Summer 2015 was dreadful on RTE

John Joe Jones

It it just me or was this RTE Televisions worst summer in years ? Endless repeats and not one current affairs program on in weeks. At least last year they had callans kicks on Friday night's at 9.30 what happened to that ?

satguy

We are forced by law to pay them, they just need to keep it ticking over.

political analyst

John Joe Jones wrote: »

It it just me or was this RTE Televisions worst summer in years ? Endless repeats and not one current affairs program on in weeks. At least last year they had callans kicks on Friday night's at 9.30 what happened to that ?

In fairness, there are no significant current affairs in Ireland in August. By the way, the Stormont crisis will still be on next week, which is when Prime Time returns. Furthermore, the Middle East refugee crisis does not directly affect us at this point in time and that crisis will also still be on next week.

There's much less happening on this island than there is in Great Britain.

twinklerunner

John Joe Jones wrote: »

It it just me or was this RTE Televisions worst summer in years ? Endless repeats and not one current affairs program on in weeks. At least last year they had callans kicks on Friday night's at 9.30 what happened to that ?

Even though we pay for RTE, I'm glad that we have access to the UK channels and don't have to rely on RTE's output.

kn

Irish TV has gone to pot of late. I've been watching UK channels almost exclusively for weeks now. At least it looks as if there will be a couple of series worth tuning into from next week like the 'Recruits' one on army recruits.

CorkMartin

Absolutely dreadful output. I only tuned in for the hurling and football matches.
The majority of my viewing has been the UK terrestrials.

Enjoyed the French series 'Winesses' on Ch4 immensely. 'Escape from Isis' was also excellent.

The Beeb is consistently good. BBC4 throw up some gems in terms of documentaries and music programmes.
Tonight Rick Stein's excellent from Venice to Istanbul and Gardeners World on BBC2 are easy Friday night viewing.
Listen to BBC Radio 2 a lot.

I feel the €160 I pay for RTE is poor value. Their radio shows are tired as well, and 2fm is abysmal.

qweerty

political analyst wrote: »

In fairness, there are no significant current affairs in Ireland in August. By the way, the Stormont crisis will still be on next week, which is when Prime Time returns. Furthermore, the Middle East refugee crisis does not directly affect us at this point in time and that crisis will also still be on next week.

There's much less happening on this island than there is in Great Britain.

Perhaps you are equating parliamentary affairs with current affairs. Political and social questions like education reform, legislation around sex work, etc, remain relevant, and that's before you consider more abstract questions about the nature of Irish politics. The summer slowdown would perhaps enable an inventive state broadcaster to cover such questions in greater depth and at a slower pace, versus a fifteen-slot on Primetime or Sean O'Rourke.

icdg

I actually don't remember current affairs being completely pulled before. Usually there would still be a Thursday edition of Prime Time throughout August. Odd. Anyway everything should be back to normal next week

brick man

icdg wrote:

I actually don't remember current affairs being completely pulled before. Usually there would still be a Thursday edition of Prime Time throughout August. Odd. Anyway everything should be back to normal next week

It was pulled last year as well during August due to financial pressure. Since Kevin bakhurst took over RTE News & Current Affairs TV news output has fallen . for example News Now had morning news live at 9 10, 11, & midday now no 9am bulletin, and news on 2 used to be on for half hour now it's on News Now at 11pm for ten minutes. So unless they have a plan for News Now which is badly needed

political analyst

icdg wrote: »

I actually don't remember current affairs being completely pulled before. Usually there would still be a Thursday edition of Prime Time throughout August. Odd. Anyway everything should be back to normal next week

Here's a quote from a reply to an e-mail that I sent to the address feedback@rte.ie

'Prime Time' was traditionally broadcast once a week throughout the Summer. However it was not broadcast last August, or August 2013, in an attempt to use our resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

'Prime Time' has an annual budget and if we maintain even a skeleton staff and studio operations throughout the Summer, that is necessarily an additional limitation on the amount of resources that we have to devote to covering stories during the peak season.
Bearing in mind the number of institutions/organisations that now have only very limited operations during August, it tends to be a very quiet month domestically, both politically and economically.

