TV3 offers all staff voluntary redundancy

The Cush

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/tv3-in-turmoil-as-all-staff-offered-voluntary-redundancy-30151860.html

TV3 is seeking voluntary redundancies in news, content and broadcast areas as part of their "strategy for 2015".

Last night a spokeswoman from the commercial TV station confirmed the voluntary redundancy scheme in place at the broadcaster and said that it would be limited to a specific number of places.

icdg

Wonder what their "strategy for 2015" is. More repeats? There's not much more they can cut from the news division before they won't have one at all.

Dymo

Maybe that's it, cut the news division like they do on the weekend.

channelsurfer2

their strategy is probably to do a phantom on it. get rid of most of the staff and play recorded loops outside primetime. they wont admit it but thats worst case scenario and they have to have that in mind as part of their 2015 scenario.
time will tell.

Sam Russell

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

their strategy is probably to do a phantom on it. get rid of most of the staff and play recorded loops outside primetime. they wont admit it but thats worst case scenario and they have to have that in mind as part of their 2015 scenario.
time will tell.

I thought that was what they did now.

Onthe3rdDay

It's likely that their News Coverage will be cut back. I'd assume they'll say that their 12.45 bulletin is such a success that the 5.30 should become the 5.45.

What you can see happening is them buying pictures from elsewhere, and running a paired down service with copy from the wires and maybe some stuff from either an Irish Newspaper or Radio Station. They'd hold on to their political correspondent as she is able to fill a decent amount of time, sometimes with very little material.

The Breakfast bulletins can just be headline affairs and again before Vincent at 11 a 2 minute bulletin like they put out at the weekend. No doubt they'll do something like putting bulletins out at 1 minute to the hour every hour between 7 and 11 to show their commitment to news.

I would reckon you'll also see more weather forecasts at some stage. It's a great way to fill out a schedule when you're short of content. Even TG4 realized this when they started broadcasting. However, TG4's many weather bulletins actually appear to have a point.

watty

Staff of four.
One to program the play out server
One to read news. (no camera man needed)
One to sell adverts.
Manager.

Outsource anything not bought off the shelf.

The Cush

Up to 9 redundancies sought in 2 departments, 2 senior staff members resigned this week

TV3 Group is offering voluntary redundancy “to a small number of staff”, stating that their positions “will become redundant because of changes to the way that the company operates”, it said.

The broadcaster said the rationale for the scheme was to introduce “flexible options” to staff at a time when its programming strategy is shifting deeper into original content.

The total number of people who leave under the scheme “is unlikely to be more than nine”, the company said, adding that its total employee head count will remain higher than its tally a year ago.

The company has more than 260 staff.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/media-and-marketing/tv3-seeks-voluntary-redundancies-1.1749330

the Ballymount broadcaster insisted that fewer than 10 redundancies have been offered across only two departments as part of an annual scheme.

TV3 insisted that staff numbers are up 10pc since last year and said it is enjoying its best quarter in terms of revenue since 2008. The station also confirmed that the redundancies have been lined-up for staff in the content, news and broadcast areas and do not affect any of the station's stars, including Xpose host Karen Koster and broadcaster Vincent Browne.

...

The station confirmed that TV3's head of sales, Dara Byrne, and its head of branded content, Paula McCarthy, have left, but said this will not have any knock-on effects.

http://www.herald.ie/news/tv3-says-redundancies-are-not-the-start-of-station-meltdown-30152523.html

This morning a spokesperson from the commercial TV station confirmed the voluntary redundancy scheme in place at the broadcaster and said that it would be limited to a specific number of places.

However, the spokesperson said it is something they do every year and only applies to certain departments.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/tv3-in-turmoil-as-staff-offered-voluntary-redundancy-30151860.html

Sam Russell

watty wrote: »

Staff of four.
One to program the play out server
One to read news. (no camera man needed)
One to sell adverts.
Manager.

Outsource anything not bought off the shelf.

