divorced from reality. RTÉ could be seen as the first test of public sector job losses, and so there will be a strong effort not to lose jobs. Is the voluntary leaving thats open in the public service available to RTÉ employees?

In that climate, a strike is on the cards. But there hasn't been a strike in RTÉ since c. 1992 (?) and the media landscape has totally changed in this country since then. RTÉ now have competition from indigenous broadcasters, so the advertising shekels could go, that's if RTÉ management are unable to run a skeleton service. I'd expect to see a lot of Killinaskully and Reeling in the Years in that scenario.

Badabing

Would this affect there spending power ie; sponsoring the Gaa, buying american tv shows, and the iminent renewal of the Premier League deal?

mike65

If anything it would increase buy-ins. Far cheaper than home grown material.

watty

but cheap poor quality buyins.

Who watches RTE these days anyway, majority of stuff they show is crap and most of it can be seen on SKY

Mossy Monk

Not everyone has Sky duh.

bk

hellboy99 wrote: »

Who watches RTE these days anyway, majority of stuff they show is crap and most of it can be seen on SKY

Actually RTE has by far the highest TV ratings in Ireland. RTE 1 25% and RTE 2 12% TV3 12%

As a comparison BBC 1 6% Sky 1 2%

enniscorthy

oh wonderful i hope they are done

icdg

They will not be allowed to go under. Quite apart from anything else, it would mean no political coverage - or any sort of Irish news whatsoever) between 6:00pm in the evening (when many people are not home from work) until 11:00pm, when most people are gone to bed. Oh, and TV3 don't believe in showing any news (other than 5 min summaries) from 6:00pm on a Friday night until 7:00am on a Monday morning. (Before someone mentions TG4, remember that Nuacht TG4 is produced by...RTÉ, as part of the hour of licence-fee-paid programming that they get from RTÉ free of charge. And its in a langauge most of the general populace cannot understand).

So politicans simply cannot allow RTÉ to go under - it removes their main platform to broadcast to a national audience. There is no prime-time political coverage on TV3 and one cannot seriously believe that they would introduce some if RTÉ suddenly disappeared.

The death of RTÉ would also mean:
* The end of home produced drama programming in the English langauge (neither TV3 nor UTV have commissioned a single drama in English while its been a few years since the BBC has done a drama set in the Republic either).
* The end of the country's only classical music radio station and the only radio station broadcasting in Irish outside of Dublin.
* Programmes on Irish culture would be only found on TG4, TV3 hasn't shown much interest in producing much of that.
* End of FTA sports coverage from an Irish perspective of most major events (lets face it, you need two channels to show events like the FIFA World Cup, Olympics, and UEFA European Championship. TV3 won't take Corrie off for two weeks at a time - and risk running behind UTV - to do this....)
* The end of the transmission network that TV3, Today FM, and many ILR stations rely on.


RTÉ really is too important to fail, and politicans will not let it fail. It may suffer the death of a thousand cuts, however.

enniscorthy

stick rte 1+2 together get rid of all the b0llix shows problem solved

lastlaugh

But in all seriousness, there are huge problems in Donnybrook. Revenue is down, but wages and staff are not.

There's a lot of dead wood, inefficiencies and over inflated wages at RTE. They need to shed jobs and cut wages, how much is yerman Dobson on and what does he do exactly, read an autocue?

bk

enniscorthy wrote: »

stick rte 1+2 together get rid of all the b0llix shows problem solved

That won't help, RTE 2 shows a lot of foreign imports which are very cheap, yet bring in decent viewer figures. It is the home made content that costs a lot to make.

There is no way RTE will go bust, it is simply sensationalist reporting to suggest so.

RTE losing €1m per month is a shortfall of just 8% of revenue per year. While not great, that could be relatively easily made up with some belt tightening.

- Across the board wage cuts and/or leave people go.
- Renegotiate contracts with top talent, it isn't like they have anywhere else to go *.
- Renegotiate sports and content rights down.
- Look at basic cost savings like no stupid limos for the top execs and stars.

The trick will be trying to do this, without dropping the quality of the content, which would lead to further drops in view figures and then you get sucked into a vicious cycle.