For that reason we felt that it would be a more efficient use of resources to go off air in August, thereby having those staff hours/budget to use during the peak season.
However, we did maintain an ability to go on air at short notice if it was felt that was necessary.

political analyst

qweerty wrote: »

Perhaps you are equating parliamentary affairs with current affairs. Political and social questions like education reform, legislation around sex work, etc, remain relevant, and that's before you consider more abstract questions about the nature of Irish politics. The summer slowdown would perhaps enable an inventive state broadcaster to cover such questions in greater depth and at a slower pace, versus a fifteen-slot on Primetime or Sean O'Rourke.

I'm not saying that they don't remain relevant in the summer but the school holidays and the Oireachtas recess mean that news bulletins are enough for coverage of educational and legislative matters.

The population of a country is a factor in deciding how much coverage the national broadcaster provides for current affairs. The fact that Ireland's population is relatively small - four-and-a-half million (in the Republic - plus only under 2 million in Northern Ireland, i.e. the Stormont crisis) means that much less happens on this island than in Britain, which has a population of over 60 million.

twinklerunner

BBC NI manages to fill a half an hour daily on Newsline with news from NI throughout the summer. RTE just about managed a daily half hour of world news.

political analyst

twinklerunner wrote: »

BBC NI manages to fill a half an hour daily on Newsline with news from NI throughout the summer. RTE just about managed a daily half hour of world news.

That's the half-hour allocated on BBC 1 for the "news where you are" in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.

There are no international events that have a direct affect on us at this point in time. If a 9/11-style atrocity takes place or a former Taoiseach or President of Ireland dies in August e.g. Albert Reynolds, Six-One will temporarily revert back to half an hour.

twinklerunner

There are no international events that have a direct affect on us at this point in time. If a 9/11-style atrocity takes place or a former Taoiseach or President of Ireland dies in August e.g. Albert Reynolds, Six-One will temporarily revert back to half an hour.[/quote]

There's so much going on in the world. Thankfully we have Channel 4 News and BBC's Newsnight to keep us up to speed.

Sam Russell

political analyst wrote: »

That's the half-hour allocated on BBC 1 for the "news where you are" in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.

There are no international events that have a direct affect on us at this point in time. If a 9/11-style atrocity takes place or a former Taoiseach or President of Ireland dies in August e.g. Albert Reynolds, Six-One will temporarily revert back to half an hour.

Do you not think the refugee problem merits attention? There are 100,000 refugees on the move with thousands dying in the Med. I would think that deserves quite a bit of attention. Only 3,500 people died in 9/11.

political analyst

Sam Russell wrote: »

Do you not think the refugee problem merits attention? There are 100,000 refugees on the move with thousands dying in the Med. I would think that deserves quite a bit of attention. Only 3,500 people died in 9/11.

The deaths of large number of people in the Third World never get as much coverage in American and European media as the deaths of large numbers of people in shootings or terrorist attacks in America and Europe.

political analyst

twinklerunner wrote: »

There are no international events that have a direct affect on us at this point in time. If a 9/11-style atrocity takes place or a former Taoiseach or President of Ireland dies in August e.g. Albert Reynolds, Six-One will temporarily revert back to half an hour.

There's so much going on in the world. Thankfully we have Channel 4 News and BBC's Newsnight to keep us up to speed.[/QUOTE]
The migrant crisis doesn't affect us because most of the migrants are trying to get to Britain, not Ireland, and Ireland is not a member of NATO.

Sam Russell

political analyst wrote: »

The deaths of large number of people in the Third World never get as much coverage in American and European media as the deaths of large numbers of people in shootings or terrorist attacks in America and Europe.

