RTÉ Junior.

endakenny

Even though RTÉ has a channel for children up to age of six years, it cannot drop the programmes it broadcasts for children in that age group on RTÉ Two because the Minister for Communications won't give it permission.

Why did RTÉ bother with RTÉ Junior when it's not allowed to drop children's programmes on RTÉ Two? The failure to give it permission means that it cannot make the morning and the afternoon on RTÉ Two available for programmes aimed at older people.

Sam Russell

For the same reason they keep RTE News Now going with no programmes, only simulcasts of RTE News from other channels and then repeats of those simulcasts.

I do not know what that reason is, but it is the same one. This folly costs the station nearly €2m a year for the two wasted channels for no purpose whatsoever, and in particular, no extra income.

icdg

It allowed RTE during the switchover period to say that Saorview brought the benefit of four extra channels. Otherswise they'd have been the ones to have to explain to the public that they'd have to switch to digital and the only benefit for them would have been 3e.

Elmo

Sequence of events

1. April 2013 RTÉ puts forward plans to mover RTÉ jr programming from RTÉ
2. It is believed that DCENR receives a letter from TV3 against the move
3. The minister asks for the BAI to investigate the market in relation to these small number of hours on RTÉ TWO
4. DCENR make contact with around 10 organisation in relation to the change
5. None of these organisations have anything to say on the planned move
6. The minister refuses to make the plans public or consult with the public
7. After 15 months rather than make a decision on the 3 hours of TV RTÉ without reason walk away from the proposal, was this so that DCENR & BAI could save face????

Sam Russell

icdg wrote: »

It allowed RTE during the switchover period to say that Saorview brought the benefit of four extra channels. Otherswise they'd have been the ones to have to explain to the public that they'd have to switch to digital and the only benefit for them would have been 3e.

Why did RTE make such a song and dance about digital TV? We had no such charade about a conversion from MPH to km/hr. It just happened, and so fast many importers were caught out with MPH vehicles many months after the transition. Also, they launched Saorview (why did it need a name?) on May 26th 2011 and announced a 17 month time for analogue to be switched off. They had been broadcasting it since Aug 2008 as a 'test' but fully for about 12 months prior to that. Then they launched it again when the analogue was switched off.

All the needed to do was start up the digital/Saorview system and tell the viewers of the old service - 'Sorry - Transmission on this channel will cease in xx weeks time'. They made no fuss about the closure of the MW radio service.

They have made no use of these two additional channels. Without them, mux2 would be unnecessay.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

Why did RTE make such a song and dance about digital TV? We had no such charade about a conversion from MPH to km/hr. It just happened, and so fast many importers were caught out with MPH vehicles many months after the transition. Also, they launched Saorview (why did it need a name?) on May 26th 2011 and announced a 17 month time for analogue to be switched off. They had been broadcasting it since Aug 2008 as a 'test' but fully for about 12 months prior to that. Then they launched it again when the analogue was switched off.

All the needed to do was start up the digital/Saorview system and tell the viewers of the old service - 'Sorry - Transmission on this channel will cease in xx weeks time'. They made no fuss about the closure of the MW radio service.

They have made no use of these two additional channels. Without them, mux2 would be unnecessay.

And the song and dance was purely about picture quality rather than the extra "4" channels RTÉ NN, RTÉrj/RTÉ 1+1 and 3e.

endakenny

Sam Russell wrote: »

For the same reason they keep RTE News Now going with no programmes, only simulcasts of RTE News from other channels and then repeats of those simulcasts.

I do not know what that reason is, but it is the same one. This folly costs the station nearly €2m a year for the two wasted channels for no purpose whatsoever, and in particular, no extra income.

In fairness, there are occasional programmes on that are broadcast on News Now and not on RTÉ 1 or 2, e.g. the debate for the position of President of the European Commission. It is also useful for simulcasting Euronews overnight so that viewers who don't have satellite TV or the Internet can see it.

endakenny

Elmo wrote: »

Sequence of events

1. April 2013 RTÉ puts forward plans to mover RTÉ jr programming from RTÉ
2. It is believed that DCENR receives a letter from TV3 against the move
3. The minister asks for the BAI to investigate the market in relation to these small number of hours on RTÉ TWO
4. DCENR make contact with around 10 organisation in relation to the change
5. None of these organisations have anything to say on the planned move
6. The minister refuses to make the plans public or consult with the public
7. After 15 months rather than make a decision on the 3 hours of TV RTÉ without reason walk away from the proposal, was this so that DCENR & BAI could save face????

Why would the Government think that letting RTÉ drop Junior programmes from RTÉ 2 would have a negative political effect? I doubt that most viewers care much about what TV3 thinks. Those viewers will care even less about TV3 after Emmerdale and Coronation Street are moved to UTV Ireland. Surely, the Government isn't afraid of TV3. Is it?

icdg

Sam Russell wrote: »

Why did RTE make such a song and dance about digital TV? We had no such charade about a conversion from MPH to km/hr. It just happened, and so fast many importers were caught out with MPH vehicles many months after the transition.

Because people didn't need to buy new cars or converters for their cars. They did have to buy new TVs or STBs for their TVs. By a deadline. People needed an incentive to switch and they don't care about digital dividends or the like. More channels was the incentive.

All the needed to do was start up the digital/Saorview system and tell the viewers of the old service - 'Sorry - Transmission on this channel will cease in xx weeks time'. They made no fuss about the closure of the MW radio service..

