RTE - the end is nigh - high wages come home to roost

eirman

Look at the way they deploy their staff ..........

One set of presenters for rte1 tv lunchtime news

Another set for the 6pm news (Do they really need 3 people?)

Another set for the 9pm

Late night bulletin ... not sure

This is public-sector unionised madness
===================================================
Now when it comes to the now very frequent ad-breaks and all these dammed ads diguised as competitions on radio1, all I can say is .... thank goodness for newstalk and bbc radio ulster+4+5

Venom

Dónal wrote: »

*waves*

From what the article said I'm surprised at how the executive get €12,000 each p.a. just to drive into work.

You do have the option of getting in a satellite tv system tho which in all fairness is not that costly these days.

jimi_t

Venom wrote: »

You do have the option of getting in a satellite tv system tho which in all fairness is not that costly these days.

TV = Licence, not RTE = Licence

Venom

rjt wrote: »

Should we stop the bus service too? Some things have to be provided for by the state, even if they run at a loss. And just because you have a car doesn't mean you should be exempt from paying taxes that go towards public transport.

As for ads, if they allow the station to provide more without increasing the licence fee, I think that's fair enough . Looking at the figures here (granted they're from 2007), they earn as much from commercial activities (which primarily seems to be advertising, I couldn't find a proper breakdown) as from TV Licences. I think most people would prefer to put up with the ads rather than pay another 160 euro a year.

It does seem that some people are ridiculously overpaid though, so I'm all for pay cuts. I just disagree with all of this "let it go bankrupt" talk.

The difference is RTE is not a vital service to the country unlike the bus service which is. If for example either RTE or CIE went out of business tomorrow morning which one would cause a greater problem to the country if it went? It aint RTE lol.

RTE also have exactly the same amount of add content as the other commerical TV and Radio channels so how much more ad time do they need?

Venom

jimi_t wrote: »

TV = Licence, not RTE = Licence

Well seeing as the majority of the licence fee goes to RTE to prop up there bull**** business model your point is moot :rolleyes:

segaBOY

Venom wrote: »

Well seeing as the majority of the licence fee goes to RTE to prop up there bull**** business model your point is moot :rolleyes:

I don't think you're grasping the concept here...

If you want to get in Satellite you will still need to have a TV-in order to legally own a TV in Ireland you need a TV licence. You can't legally avoid it. And this money goes to RTÉ whether you like it or not.


Btw correct me if I'm wrong but don't TG4 also benefit from the licence fee?

salonfire

Aren't RTE repeatedly fined by the EU for showing adverts while collecting a licence fee...but because the advert revenue is greater than the fines, they continue to flout the law.

Firetrap

No they're not going to go bankrupt. It's just scare tactics to make staff take those pay cuts.

It would be interesting to see how much of a pay cut the likes of Gerry Ryan could take. Where can they go to ply their trade if not RTE? It's not as if they're going to earn big money if they go to TV3 or Today FM.

thebman

rjt wrote: »

Should we stop the bus service too? Some things have to be provided for by the state, even if they run at a loss. And just because you have a car doesn't mean you should be exempt from paying taxes that go towards public transport.

Public transport should be privatised especially the bus service as it will mean more services at cheaper costs. Dublin Bus is expensive runs at a loss and year on year is losing customers because the only people willing to use it are those who can't afford to run cars or that don't live on a train line and want to avoid unbearable traffic due to poor infrastructure investment by the state.

Dublin Bus offer appalling service and it could be better by many private companies. Dublin Bus have abused their subsidy to kill off private companies competing on their routes in the past so I don't see them as a particularly good example anyway.

As for ads, if they allow the station to provide more without increasing the licence fee, I think that's fair enough . Looking at the figures here (granted they're from 2007), they earn as much from commercial activities (which primarily seems to be advertising, I couldn't find a proper breakdown) as from TV Licences. I think most people would prefer to put up with the ads rather than pay another 160 euro a year.

It does seem that some people are ridiculously overpaid though, so I'm all for pay cuts. I just disagree with all of this "let it go bankrupt" talk.

You miss the point. It is state subsidised which means it should serve the people. It has a public service obligation to provide unbiased coverage which it cannot do as long as it accepts advertising as it won't want to run stories offending companies advertising it. Hell even the license fee is determined by politicians so they are biased toward the government in power as it has the potential to get them another increase.