But their deaths are not in the third world, they are in Europe, and the dead bodies from the Med are being landed in Europe. This is the situation that gave rise to the EU in the first place - the mass movement of refugees following the second world war - never again. We (the EU) soon forgot that when economics took over from humanitarian concern.

As well as that, the Greek bailout should have given rise to analysis.

Caovyn Lineah

Genuinely, I cannot remember the last time I watched an irish channel. It's pathetic as a whole,i will check out the Shannon documentary this week however.

twinklerunner

political analyst wrote: »

There's so much going on in the world. Thankfully we have Channel 4 News and BBC's Newsnight to keep us up to speed.

The migrant crisis doesn't affect us because most of the migrants are trying to get to Britain, not Ireland, and Ireland is not a member of NATO.[/quote]

Ah well sure that's fine so, as long as we're not affected. What a depressing outlook. As I said previously, thankfully we're not relying on RTE's News.

qweerty

political analyst wrote: »

I'm not saying that they don't remain relevant in the summer but the school holidays and the Oireachtas recess mean that news bulletins are enough for coverage of educational and legislative matters.

The population of a country is a factor in deciding how much coverage the national broadcaster provides for current affairs. The fact that Ireland's population is relatively small - four-and-a-half million (in the Republic - plus only under 2 million in Northern Ireland, i.e. the Stormont crisis) means that much less happens on this island than in Britain, which has a population of over 60 million.

I recognise the point you're making. But I still think it is premised on a belief that programmes such as Primetime should be about analysing the weekly goings-on at a superficial level rather than about being a forum for meaningful discussion about more abstract topics. I have no problem with the news being scaled-back over the summer. (In fact, it would be unrealistic not to.) But I think it ludicrous that there would be a chunk of the year without a serious news-based discussion programme on RTE TV. Marian Finucane (or, more likely, her stand-in) manages to fill at least an hour each weekend (and her programme is hardly the standard we should be holding one of our most cerebral programmes to); no reason Prime Time shouldn't be able to do so too.

political analyst

Sam Russell wrote: »

But their deaths are not in the third world, they are in Europe, and the dead bodies from the Med are being landed in Europe. This is the situation that gave rise to the EU in the first place - the mass movement of refugees following the second world war - never again. We (the EU) soon forgot that when economics took over from humanitarian concern.

As well as that, the Greek bailout should have given rise to analysis.

But they are citizens of Third World countries. For example, the deaths of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants in a lorry in Dover in 2000 didn't get wall-to-wall coverage in the British media.

Sam Russell

political analyst wrote: »

But they are citizens of Third World countries. For example, the deaths of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants in a lorry in Dover in 2000 didn't get wall-to-wall coverage in the British media.

We are citizens of a third world country. [That is if you take the definition of third world being non-aligned with Nato or Warsaw Pact].

political analyst

Sam Russell wrote: »

We are citizens of a third world country. [That is if you take the definition of third world being non-aligned with Nato or Warsaw Pact].

We're in the EU and we're not in the type of crisis that Greece is in.

newacc2015

The papers dont go on holidays for the Summer like RTE. The Irish Times still manages to get at least on significant topic or pressing issue to cover per week in its paper. Eg sex workers or undocumented migrants here. RTE tends to rehash the same thing every few months. I say it will only be a few years until we can expect wall to wall debates on Abortion like SSM

Good journalism is about covering stories, that are going to happen. Not just wanting for a major event like 9/11 to happen. I think RTE is so concerned with being unbiased, that its coverage suffers. Look at last week tonight on HBO. He doesnt give 2 sides to an agreement, as why should people have an opinion on absolutely everything eg LGBT rights, women rights. Sometimes things are morally right and an opponent isnt necessary eg a lot of the people during the SSM debates, were clearly mentally unwell. But were still put on air

political analyst

newacc2015 wrote: »