If they have only 15 minutes of news, cannot the newsreader also operate the playout server?

That person could also answer the phone to sell adverts, so why have a manager?

STB

icdg wrote: »

Wonder what their "strategy for 2015" is. More repeats? There's not much more they can cut from the news division before they won't have one at all.

No GAA for a start!

channelsurfer2

STB wrote: »

No GAA for a start!

I do wonder will they even have any sports dept.we should know in the next month or two if they will
have any champions league but that won't make money if they have to double what they pay now to fend off setanta.

Onthe3rdDay

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

I do wonder will they even have any sports dept.we should know in the next month or two if they will
have any champions league but that won't make money if they have to double what they pay now to fend off setanta.

Well I got a huge hop when I went to the TV3 Site (for the first time in months to be honest!) The Sports section basically has closed down. It seems to have 7 or 8 stories posted over the last Month and only two stories posted over the last 2 weeks. The twitter feed as of 11;15 this morning hasn't been updated since Thursday. This is surprising when you consider TV3 is supposed to employ 260 people. The News Site doesn't look much better.

It really now looks like they'll cut back their News and Sport coverage right to the bone if the BAI allow it. If we're to be fair this Soap that they're producing looks like the last throw of the dice. However, with the best will in the world Soaps are very hard to get right.

The BBC and ITV have had many expensive failures in the past. Emmerdale had to be totally changed to get it to where it is today. It was a very sleepy soap (with figures to match) for more than a decade.

Fair City didn't find it's feet for at least a year or two if not longer. Is TV3 willing to wait 18 months before they get their Soap right? Or will it be the case that they stop production after 10 weeks if they can't get a British Partner to pay for it?

watty

The BAI is toothless.
They will do what ever they want!

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

Up to 9 redundancies sought in 2 departments, 2 senior staff members resigned this week

From today's Sunday Times

UTV Ireland has swooped to hire three of TV3's most senior sales staff as it prepares to launch a challenge to the TV market in the republic.

Daragh Byrne, who was TV3's sales director; Deirdre Stokes, who was head of sales operations; and Paula McCarthy, who was head of branded content, have moved to UTV Ireland.

Elmo

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

Well I got a huge hop when I went to the TV3 Site (for the first time in months to be honest!) The Sports section basically has closed down. It seems to have 7 or 8 stories posted over the last Month and only two stories posted over the last 2 weeks. The twitter feed as of 11;15 this morning hasn't been updated since Thursday. This is surprising when you consider TV3 is supposed to employ 260 people. The News Site doesn't look much better.

TV3 really haven't used their site effectively. It took them a while to even think about the web under CanWest and ITV. In fairness to DH they invested into their site, unfortunately the initial site was filled with a huge mix of technologies that didn't always suit. Then the did the re-design, which had the idea of Ireland's first video news (or something). TV3 really should be providing the kind of content that any news website provides.

It has now become expose central, one article on that I read was a complete copy and paste of a press release.

Also far too many ads on the TV3 player.

Onthe3rdDay

Elmo wrote: »

TV3 really haven't used their site effectively. It took them a while to even think about the web under CanWest and ITV. In fairness to DH they invested into their site, unfortunately the initial site was filled with a huge mix of technologies that didn't always suit. Then the did the re-design, which had the idea of Ireland's first video news (or something). TV3 really should be providing the kind of content that any news website provides.

It has now become expose central, one article on that I read was a complete copy and paste of a press release.

Also far too many ads on the TV3 player.

The funny thing is that at one stage they were very progressive internet wise. In 2000 and 2001 when I was in the states I was able to watch a good quality stream of the early evening News from TV3. However, things started to go down from there.

Elmo

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

The funny thing is that at one stage they were very progressive internet wise. In 2000 and 2001 when I was in the states I was able to watch a good quality stream of the early evening News from TV3. However, things started to go down from there.