We don't need a public broadcaster that is biased. We don't need one that is providing content people don't want to watch. The profitable content can be produced by a fully private company which would setup to fill the gap in the market. TV3 has already shown that private tv companies surviving off advertising is viable in the country so why keep the TV license and why support RTE's loses when they clearly have a poor business model if they are still losing a million a week with ads and massive subsidies from the public purse which is itself massively in the red.

rjt

thebman wrote: »

You miss the point. It is state subsidised which means it should serve the people. It has a public service obligation to provide unbiased coverage which it cannot do as long as it accepts advertising as it won't want to run stories offending companies advertising it. Hell even the license fee is determined by politicians so they are biased toward the government in power as it has the potential to get them another increase.

In practice is RTE really biased towards the government in power? I'll admit that I don't watch RTE very often, but would be very surprised if this was the case. The odd time I'd watch the news certainly wouldn't support this.

thebman wrote: »

We don't need a public broadcaster that is biased. We don't need one that is providing content people don't want to watch. The profitable content can be produced by a fully private company which would setup to fill the gap in the market. TV3 has already shown that private tv companies surviving off advertising is viable in the country so why keep the TV license and why support RTE's loses when they clearly have a poor business model if they are still losing a million a week with ads and massive subsidies from the public purse which is itself massively in the red.

TV3 don't produce nearly as many Irish TV shows though - think of all of the Irish drama series, documentaries etc. made and run by RTE. Financially it's a lot easier to import a successful show from abroad than to produce something at home. Having a public broadcaster means these things will be made, even if they do run at a loss.

thebman

rjt wrote: »

In practice is RTE really biased towards the government in power? I'll admit that I don't watch RTE very often, but would be very surprised if this was the case. The odd time I'd watch the news certainly wouldn't support this.

In practice they raise certain issues against the government which are elsewhere in the media but fail to cover for example, the lack of investment in industry in the country in the past few years. They are supposed to be serving the people and raising awareness of issuses but it seems everything they cover is already elsewhere in Irish media.

TV3 don't produce nearly as many Irish TV shows though - think of all of the Irish drama series, documentaries etc. made and run by RTE. Financially it's a lot easier to import a successful show from abroad than to produce something at home. Having a public broadcaster means these things will be made, even if they do run at a loss.

One could argue some of these Irish documentaries are just not worth making if there is too small an audience for them to make a profit. If documentaries are being made to the proper international standard then they will be able to sell them to other stations. There could be a case for grants for documentaries on a case by case basis but it would have to be open to applications from all TV stations instead of just giving all the money to one station and letting them use it as they see fit.

TV3 can't compete on documentaries etc... as RTE are state funded so the market is distorted.

Mark200

thebman wrote: »

Public transport should be privatised especially the bus service as it will mean more services at cheaper costs. Dublin Bus is expensive runs at a loss and year on year is losing customers because the only people willing to use it are those who can't afford to run cars or that don't live on a train line and want to avoid unbearable traffic due to poor infrastructure investment by the state.

Dublin Bus offer appalling service and it could be better by many private companies. Dublin Bus have abused their subsidy to kill off private companies competing on their routes in the past so I don't see them as a particularly good example anyway.

Without trying to go too off topic here, I think public transport is a different story and there's no way it should be completely privatised. If it was privatised then a lot of rural areas will be left without public transport simply because it may not be commercially viable to provide a service to the area. But that doesn't change the fact that a service may be needed there. But I do think it's a disgrace that Dublin Bus do use their endless government subsidies to kill off competition from private companies.

TaxiManMartin

Firetrap wrote: »

No they're not going to go bankrupt. It's just scare tactics to make staff take those pay cuts.

Agreed.
Lots of companies have been jumping on the recession bangwagon and gutting staffs wages even though they dont have to.

Linku

eirman wrote: »

Look at the way they deploy their staff ..........

One set of presenters for rte1 tv lunchtime news

Another set for the 6pm news (Do they really need 3 people?)

Another set for the 9pm

Late night bulletin ... not sure

This is public-sector unionised madness
===================================================
Now when it comes to the now very frequent ad-breaks and all these dammed ads diguised as competitions on radio1, all I can say is .... thank goodness for newstalk and bbc radio ulster+4+5

I don't listen to the radio often, but I'm pretty sure some of the television newsreaders do the reports on the radio (on Radio 1) anyway, so I assume it's just a case of having different "shifts" in the newsroom, and they're not sitting around all day waiting for their one TV bulletin to start? Also, aren't RTÉ newsreaders involved in writing their own reports?

Agreed on the competitions though, there's a feckin competition mentioned in between every single section on the Late Late/Tubridy Tonight/The Afternoon Show/Seoige! Aer Lingus, Aer Arann and hotels around the country must be loving all these cheap advertisements they get just by sending a weekend break package into Montrose!