The papers dont go on holidays for the Summer like RTE. The Irish Times still manages to get at least on significant topic or pressing issue to cover per week in its paper. Eg sex workers or undocumented migrants here. RTE tends to rehash the same thing every few months. I say it will only be a few years until we can expect wall to wall debates on Abortion like SSM

Good journalism is about covering stories, that are going to happen. Not just wanting for a major event like 9/11 to happen. I think RTE is so concerned with being unbiased, that its coverage suffers. Look at last week tonight on HBO. He doesnt give 2 sides to an agreement, as why should people have an opinion on absolutely everything eg LGBT rights, women rights. Sometimes things are morally right and an opponent isnt necessary eg a lot of the people during the SSM debates, were clearly mentally unwell. But were still put on air

Printing a newspaper is less expensive than broadcasting a TV current affairs programme.

icdg

Just to say that while I appreciate why the topic has arisen, I'd rather we confined ourselves to the broadcasting angles here. There is a whole set of Politics forums for discussion of the substantive issues

satguy

Our only hope is that SF get enough seats in the next GE, and decide to make RTE stand on it's own two feet and do away with the TV Licence.

We get nothing for our money, even the vacancies that arise at RTE, mostly go to Sons and Daughters of RTE staff, it's just one big D4 social club, and we are paying for it...

qweerty

satguy wrote: »

Our only hope is that SF get enough seats in the next GE, and decide to make RTE stand on it's own two feet and do away with the TV Licence.

We get nothing for our money, even the vacancies that arise at RTE, mostly go to Sons and Daughters of RTE staff, it's just one big D4 social club, and we are paying for it...

Goodness me, I'd allow my license to triple if it meant avoiding that possibility. Sinn Fein would probably just reallocate the license income to TG4 anyway.

satguy

qweerty wrote: »

Goodness me, I'd allow my license to triple if it meant avoiding that possibility. Sinn Fein would probably just reallocate the license income to TG4 anyway.

I would not mind paying a small amount per year to keep TG4, but the rest is a waste of money, I have not tuned in an RTE radio station in 20 years. I may watch the RTE news at 9 once a month, other then that this house is an RTE desert.

Even my RTE player wont play, it says I need to stop using Adblock first.

qweerty

Apols, icdg, this will be my last off-topic post!

satguy wrote: »

I would not mind paying a small amount per year to keep TG4, but the rest is a waste of money, I have not tuned in an RTE radio station in 20 years. I may watch the RTE news at 9 once a month, other then that this house is an RTE desert.

Even my RTE player wont play, it says I need to stop using Adblock first.

There's this myth that TG4 is super cheap.

Yet, in 2012, it received a state subvention of ~€22m and a License Fee contribution of €9.2m. There exists a legacy arrangement from when TG4 was set up: RTE provides one hour of Irish-language content per day. This cost RTE €7.75m in 2012. It also receives effective subsidies in the form of BAI funding: around €10m in 2012.

All that despite a ~2% audience share.

Figures are 2012 because that's when I looked through the accounts. I presume nothing has changed substantially.

satguy

Every RTE radio mast in the country could fall down, and unless some body told be about it, I might never know.

If RTE can't seem to do an hour of Irish Language Content for less than €7.75 million, maybe it's time for this money pit to be shut down..

Elmo

qweerty wrote: »

Apols, icdg, this will be my last off-topic post!




There's this myth that TG4 is super cheap.

Yet, in 2012, it received a state subvention of ~€22m and a License Fee contribution of €9.2m. There exists a legacy arrangement from when TG4 was set up: RTE provides one hour of Irish-language content per day. This cost RTE €7.75m in 2012. It also receives effective subsidies in the form of BAI funding: around €10m in 2012.

All that despite a ~2% audience share.

Figures are 2012 because that's when I looked through the accounts. I presume nothing has changed substantially.

No TV channel is super cheap but TG4 do seem to do a lot more with less than RTÉ2's budget than RTÉ2.