Yeah? I just remember this very little content and no video http://web.archive.org/web/20010927085636/http://www.tv3.ie/

Onthe3rdDay

Elmo wrote: »

Yeah? I just remember this very little content and no video http://web.archive.org/web/20010927085636/http://www.tv3.ie/

No, that's not what I was accessing at all, It was some sort of site with news bulletins from around the world. So there were bulletins from say Germany, New Zealand etc. You could stream them up to 512k which was a big thing at the time. I never did better than 256k for the TV3 News, but the picture was more than acceptable. At that time you could also access RTE News on their Site but there was a lot of Real Player if I remember correctly, plus it was a picture for 56k dial up.

irishfeen

I wonder could RTÉ's judicial proceedings against TV3 in relation to Saorview transmission fees be the final straw for the station if it was to go against them? ... it really does now look like TV3 has no way out from the mess it finds itself in.

Onthe3rdDay

I think the UTV launch has completely ruined the long term plans for TV3. It was obviously they wanted to keep it ticking over until someone came along and bought the operation as a going concern. Building the HD Studio added value to the enterprise, made it look more than a few offices and one studio out in West Dublin.

In fact it's closer to a pyramid scheme than a business. Who will be the unlucky one to own it when it all comes crashing down?

This business plan would have worked fine if someone else didn't come along and apply to broadcast. They were safe enough until Saorview started up. Why would anyone in their right mind buy TV3 now. At this stage they might get someone giving a euro for it, but even then it would be less hassle to start from the beginning.

If the economy recovers UTV will do very well and you may find one or two others will want to start a station as well. It's far cheaper to do now than even 10 years ago.


TV3 have been unlucky. Those that have owned in have viewed it as an investment rather than a broadcaster. If you look at the likes of UTV they're very much a company that wants to make money but they also realize that they're a broadcaster and that people will want to watch their programmes.

Other stations show repeats because they're cheap to air, but at the same time it's done in a way to maximize viewing figures if at all possible. On TV3 repeats outside 7-11pm seem to be on instead of a testcard.

STB

The HD studio was a deal done with Sony. The "Sony HD Studio" is also available to rent by independent producers or anyone who can pay in Ireland.

Unlucky, they were very lucky. They've had huge debts written off and been able to buy back their corporate debt at a discount, using public funds.

Their sports team have lost the rights to GAA, which would have formed some of the highest viewing figures on their station. How serious their offer was to retain the GAA rights, might not never be known.

They have double the amount of advertising time than any other PSB. 260 people. I honestly doubt that.

channelsurfer2

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

I think the UTV launch has completely ruined the long term plans for TV3. It was obviously they wanted to keep it ticking over until someone came along and bought the operation as a going concern. Building the HD Studio added value to the enterprise, made it look more than a few offices and one studio out in West Dublin.

In fact it's closer to a pyramid scheme than a business. Who will be the unlucky one to own it when it all comes crashing down?

This business plan would have worked fine if someone else didn't come along and apply to broadcast. They were safe enough until Saorview started up. Why would anyone in their right mind buy TV3 now. At this stage they might get someone giving a euro for it, but even then it would be less hassle to start from the beginning.

If the economy recovers UTV will do very well and you may find one or two others will want to start a station as well. It's far cheaper to do now than even 10 years ago.


TV3 have been unlucky. Those that have owned in have viewed it as an investment rather than a broadcaster. If you look at the likes of UTV they're very much a company that wants to make money but they also realize that they're a broadcaster and that people will want to watch their programmes.

Other stations show repeats because they're cheap to air, but at the same time it's done in a way to maximize viewing figures if at all possible. On TV3 repeats outside 7-11pm seem to be on instead of a testcard.

its tv3.. they dont innovate just irritate until they get their way. unfortunately they have now been outmanouvered by utv ireland with their big stick and tv3 are in in a big spiral downwards.

formerly scottish paddy

This will end in tears.

JDxtra

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

This will end in tears.