Mark200 wrote: »

Without trying to go too off topic here, I think public transport is a different story and there's no way it should be completely privatised. If it was privatised then a lot of rural areas will be left without public transport simply because it may not be commercially viable to provide a service to the area. But that doesn't change the fact that a service may be needed there. But I do think it's a disgrace that Dublin Bus do use their endless government subsidies to kill off competition from private companies.

This is the same reason you need a state funded broadcaster though. If RTÉ was privatised, there would be areas left completely uncovered, just because the show might not pull in huge numbers. It might not be everyones cup of tea, but if you think back to little documentaries made years ago, they can be very important now. It would be a shame for example, if a craft or hobby disappeared without much record of it every being made...

Mossy Monk

thebman wrote: »

If you are limited to the basic 4 channels, you wouldn't be if they cut the license fee, you could get Sky or NTL and have money left over.

I think you will find that you cant. A year of Sky or NTL costs more than the licence fee.

salonfire wrote: »

Aren't RTE repeatedly fined by the EU for showing adverts while collecting a licence fee...but because the advert revenue is greater than the fines, they continue to flout the law.

That is wrong. RTÉ do not get fined for showing adverts. RTÉ is like many other networks in Europe, they show adverts and are also state funded.


The amount on nonense on this thread is amazing

Venom

Venom wrote: »

You do have the option of getting in a satellite tv system tho which in all fairness is not that costly these days.

Not where I'm living at the moment (due to landlord issues more than geographical issues). But yes, soon.

sub-x

Aw boo hoo, RTE have been broadcasting crap for years and the license fee goes up so they can have more money and broadcast more crap.

Case in point today RTEs bank holiday movie is Sister Act :rolleyes:

Maybe this will help deflated a few egos too.

Good riddance.

kpbdublin

Why don't they ask the BBC to take it over? We could have our own bit of local news about the latest on recession, bent bankers, pervert priests etc. RTE is a remarkably overblown overpaid institution.
If we don't ask the beeb to take over, why not strip it down to what it was? Just one channel instead of 3, with progs starting at 5.30, just one news reader on the six o'clock news, film of trad music, boring documentaries about glass blowers, Hawaii five o, old Hollywood films and then closedown with national anthem at 11 pm sharp.

Linku

sub-x wrote: »

Aw boo hoo, RTE have been broadcasting crap for years and the license fee goes up so they can have more money and broadcast more crap.

Case in point today RTEs bank holiday movie is Sister Act :rolleyes:

Maybe this will help deflated a few egos too.

Good riddance.

They have Calendar Girls on as well, and Grand Theft Parsons on RTE2. BBC didn't even show a movie the last two UK Bank holidays, but a whole night of repeats on both BBC1 and BBC2, it was mentioned on Points of View this week...

My name is URL

kpbdublin wrote: »

Why don't they ask the BBC to take it over? We could have our own bit of local news about the latest on recession, bent bankers, pervert priests etc. RTE is a remarkably overblown overpaid institution.
If we don't ask the beeb to take over, why not strip it down to what it was? Just one channel instead of 3, with progs starting at 5.30, just one news reader on the six o'clock news, film of trad music, boring documentaries about glass blowers, Hawaii five o, old Hollywood films and then closedown with national anthem at 11 pm sharp.

Yeah, let's hand control of our leading broadcaster over to the British. What could possibly go wrong

If they'd start being considerate with the money they receive from the state/us it would be better. Cut pay and put more into production and ideas

sub-x

Linku wrote: »

They have Calendar Girls on as well, and Grand Theft Parsons on RTE2. BBC didn't even show a movie the last two UK Bank holidays, but a whole night of repeats on both BBC1 and BBC2, it was mentioned on Points of View this week...

Your right but my license fee doesn't go towards BBC,though you do bring up a very good point,Points of View...RTE don't have a show like it because they are well aware that they charge for pure crap.

I think ITV should take RTE over,they are on par with the crap they both show.

thebman

TaxiManMartin wrote: »

Agreed.
Lots of companies have been jumping on the recession bangwagon and gutting staffs wages even though they dont have to.

Maybe not many state companies doing it though that I can see. ESB gave pay increases.

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I think you will find that you cant. A year of Sky or NTL costs more than the licence fee.

Fine FTA then where you an get BBC1,2,3,4 (among other BBC channels), ITV1,2,3,4, channel 4, e4, Film4 among others so plenty of choice for 100 quid once off purchase of the box and dish, probably available cheaper online but you can walk into aldi/lidl and buy those offers every few months.