21,000 per hour of TV from RTÉ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXOPIbb8ZjA

qweerty

Elmo wrote: »

No TV channel is super cheap but TG4 do seem to do a lot more with less than RTÉ2's budget than RTÉ2.

21,000 per hour of TV from RTÉ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXOPIbb8ZjA

A lot of unremarkable stuff on TG4, though - cartoons, Westerns, decades-old Hollywood films. I'm not quite sure what RTE2 sees as its role, but I don't think the comparison is fair: it's trying to provide popular entertainment, for a younger audience, in contrast with the more serious RTE1. And that sort of content is expensive.

Elmo

qweerty wrote: »

A lot of unremarkable stuff on TG4, though - cartoons, Westerns, decades-old Hollywood films. I'm not quite sure what RTE2 sees as its role, but I don't think the comparison is fair: it's trying to provide popular entertainment, for a younger audience, in contrast with the more serious RTE1. And that sort of content is expensive.

I am not comparing RTÉ 2 to RTÉ 1.

Western and classic movies provide a much needed content that would otherwise not get shown on other mainstream TV stations, TG4 picked up many HBO programmes as neither TV3 or RTÉ had any interest in them, Oz, The Wire and Breaking Bad all shown on TG4. They moved to Scandi dramas and some BBC dramas last year.

They provide a wide range of programming from Youth Strands to Sport. What other TV channel in Ireland claims to provide a wide range of programming from Youth Strands to Sport as part of their Public Service Remit? RTÉ2 a channel that spends 10times more on sport and 3times more on imports and final outside of these types of programmes has pretty much the same budget as TG4 yet still seems to be only able to pull of half of what TG4 does for its audience.

If RTÉ2 wanted it could provide better quality Drama, Documentries at lower costs, but wait until they announce Bounce in October!

Lot of unremarkable stuff on RTÉ2 like daily repeats of Friends and The Simpsons.

Also RTÉ2 has as much opportunity to get Sound and Vision and NILF Funding, neither are a guaranteed income for any broadcaster.

qweerty

Elmo wrote: »

I am not comparing RTÉ 2 to RTÉ 1.

Western and classic movies provide a much needed content that would otherwise not get shown on other mainstream TV stations, TG4 picked up many HBO programmes as neither TV3 or RTÉ had any interest in them, Oz, The Wire and Breaking Bad all shown on TG4. They moved to Scandi dramas and some BBC dramas last year.

They provide a wide range of programming from Youth Strands to Sport. What other TV channel in Ireland claims to provide a wide range of programming from Youth Strands to Sport as part of their Public Service Remit? RTÉ2 a channel that spends 10times more on sport and 3times more on imports and final outside of these types of programmes has pretty much the same budget as TG4 yet still seems to be only able to pull of half of what TG4 does for its audience.

If RTÉ2 wanted it could provide better quality Drama, Documentries at lower costs, but wait until they announce Bounce in October!

Lot of unremarkable stuff on RTÉ2 like daily repeats of Friends and The Simpsons.

Also RTÉ2 has as much opportunity to get Sound and Vision and NILF Funding, neither are a guaranteed income for any broadcaster.

In order:

I know you weren't. Was just noting that RTE2 has a narrower role than TG4.

I don't agree that Westerns are much needed. And many (/most) of the films are not classics. Certainly, TG4 has done remarkably well in terms of the quality of some US series it's commissioned. I don't know if it's as simple as that RTE weren't interested. (Might it have been cheaper for TG4 considering it's Irish-language?)

I'm no expert on TG4's output, but does it offer much more in terms of "youth strands" than basic Irish-language cartoons?

Equating spend on sports isn't valid. Six Nations, Champions League, World Cup, Euros, Olympics...are all more popular and expensive than what TG4 offers - Gaelic, European Rugby, Tour de France, Wimbledon. (Am I missing any?)