* I'm guessing that is why Pat Kenny has left, I bet Turbidy isn't get paid anywhere near the premium that Pat was getting, so RTE are probably saving a nice few bob with this shuffle.

Fuzzy Clam

enniscorthy wrote: »

stick rte 1+2 together get rid of all the b0llix shows problem solved

Thats exactly what I was thinking.:cool:

RTE 2 was good for a while when it was Network 2 but it's surplus to requirments these days.

mike65

Not quite where will all the sport go? Or will RTE have to forsake 6 hours of GAA in the summer plus World Cup, European Championships, Olympics, CL football etc.?

Mossy Monk

mike65 wrote: »

Not quite where will all the sport go? Or will RTE have to forsake 6 hours of GAA in the summer plus World Cup, European Championships, Olympics, CL football etc.?

Shush Mike. Don't let sensible thinking get in the way of non sensical solutions

97i9y3941

no wonder they are advertiseing like mad to tell people to buy a tv licence!

newbie2

Fred83 wrote: »

no wonder they are advertiseing like mad to tell people to buy a tv licence!

An Post advertise like mad. it's their job to collect the licence fee

Mossy Monk

Fred83 wrote: »

no wonder they are advertiseing like mad to tell people to buy a tv licence!

Wrong.

I blame Fair City

Wacko

I would be very suprised to see RTE go under, I would say these rumours have probably been put out by RTE themselves and in a couple of months we will hear a press release with something like "sorry lads times are tough and you all know we are in real trouble so.........we are sticking the TV license up 50 quid" They are simply bracing us for the impact.

The Recliner

Badabing wrote: »

Would this affect there spending power ie; sponsoring the Gaa, buying american tv shows, and the iminent renewal of the Premier League deal?

Actually I was wondering about this the other day, why are RTE sponsering the GAA, I am sure there are plenty of other companies who would do it and it isn't like it increases peoples awareness of RTE as they show the games as it is?

I just thought it seemed like a waste of money

Mossy Monk

Wacko wrote: »

we are sticking the TV license up 50 quid" They are simply bracing us for the impact.

RTÉ don't decide if the television licence is increased.

bk

The Recliner wrote: »

Actually I was wondering about this the other day, why are RTE sponsering the GAA, I am sure there are plenty of other companies who would do it and it isn't like it increases peoples awareness of RTE as they show the games as it is?

I just thought it seemed like a waste of money

Because GAA games bring in very high viewership figures at a time in the day that usually gets very low figures. These higher viewrship figures significantly boost RTE's advertising revenue, never mind the fact that GAA programming is usually also sponsored.

If RTE were to loss GAA, they would probably lose advertising revenue, that would probably be significantly more then they pay for the GAA rights.

Also the GAA require that the channel be national free to air, so that rules out Sky or Setanta and it even rules out TV3 as they don't cover the whole country.

The truth is RTE and GAA do well off one another, it is a symbiotic relationship.

I'm surprised people are so clueless about our national broadcaster, ridiculous ideas like get rid of RTE 2, GAA, etc.

Things are no where near that bad, I repeat their revenue is only down 8%, they just need to tighten their belts and implement cost reductions.

enniscorthy

yeh get rid of fair city in fairness they axed glenroe in its prime which was the right thing just get rid of fair city whats the point oh also "project haha" dont get me started on killinaskully (thankjesus it gone hahahaha) and dreadful "this is nightlive" what were they thinking total b0llix

The Recliner

bk wrote: »

Because GAA games bring in very high viewership figures at a time in the day that usually gets very low figures. These higher viewrship figures significantly boost RTE's advertising revenue, never mind the fact that GAA programming is usually also sponsored.

If RTE were to loss GAA, they would probably lose advertising revenue, that would probably be significantly more then they pay for the GAA rights.

Also the GAA require that the channel be national free to air, so that rules out Sky or Setanta and it even rules out TV3 as they don't cover the whole country.

The truth is RTE and GAA do well off one another, it is a symbiotic relationship.