...of joy.

channelsurfer2

just had a read of the sunday business post article about tv3 today. the biggest laugh of all is the last 2 lines of it where David Mcredmond says TV3 is a great place to work with excellent salaries and he cant see why anyone else(apart from the 3 of the biggest hitters that left this week) would want to leave.:o I think he is in fantasy land and they are now setting themselves up to force the BAI to let them reduce all news and public service content to next to nothing. It will be fun when the BAI ask UTV for some comment on tv3's request when(not if) it happens.

formerly scottish paddy

This is going to be ridiculous. How can you have a so called PSB providing virtually no news or current affairs, while a broadcaster on a content only licence runs a full national news service?

Onthe3rdDay

STB wrote: »

The HD studio was a deal done with Sony. The "Sony HD Studio" is also available to rent by independent producers or anyone who can pay in Ireland.

Unlucky, they were very lucky. They've had huge debts written off and been able to buy back their corporate debt at a discount, using public funds.

Their sports team have lost the rights to GAA, which would have formed some of the highest viewing figures on their station. How serious their offer was to retain the GAA rights, might not never be known.

They have double the amount of advertising time than any other PSB. 260 people. I honestly doubt that.

Sony kitted out the studio for free I think, and they then got the naming rights probably for 7 to 10 years. At one point there were several ITV shows going to be made there, according to the TV3 press office. It's the only real asset that TV3 have got and that's if they even really own it. It's probably mortgaged out in some deal that will be revealed at some point in the near future. Their programme portfolio is pitiful.

According to the GAA Sky's offer is only worth slightly more than they were already getting, now if you consider that sky have an extra 6 matches plus the semi finals and final you'd have to assume that the offer TV3 made was far less than the previous one. They probably assumed that the GAA had nowhere else to go and they would never go to SKY.

It's the same with the soaps. RTE weren't going to put in a bid, so where else could ITV go in this market? there are no other stations to broadcast on. UTV have stated that they only really decided to go for UTV Ireland when TV3 dropped the Ball.

It's always been about the soaps since day one. Coronation Street used to bring in half a million to RTE2 when it was on that channel. I remember reading the Tam Ratings when I was younger and the Highest rated Programme on RTE was Either the Late Late or the two eps of Coronation Street that used to go out on RTE 2.

The Street was moved to RTE1 to build an audience for the night. That's why TV3 bought it and Emmerdale. If UTV hadn't the soaps they would never entered the Irish Market in the way they're doing. They might have started an opt out for Southern Irish Ads but that would be that.

The 260 figure includes those that are on Day to day contracts and those that only work part time. It's also been rounded up. It's a truly terrible operation if there are 260 working for it.

It's mad that their own actions have tempted a huge competitor into the market.

watty

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

This is going to be ridiculous. How can you have a so called PSB providing virtually no news or current affairs, while a broadcaster on a content only licence runs a full national news service?

Because since the end of Analogue in reality any previous conditions on TV3 are meaningless and were never strictly applied then anyway (refusal to pay for full coverage, technically insolvent, all those dodgy scam programs, their morning magazine news is practically purely phone in scams (so called quiz) and product placement)

If TV3 handed back their existing licence BAI would re-issue a content only one nearly the same day.

Onthe3rdDay

One of the more disturbing things I've seen is

http://www.mhznetworks.org/schedule

This is a US Network that has two Channels In Washington DC plus it appears they also have a National 24 hour Network Affiliated to several PBS stations. They have a block of 3 hours of TV3 programmes every Monday to Friday from 1pm to 4 pm. They show Midday, Late Lunch Live and Vincent.
The Only RTE programme appears to be the first Half hour of the six-one.

L1011

They have two multiplexes rather than channels realistically - while the US DTT is wildly different to here it allows 6-8 channels per 7Mhz UHF channel. They also appear to carry Russia Today, France 24, Arirang and a number of other international channels in full.

The combined channel that has the TV3 content is on in more than just DC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHz_Worldview