Because there are now very few AM only radios. Had we waited the same time as the switch on of FM to the switch off of MW DSO would still be decades away. People had decades to switch to FM but two years to switch to DTT

Elmo

icdg wrote: »

Because there are now very few AM only radios. Had we waited the same time as the switch on of FM to the switch off of MW DSO would still be decades away. People had decades to switch to FM but two years to switch to DTT

If governments, regulators and broadcasters had from 2004 decided to build a proper DTT network and provided access to the DTT network to new or existing broadcasters, perhaps Audiences wouldn't have had to switch. I say the level of awareness of DSO in the UK in 2008 was great than here in Ireland. Slowly the built in analogue tuner would have disappeared just like the conventional MW receiver on Radios.

endakenny wrote: »

Why would the Government think that letting RTÉ drop Junior programmes from RTÉ 2 would have a negative political effect? I doubt that most viewers care much about what TV3 thinks. Those viewers will care even less about TV3 after Emmerdale and Coronation Street are moved to UTV Ireland. Surely, the Government isn't afraid of TV3. Is it?

It was a slight gesture to TV3 as it faces competition from UTV IMO.
I honestly don't know why DCERN and BAI made such a fuss, would anyone notice if RTÉjr programming was dropped from RTÉ come monday morning?

dublinman1990

endakenny wrote: »

In fairness, there are occasional programmes on that are broadcast on News Now and not on RTÉ 1 or 2, e.g. the debate for the position of President of the European Commission. It is also useful for simulcasting Euronews overnight so that viewers who don't have satellite TV or the Internet can see it.

I agree with you about the occasional programmes on RTE NN. However, Euronews is broadcast on three RTE channels during the night including RTE1 and RTE2 so it is a incredible waste of resources to put that up for the Saorview only viewers alone.

If RTEjr were to move off RTE Two the little ones won't be missing out on much wouldn't they? They can see their repeat programmes broadcast on the RTEjr channel so all is not lost for them.

Elmo

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I agree with you about the occasional programmes on RTE NN. However, Euronews is broadcast on three RTE channels during the night including RTE1 and RTE2 so it is a incredible waste of resources to put that up for the Saorview only viewers alone..

Or the fact that across 3 channels the Budget Plays out, it prob won't change this year either.

Sam Russell

endakenny wrote: »

In fairness, there are occasional programmes on that are broadcast on News Now and not on RTÉ 1 or 2, e.g. the debate for the position of President of the European Commission. It is also useful for simulcasting Euronews overnight so that viewers who don't have satellite TV or the Internet can see it.

I have seen them cut short a debate or somesuch to go over to the 6 news and leave the live stream for no reason. It is an orphan of a channel with no reason to exist at all aprt from a place-holder for a future news channel.

Elmo

Same old ****

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014100700080?opendocument#WRCC01550

channelsurfer2

Elmo wrote: »

Same old ****

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014100700080?opendocument#WRCC01550

. it appears only the Minister has changed. the same officials are still writing the same auld replies. they probably just cut and paste each time Deputy Donnelly raises the questions.

endakenny

Sam Russell wrote: »

I have seen them cut short a debate or somesuch to go over to the 6 news and leave the live stream for no reason. It is an orphan of a channel with no reason to exist at all aprt from a place-holder for a future news channel.

I'm sorry about the delay in replying to this; I forgot about it until now. The European Commission presidential debate was broadcast on News Now some time after 7 in the evening and was still on that channel while the nine o'clock news was being broadcast on RTÉ One.

Elmo

endakenny wrote: »

I'm sorry about the delay in replying to this; I forgot about it until now. The European Commission presidential debate was broadcast on News Now some time after 7 in the evening and was still on that channel while the nine o'clock news was being broadcast on RTÉ One.

It does happen from time to time that the live news doesn't interrupt News Now's schedule, but it is rare. They don't give a **** about it.

Sam Russell

Elmo wrote: »

It does happen from time to time that the live news doesn't interrupt News Now's schedule, but it is rare. They don't give a **** about it.

It is an orphan station, waiting for news of its own demise.

icdg

The major problem with News Now is that it began as a project of the website team in CEL and is still run by CEL rather than RTE itself. It badly needs to be moved under the ambit of News and Current Affairs but there seems to be no will in RTE to do this.

We really should get back to RTEjr, incidently!

realistic anorak

RTE Junior has been scaled back on RTE2 since september though, It now only runs for about 4 to 5 hours per day on RTE2.

Elmo

realistic anorak wrote: »

RTE Junior has been scaled back on RTE2 since september though, It now only runs for about 4 to 5 hours per day on RTE2.

Wrote to dept they where advised by RTÉ it hasn't ??????

realistic anorak

Elmo wrote: »

Wrote to dept they where advised by RTÉ it hasn't ??????

They definitely have less RTE Junior than the last 3 or 4 years but they have only really gone back to how things were in the mid-late 00s with programs for older kids on at breakfast time. The schedule fluctuates alot because they run out of TRTE shows quickly with their schedule stripping

realistic anorak

Is it known why RTE withdrew their plans to remove RTE Junior from rte 2 ?

Sam Russell

RTE Jr does not carry adverts.

Elmo

realistic anorak wrote: »

Is it known why RTE withdrew their plans to remove RTE Junior from rte 2 ?

I think they where asked to by the department, though they say it was down to economic reasons.