My point being that RTE are in no danger of losing the GAA so why waste money sponsering them, I see no benefit in that situation

If there was a danger of the GAA going somewhere else then fair enough but as pointed out above there really isn't so even though they recoup the money from advertising why spend it in the first place?

mrdtv

RTE should :
a) be reduced to one TV channel and two radio stations
b) 30% of staff should be axed and costs reduced by 30%
c) the DTT plans should be postponed for around 3-5 years

and then see if it survives. Otherwise it will have to be privatised or closed.
The next few months will be critical and by Christmas it will be very clear if RTE has got a future.

97i9y3941

they will need to run it like a proper business now,get rid of all these perks that some staff enjoy,but of course rte like the goverment is going to be caught up in the legal bollox that stopped them cutting civil servants pays and other ****e,at times i wish micheal o leary would ran for election he would run the country properly

enniscorthy

mrdtv wrote: »

RTE should :
a) be reduced to one TV channel and two radio stations
b) 30% of staff should be axed and costs reduced by 30%
c) the DTT plans should be postponed for around 3-5 years

and then see if it survives. Otherwise it will have to be privatised or closed.
The next few months will be critical and by Christmas it will be very clear if RTE has got a future.

cool defo mate :cool:

bk

Again No

mrdtv wrote: »

RTE should :
a) be reduced to one TV channel and two radio stations

Thus reduce your advertising revenue by about 40%, genius.

mrdtv wrote: »

b) 30% of staff should be axed and costs reduced by 30%

There revenue is down by 8%, there is no need for a 30% cut in staff.

There will probably need to cut wages and may even need a small cut in staff, but nothing like this.

mrdtv wrote: »

c) the DTT plans should be postponed for around 3-5 years

It can't be, the EU require it done by 2015 latest, 2012 preferred. It is already way behind schedule

mrdtv wrote: »

and then see if it survives. Otherwise it will have to be privatised or closed.
The next few months will be critical and by Christmas it will be very clear if RTE has got a future.

Man, things aren't that bad for them, they just need some sensible cutbacks and wage decreases and they will be fine.

Will people please stop over dramatising this, it isn't that series a problem.

watty

The DTT gear has been bought, including gear for Commercial MUxes. That's part of why there is a temporary issue. That's a once off cost so in the bigger scheme of things not an issue.

No need to postpone DTT.

It's a small reduction in staff costs, especially amongst the higher paid to reduce ongoing outgoings.

There is no risk of RTE going bust. So editing Alarmist thread title.

mike65

Hey! You'll never work as a sub-ed!

Mossy Monk

mrdtv wrote: »

RTE should :
a) be reduced to one TV channel and two radio stations
b) 30% of staff should be axed and costs reduced by 30%
c) the DTT plans should be postponed for around 3-5 years

and then see if it survives. Otherwise it will have to be privatised or closed.
The next few months will be critical and by Christmas it will be very clear if RTE has got a future.

Where did you pull all of this from?

watty

He's been reading too many comics (Newspapers are comics for Grownups, about as factual as the Beano).

mike65 wrote: »

Hey! You'll never work as a sub-ed!

This is not the Sun, Mirror or Mail.

You'd be surprised at the headlines I'd come up with if I did sell my soul work for a National Newspaper.

Fuzzy Clam

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Shush Mike. Don't let sensible thinking get in the way of non sensical solutions

So come and give a sensible solution. All you've done is nit pick at others.:eek:


We don't need 3 RTE TV channels. Sport could be put on TnaG.

newbie2

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

So come and give a sensible solution. All you've done is nit pick at others.:eek:


We don't need 3 RTE TV channels. Sport could be put on TnaG.

Since when do RTÉ have 3 TV channels?

Mossy Monk

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

We don't need 3 RTE TV channels. Sport could be put on TnaG.

Nothing sensible about this as RTÉ do not own TG4.

bk

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

So come and give a sensible solution.

I already have, they simply reduce costs by 8 to 10%. They are already trying to do that with a 10% wage decrease across the board, plus reductions in mileage. They also look like they are negotiating down the contracts of so called "top talent", I believe the Kenny, Turbidy shuffle had a lot to do with cost savings.

There is a lot of fat to be cut at RTE before they have to do anything stupid or drastic like cut a channel, etc. as that would only decrease ad revenue even further.