We have to return to the fact that TG4 has a <2% share. RTE2 maybe only "pulling off half of what TG4 does," but the audience seems more interested in it.

You've missed my point about BAI funding. Ofc the others are as entitled to bid for it, but it's relevant because it's a non-commercial income stream.

John Joe Jones

TG4 are terrible for repeating youth shows to death. Afriic was made about 10 years ago and is still being repeated, A music problem called is mo lom pop which consists of 12 episode is repeated on a loop daily at 6.30

Elmo

qweerty wrote: »

In order:
I know you weren't. Was just noting that RTE2 has a narrower role than TG4.

RTÉ2 has a narrower role than an minority language channel? RTÉ2 and TG4 schedules are not much different. Break it down:
TRTÉ->RTÉjr->TRTÉ->TwoTube->RTÉ2
cula4nanog->TG4->cula4->Ponc->TG4

I don't agree that Westerns are much needed. And many (/most) of the films are not classics. Certainly, TG4 has done remarkably well in terms of the quality of some US series it's commissioned. I don't know if it's as simple as that RTE weren't interested. (Might it have been cheaper for TG4 considering it's Irish-language?)

Western are a key part of early cinema and the golden era of Hollywood. Hugely popular and a significant part of cinematic history. But then TG4 don't just show westerns, they happen to have 2 strands one on a Friday and the other early Saturdays. The also provide foreign film (unfortunately late nights) but then this is similar to RTÉ2 and mainstream film on Monday nights.

TG4 pay the same amount as other broadcasters for content, possibly cheaper when other broadcasters ignore those same programmes. No adult import is broadcast as geailge and few of the children's live action programmes are dubbed either.

I'm no expert on TG4's output, but does it offer much more in terms of "youth strands" than basic Irish-language cartoons?

TG4 also provide some funding to the animation sector, but like RTÉ they could not fill a full schedule with just home produced programming. As I say it provides 3 youth strands Cula4 (TRTÉ), Cula4naNóg (RTÉjr) and Ponc (TwoTube).

Equating spend on sports isn't valid. Six Nations, Champions League, World Cup, Euros, Olympics...are all more popular and expensive than what TG4 offers - Gaelic, European Rugby, Tour de France, Wimbledon. (Am I missing any?)

Your right but as a public service broadcaster RTÉ show little regard for those smaller sports. My point was when you remove sporting rights/coverage costs and imports and Children's TG4 and RTÉ2 have similar budgets.

We have to return to the fact that TG4 has a <2% share. RTE2 maybe only "pulling off half of what TG4 does," but the audience seems more interested in it.

TG4 is an Irish language service and is one channel competing in an English language market, image if RTÉ2 started broadcasting a similar home produced (in English) schedule to that of TG4? IMO their audience share would improve, remember RTÉ2's share is largely down to sports, without it it is slow dropping to below 5%.

You've missed my point about BAI funding. Ofc the others are as entitled to bid for it, but it's relevant because it's a non-commercial income stream.

Yes it is but competitively sought, TV3 got a huge amount when it lost the ITV soaps, while the BAI told DCTV that it shouldn't base its financing on BAI funding!

TG4 are terrible for repeating youth shows to death. Afriic was made about 10 years ago and is still being repeated, A music problem called is mo lom pop which consists of 12 episode is repeated on a loop daily at 6.30

As are RTÉ. Tell me the name of that youth drama RTÉ produced for TRTÉ in the last 10 years? The only one I can think of is Custer's Last Stand (nearly 20 years ago) and it was part funded by BBC NI and broadcast on ... RTÉ ONE.

