Cutbacks required at RTE

Pokemon Battle

With lots of talk about cutbacks in RTE the past week, What cuts would you do? This is what i would do - cap all presenters "fees" at €200k. Close RTE News now, +1 and Junior (RTE Jr would still be on RTE 2) Cut 2fms staff by at least 50%

iprinter

Pokemon Battle wrote: »

With lots of talk about cutbacks in RTE the past week, What cuts would you do? This is what i would do - cap all presenters "fees" at €200k. Close RTE News now, +1 and Junior (RTE Jr would still be on RTE 2) Cut 2fms staff by at least 50%

cap all presenters "fees" at €80k

Oodoov

A salary cap should be introduced asap. Don't expect me to pay 170 quid a year if it continues as is.

Elmo

160 a year.

telling management to do their job according to them their will be no cuts to RTÉjr but they haven't commissioned anything for 2017 and they only spend 10million on young peoples programming a tiny amount, you don't go after your most underfunded department to save money.

Presenters need a cap IMO any you'd save as much going after the top 10 as you would going after children's TV.

RTE should be allowed sell advertising on News Now and should not have to pay for Oireachtas TV Transmissions.

Drop RTE 1 +1 for RTE Plus.

Move RTEjr from RTE2.

AwaitYourReply

If one is to believe today's edition of The Irish Times newspaper, it seems that music groups such as the RTÉ sponsored orchestras are under the microscope for some cutbacks. See below article link.

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/rt%C3%A9-not-making-right-noises-about-musical-movements-1.2885367

There is speculation that RTÉ's teletext service, Aertel will face the axe as part of their drive to cut costs right across the board. Given that TV3's THREEText, BBC Ceefax, ITV/C4 Oracle have all long since departed the scene, I would think the end days for Aertel are probably not far off at this stage.

I often wonder can RTÉ really afford The Late Late Show house band week in, week out. In bygone years when RTÉ once held a national TV/Radio monopoly, The Late Late Show might have had a musical director in the form of Jim Doherty or Frank McNamara all on his own on the piano as they had no resident band even though RTÉ would have been earning considerably more throught TV licence fee and commercial advertising revenue and faced little or no competition in it's earlier years especially if viewers were not based along the East Coast/Border Areas. The band only arrived when Tubridy pulled the concept over from his previous Tubridy Tonight show that went out on Saturday nights. Pat Kenny had no band or musical director if memory serves me correct from 1999-2009. Most music on the show will come from performing artists anyway so; it's a luxury they can hardly afford if they are forced into making major cutbacks in quality output across RTÉ. If I hear any more jazzed-up versions of The Late Late Show signature theme played by that band, I think I'll puke as it is unnecessary and almost nauseating at this stage.

In today's radio marketplace, I see absolutely little or no reason why RTÉ still supports 2FM as nowadays you have the whole independent commercial radio sector providing this choice and sometimes often better quality. After several unsuccessful revamps at 2FM it is now clear that 2FM has lost it's purpose, identity and the affection is once had with many radio listeners now aged in the over 35+Yrs category. The tide has been turning for quite some time but was never more apparent after the late Gerry Ryan had passed away around April, 2010. The best thing RTÉ could do now is to closedown 2FM altogether and request permission to transfer the "RTÉ Gold" digital station onto the FM frequency currently used by 2FM. This would make sense as you are likely to find a bigger audience tuning into the service if it was more freely available and for those on the move. Larry Gogan, Dave Fanning, Rick O'Shea do not fit well in the current younger age demographic targeted by 2FM but I'm not sure enough younger people are gonna tune in to the likes of Nicky Byrne, Ruth & Co. either as today's youth have so much more devices to choose to hear their favourite music unlike it was when 2FM was a huge player from 1979-1997. RTÉ closed Cork Local Radio (RTÉ Radio Cork/89FM) in the early 2000's and expanded FM3 Classical Music (was once one of the Radio One opt-out services) and RTÉ Lyric fm was established at the same time so; there is a precedent for closing one operation while expanding another!

I would not like to be Dee Forbes as she is likely to face lots of criticism no matter what she is forced to axe or cut back but they need to make serious progress on multiple fronts from TV Licence Fee evasion, selling off expensive lands at it's Montrose Campus HQ or even moving to a much cheaper site if they can get significant income from an outright sale. RTÉ needs to outsource right across the board and be allowed to stop having to do everything as they cannot continue to expand services on much less income/revenue coming in.

That said, if nobody else is performing a function they currently provide, it needs to be carefully considered and explored. If however; there is competition and no shortage of something they already provide then maybe it needs to be under scrutiny...does RTÉ really need to be purchasing EastEnders soap opera from the BBC while most viewers across Ireland now have easy access to BBC One across the country as it is available free-to-air on digital satellite and also on cable tv systems. Many viewers will probably choose to watch it over on BBC One as they won't have to wait for the commercial break half way through an episode of EastEnders on RTÉ One!

Sam Russell

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

The band only arrived when Tubridy pulled the concept over from his previous Tubridy Tonight show that went out on Saturday nights.

If my memory serves me right, Turbridy got the Late Late Show Orchestra (complete with violins, etc) when he took over, which shrank to the LLS House Band after the first or second season.