You can pay for a substantial amount of a years contract with NTL or Sky with Sky+ which is now standard for new customers.

Dónal wrote: »

Not where I'm living at the moment (due to landlord issues more than geographical issues). But yes, soon.

Well he probably wouldn't let you put up an aerial either if he's that fussy.

Mark200 wrote: »

Without trying to go too off topic here, I think public transport is a different story and there's no way it should be completely privatised. If it was privatised then a lot of rural areas will be left without public transport simply because it may not be commercially viable to provide a service to the area. But that doesn't change the fact that a service may be needed there. But I do think it's a disgrace that Dublin Bus do use their endless government subsidies to kill off competition from private companies.

No you can have service obligations for private companies to get operating licenses so they have to do some unprofitable routes and you'll still have better services on the profitable routes.

Linku wrote: »

|
This is the same reason you need a state funded broadcaster though. If RTÉ was privatised, there would be areas left completely uncovered

Again you can just have service obligations required to operate.

just because the show might not pull in huge numbers. It might not be everyones cup of tea, but if you think back to little documentaries made years ago, they can be very important now. It would be a shame for example, if a craft or hobby disappeared without much record of it every being made...

Anyone with a camcorder can record one and upload it to youtube. You can have state funding for these given to the cheapest bidder and get better value for money than RTE who have no incentive to do things on the cheap.

Linku

thebman wrote: »

Again you can just have service obligations required to operate.

TV3 has programming obligations, yet they make up their Irish programming requirement with cack like Xposé. I'd rather take Nationwide or something over some cheap greenscreen show any day, of which TV3 must have 5 or 6 on daily now...

sub-x

Slightly off topic but considering this thread just reminded of something.

Has anybody ever noticed how English speaking ads on RTE are overdubbed by Irish actors,why

Mark200

My name is URL wrote: »

Yeah, let's hand control of our leading broadcaster over to the British. What could possibly go wrong

You sound like they'll use it as a propaganda machine for their next invasion.

syklops

what annoys me about them is the amount they give away in competitions. You have the aptly named mooneys money, which gives away 1000 euros a day. Not a week a day!

The last few times I watched the late late show they gave about 10k away, and in the last episode, 3 sets of 10k. 30k in one night! Thats what a sound engineer gets a year!

The amount of waste is ridiculous. I never watch movies on RTE anymore ever since they started putting the news in the middle. The Mid week movie is a regular culprit of this. Its bad enough having ad breaks ruining the momentum of the film, but to put in a 15-20 minute news slot with only 20 minutes left of the movie is just daft!!

Silly decisions like this by a man who earns more than the american president. ridiculous!

syklops

syklops wrote: »

what annoys me about them is the amount they give away in competitions. You have the aptly named mooneys money, which gives away 1000 euros a day. Not a week a day!

The last few times I watched the late late show they gave about 10k away, and in the last episode, 3 sets of 10k. 30k in one night! Thats what a sound engineer gets a year!

Since they're special lines you've to ring up (57XXX or something) and they usually cost a fair bit, I'd imagine they're breaking even or making money on the amount they give out.

newbie2

sub-x wrote: »

Has anybody ever noticed how English speaking ads on RTE are overdubbed by Irish actors,why

Ads are made by ad companies. If a product is being sold in the UK and here, It is cheaper for the ad company to redub the same ad with an irish accent - to give it 'irishness' rather than to re shoot the ad using Irish actors.. It's the same as some european ads for the likes of Mr. muscle, kinder Bueno and 'Plenty' (formally 'Bounty'). The Spanish/Italian actors suddenly have an irish accent but their lips don't sync with the dialogue.

newbie2

syklops wrote: »

The last few times I watched the late late show they gave about 10k away, and in the last episode, 3 sets of 10k. !

These prizes are given to the shows by the company themselves. For example, Pat kennys last lat late show the prize was 5 prizes of 10k each - donated by the national lottery to celebrate the launch of the new 'winning streak' gaemshow being broadcast on the next couple of weeks. The late late will get about 750,000 people watching it at this time. That's alot of people the national lottery has just had their name and logo said to. It's all about advertising.

syklops

To make my point for me, I just switched over to rte one to catch some of sister act, and the announcer has said(as gaeilge) it will return in a few moments after the nuacht. Its so flipping annoying!!!!! I have written 3 letters about this to RTE in the past, and only got a reply one of the times, saying programme scheduling was not up to the complaint's department.

Its such a stupid system.