I am not suggesting that TG4 are perfect but they seem to be able to produce a serialized drama every year, your lucky to get a Republic of Telly comedy spin off on RTÉ2. Though repeats of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Friends, Home and Away and The Simpsons will do just fine. When was the last time they repeat Love is the Drug?

political analyst

Elmo wrote: »

RTÉ2 has a narrower role than an minority language channel? RTÉ2 and TG4 schedules are not much different. Break it down:
TRTÉ->RTÉjr->TRTÉ->TwoTube->RTÉ2
cula4nanog->TG4->cula4->Ponc->TG4



Western are a key part of early cinema and the golden era of Hollywood. Hugely popular and a significant part of cinematic history. But then TG4 don't just show westerns, they happen to have 2 strands one on a Friday and the other early Saturdays. The also provide foreign film (unfortunately late nights) but then this is similar to RTÉ2 and mainstream film on Monday nights.

TG4 pay the same amount as other broadcasters for content, possibly cheaper when other broadcasters ignore those same programmes. No adult import is broadcast as geailge and few of the children's live action programmes are dubbed either.



TG4 also provide some funding to the animation sector, but like RTÉ they could not fill a full schedule with just home produced programming. As I say it provides 3 youth strands Cula4 (TRTÉ), Cula4naNóg (RTÉjr) and Ponc (TwoTube).



Your right but as a public service broadcaster RTÉ show little regard for those smaller sports. My point was when you remove sporting rights/coverage costs and imports and Children's TG4 and RTÉ2 have similar budgets.



TG4 is an Irish language service and is one channel competing in an English language market, image if RTÉ2 started broadcasting a similar home produced (in English) schedule to that of TG4? IMO their audience share would improve, remember RTÉ2's share is largely down to sports, without it it is slow dropping to below 5%.



Yes it is but competitively sought, TV3 got a huge amount when it lost the ITV soaps, while the BAI told DCTV that it shouldn't base its financing on BAI funding!



As are RTÉ. Tell me the name of that youth drama RTÉ produced for TRTÉ in the last 10 years? The only one I can think of is Custer's Last Stand (nearly 20 years ago) and it was part funded by BBC NI and broadcast on ... RTÉ ONE.

I am not suggesting that TG4 are perfect but they seem to be able to produce a serialized drama every year, your lucky to get a Republic of Telly comedy spin off on RTÉ2. Though repeats of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Friends, Home and Away and The Simpsons will do just fine. When was the last time they repeat Love is the Drug?

You forgot "-up" in the title of that programme, the title of which I've highlighted in bold.

Elmo

political analyst wrote: »

You forgot "-up" in the title of that programme, the title of which I've highlighted in bold.

I'd like to forget the programme

iseegirls

Elmo wrote: »

Though repeats of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Friends, Home and Away and The Simpsons will do just fine.

Sabrina must be on loop over the past 20 years now. Their summer replacements of the Jr shows was showing kids films from the 60s and 70s. The cost in them must be very low.
I'd like to see how their ratings do up against the likes of Nick, CBBC etc.

They should try to experiment with the schedule (I understand though that they have to keep to a certain schedule for the kids)
maybe
9 RTE Jr
1 Friends
1:30 Home & Away
2 Neighbours
2.30 Teens TV (Victorious, News2Day etc..)
5:00 The Simpsons
5:30 Big Bang Theory
6:00 Neighbours
6:30 Home&Away

Elmo

iseegirls wrote: »

Sabrina must be on loop over the past 20 years now. Their summer replacements of the Jr shows was showing kids films from the 60s and 70s. The cost in them must be very low.
I'd like to see how their ratings do up against the likes of Nick, CBBC etc.

They should try to experiment with the schedule (I understand though that they have to keep to a certain schedule for the kids)
maybe
9 RTE Jr
1 Friends
1:30 Home & Away
2 Neighbours
2.30 Teens TV (Victorious, News2Day etc..)
5:00 The Simpsons
5:30 Big Bang Theory
6:00 Neighbours
6:30 Home&Away

They did want to but Honestly they should try for

7am - 10am TRTÉ
10am - 3pm Documentaries (Natural History, Social, Wildlife, History, Science)
3pm - 6pm TRTÉ
6pm RTÉ2

brick man

Elmo wrote:

