RTE News Now - are they serious?

Sam Russell

Last night, my wife wanted to watch Michael D's speach from the Guild Hall. It was 'scheduled' to be on RTE NN at 9:45pm. However, as the dinner was running late, NN put on a 3 minute loop of repeated news, and repeated endlessly. It takes a lot of effort to watch such crass TV, but she perservered and eventually, some 45 minutes behind the 'scheduled' time the picture showed the Guild Hall - but no sound. A few bursts of very loud white noise followed by silence and after 5 or so minutes, they eventually got a low level of audio, with the town crier shouting the toasts in between.

Why can they not have continuity/presentation involved in this channel, particularly when they screw up? Is it so difficult to treat this channel as more than a place holder or test card? It could be so much more with very little effort - it is like a channel on autopilot, which it probably is.

RTE have ignored this channel since they started it - why?

I use 'sheduled' because NN does not have a schedule.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

Last night, my wife wanted to watch Michael D's speach from the Guild Hall. It was 'scheduled' to be on RTE NN at 9:45pm. However, as the dinner was running late, NN put on a 3 minute loop of repeated news, and repeated endlessly. It takes a lot of effort to watch such crass TV, but she perservered and eventually, some 45 minutes behind the 'scheduled' time the picture showed the Guild Hall - but no sound. A few bursts of very loud white noise followed by silence and after 5 or so minutes, they eventually got a low level of audio, with the town crier shouting the toasts in between.

Why can they not have continuity/presentation involved in this channel, particularly when they screw up? Is it so difficult to treat this channel as more than a place holder or test card? It could be so much more with very little effort - it is like a channel on autopilot, which it probably is.

RTE have ignored this channel since they started it - why?

I use 'sheduled' because NN does not have a schedule.

Got to speak briefly with the Deputy DG and he thinks its good :rolleyes: this is the guy the brought over from England. I got the impression they have no plans to change it.

gordongekko

Until they are allowed to carry ads on the channel I can't see it improving much

Sam Russell

gordongekko wrote: »

Until they are allowed to carry ads on the channel I can't see it improving much

I think ads are a must to generate enough cash to pay for the service. Having said that, the current channel is like a news feed to a station, rather than a broadcast.

It could not cost anything to get existing continuity/presentation staff to handle this channel as well as the others.

[Perhaps they no longer have any presentation staff to do this, but they must have duty personel of some sort to cover the screw-ups].

I find it yet another disappointment. It looks awful with the vertical and horizontal panels, and now it cannot even handle a simple broadcast.

Delta2113

It's an absolute disgrace and could easily be improved. Not being allowed carry ads is a joke.

mike65

It looks like the internet on a bad day (that is to say the internet having a bad day)

Elmo

mike65 wrote: »

It looks like the internet on a bad day (that is to say the internet having a bad day)

Nearly as bad as LIVE NETWORK IRELAND NEWS or IRELAND LIVE NETWORK NEWS

icdg

It betrays it's origins as being run by the web team (based in Commercial Enterprises) rather than RTE News and Current Affairs very easily. In fact I suspect this is still the case despite the fact that it now airs as a traditional broadcast channel.

Sam Russell

icdg wrote: »

It betrays it's origins as being run by the web team (based in Commercial Enterprises) rather than RTE News and Current Affairs very easily. In fact I suspect this is still the case despite the fact that it now airs as a traditional broadcast channel.

I do not think it does. It is extremely clunky, just breaking from one repeat to another, like an automitron. It appears to have no continuity at all. Sound levels are all over the place as well.

It also appears to have little or no editorial control and NN is simply a streaming service - as you say a web site jobbie.

Can they not do better? I hope they can and I wonder why they dont.

formerly scottish paddy

Delta2113 wrote: »

Not being allowed carry ads is a joke.

Thank you again TV3 for that. :mad:

radiowaves

Sam Russell wrote: »

I do not think it does. It is extremely clunky, just breaking from one repeat to another, like an automitron. It appears to have no continuity at all. Sound levels are all over the place as well.

It also appears to have little or no editorial control and NN is simply a streaming service - as you say a web site jobbie.

Can they not do better? I hope they can and I wonder why they dont.

I'm guessing icdg meant availability as opposed to aesthetics

Sam Russell

It is costing nearly €1m in transmission charges. It should either shut down or be done properly. When they broadcast a show like Morning Edition, it should be done full screen without the ridiculous side panels ant ticker-tape.

In fact, it should be redesigned to look like a serious news channel. BBC News would be a good(ish) model for then to ape. Also, it needs to move to News room control and be allowed advertising of some amount.