7am - 10am TRTÉ 10am - 3pm Documentaries (Natural History, Social, Wildlife, History, Science) 3pm - 6pm TRTÉ 6pm RTÉ2

They could do an hour during daytime for sign language programmes which are shown through the night on RTE 1. this would tick their public service output and tv3 wouldn't have a foot to stand on . I would agree with your suggestions above and to be real good stick an hour a day of rtejr homemade programmes between 6am and 7am when junior channel is off air

John Joe Jones

The weird thing is they have actually INCREASED RTE Junior hours on RTE 2 this autumn with an extra 90 minutes from 7/8.30 in the morning instead of TRTE which was running at that time last year.

lee_baby_simms

Gave up on terrestrial tv and got rid of UPC years ago. Very little creativity, endless versions of franchised formats and perhaps worst of all, the insane salaries paid to really mediocre 'talent.' To think we're subsidising these salaries and also having to sit through hours of ads to boot.

Why would anyone would want to watch Winning Streak or Ryan Tubridy/Ray Darcy when there's far better commercial free content on netflix or BBC iPlayer?

brick man

John Joe Jones wrote:

The weird thing is they have actually INCREASED RTE Junior hours on RTE 2 this autumn with an extra 90 minutes from 7/8.30 in the morning instead of TRTE which was running at that time last year.

No their was junior programmes on before TRTE last year as well

iseegirls

Just looking at the programmes this morning, it seems like it's 7-8.10am Jnr, 8:10-8:45 TRTE, 8:45-14:35 Jnr

John Joe Jones

brick man wrote: »

No their was junior programmes on before TRTE last year as well

Last years schedule was roughly 6am RTE Junior, 7am TRTE 9am RTE Junior 2pm TRTE, This year it's 6.45am RTE Junior 8.10am TRTE, 9am.RTE Junior 2.40pm TRTE

BuilderPlumber

John Joe Jones wrote: »

It it just me or was this RTE Televisions worst summer in years ? Endless repeats and not one current affairs program on in weeks. At least last year they had callans kicks on Friday night's at 9.30 what happened to that ?

There is no effort at all made on Irish TV in the summer most of the time I have noticed. There was a lot of filler like this repeat of parts of last season's Tubridy show and other such things. In the daytime, it is all repeats of cookery programmes and house/garden makeover programmes from 3-5 years ago.

I do not miss most of RTE's current affairs programmes to be honest. For too long, there were too many of them with poor fare like The Frontline and The Week in Politics. I am all for current affairs when intelligent and interesting world issues are discussed but most often on RTE, it is heated debate on some bland issues like the overcooked banking and Irish Water issues.

Addressing some of the comments: I agree that T na G is underwhelming. It seems to be the place where bad Irish country music, decades old Westerns (admittedly, some of them are very good but they keep showing the same 20 or so over and over!) and equally old cartoon are used to fill in.

Franchised formats are the easy way out. Irish versions of UK programmes like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Dragon's Den, and The Voice all proved to be failures. The latter 2 in particular have certainly run their course. The garden makeover and so on programmes are also borrowed heavily from the UK.

The same old faces in the worlds of entertainment, sport and media are forced on us again and again. Without mentioning names, we all know who they are. They are on every chatshow, they get to do loads of their own shows and they are on all the papers as well. It does seem like the media in Ireland is about promoting the careers of certain individuals rather than providing entertainment.

brick man

John Joe Jones wrote:

Last years schedule was roughly 6am RTE Junior, 7am TRTE 9am RTE Junior 2pm TRTE, This year it's 6.45am RTE Junior 8.10am TRTE, 9am.RTE Junior 2.40pm TRTE

No it wasn't RTEjr was on from about 6.25 am to 7.30am then TRTE and back to junior at 8.35am till 2.00pm this year junior from 6.45 till 7.55 then TRTE back to junior at 9am till 2.10pm when Shaun the sheep starts TRTE .