His pay has also shrunk.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

There is speculation that RTÉ's teletext service, Aertel will face the axe as part of their drive to cut costs right across the board. Given that TV3's THREEText, BBC Ceefax, ITV/C4 Oracle have all long since departed the scene, I would think the end days for Aertel are probably not far off at this stage.

In fairness 3text never did much beyond tv listings. Surely Subtitling is technically teletext still.

I often wonder can RTÉ really afford The Late Late Show house band week in, week out. In bygone years when RTÉ once held a national TV/Radio monopoly, The Late Late Show might have had a musical director in the form of Jim Doherty or Frank McNamara all on his own on the piano as they had no resident band even though RTÉ would have been earning considerably more throught TV licence fee and commercial advertising revenue and faced little or no competition in it's earlier years especially if viewers were not based along the East Coast/Border Areas. The band only arrived when Tubridy pulled the concept over from his previous Tubridy Tonight show that went out on Saturday nights. Pat Kenny had no band or musical director if memory serves me correct from 1999-2009. Most music on the show will come from performing artists anyway so; it's a luxury they can hardly afford if they are forced into making major cutbacks in quality output across RTÉ. If I hear any more jazzed-up versions of The Late Late Show signature theme played by that band, I think I'll puke as it is unnecessary and almost nauseating at this stage.

RTE had one of the lowest TV Licences in Europe (including Eastern Europe), in the 1960s it might have been the case but not in the 1970s and 1980s. personally as long as new irish music is supported I have no issue.

In today's radio marketplace, I see absolutely little or no reason why RTÉ still supports 2FM as nowadays you have the whole independent commercial radio sector providing this choice and sometimes often better quality. After several unsuccessful revamps at 2FM it is now clear that 2FM has lost it's purpose, identity and the affection is once had with many radio listeners now aged in the over 35+Yrs category. The tide has been turning for quite some time but was never more apparent after the late Gerry Ryan had passed away around April, 2010. The best thing RTÉ could do now is to closedown 2FM altogether and request permission to transfer the "RTÉ Gold" digital station onto the FM frequency currently used by 2FM. This would make sense as you are likely to find a bigger audience tuning into the service if it was more freely available and for those on the move. Larry Gogan, Dave Fanning, Rick O'Shea do not fit well in the current younger age demographic targeted by 2FM but I'm not sure enough younger people are gonna tune in to the likes of Nicky Byrne, Ruth & Co. either as today's youth have so much more devices to choose to hear their favourite music unlike it was when 2FM was a huge player from 1979-1997. RTÉ closed Cork Local Radio (RTÉ Radio Cork/89FM) in the early 2000's and expanded FM3 Classical Music (was once one of the Radio One opt-out services) and RTÉ Lyric fm was established at the same time so; there is a precedent for closing one operation while expanding another!

Minister would sit on that permission and I would question why Gold would get that frequency over 2XM due to the demise of TXFM. AFAIR FM3 shared with RnaG not Radio1.

I would not like to be Dee Forbes as she is likely to face lots of criticism no matter what she is forced to axe or cut back but they need to make serious progress on multiple fronts from TV Licence Fee evasion, selling off expensive lands at it's Montrose Campus HQ or even moving to a much cheaper site if they can get significant income from an outright sale. RTÉ needs to outsource right across the board and be allowed to stop having to do everything as they cannot continue to expand services on much less income/revenue coming in.

She looks like to do little she is taking it easy IMO.

That said, if nobody else is performing a function they currently provide, it needs to be carefully considered and explored. If however; there is competition and no shortage of something they already provide then maybe it needs to be under scrutiny...does RTÉ really need to be purchasing EastEnders soap opera from the BBC while most viewers across Ireland now have easy access to BBC One across the country as it is available free-to-air on digital satellite and also on cable tv systems. Many viewers will probably choose to watch it over on BBC One as they won't have to wait for the commercial break half way through an episode of EastEnders on RTÉ One!

EastEnders does okay on RTE One but i doubt many would miss it.

AwaitYourReply

Sam Russell wrote: »

If my memory serves me right, Turbridy got the Late Late Show Orchestra (complete with violins, etc) when he took over, which shrank to the LLS House Band after the first or second season.

His pay has also shrunk.

I recall the former Tubridy Tonight show on Saturday nights prior to Summer 2009 Ryan had a resident band on the show called "The Camembert Quartet" and although, I can recall occasional appearances by orchestras on The Late Late Show but I don't remember the orchestra(s) as being a weekly fixture. However; as I was not certain I went away and did some research...

http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/20090911.html

I've since checked an episode dated Friday 11th September, 2009 (Ryan's 2nd episode as Late Late Show host) and after Ryan makes his entrance on screen he then salutes the band which in the previous set were situated at same level as the studio audience.

They are accomplished and talented musicians to be fair but I'm just not sure they are an essential requirement every week (or most weeks) just for a few fancy introductions especially given that RTÉ is in major debt and needs to make tough cut back right across the whole operation. If I was charged with making huge cutbacks in an organisation, this would be just one of the many areas I would be considering.

Otherwise, if RTÉ does not achieve major savings, we will end up with yet more repeats of programmes like "Reeling In The Years" which is an excellent programme but is sadly ending up scheduled for broadcast during prime-time hours far too often. We liked it the first time and maybe the 2nd but after the 10th or 15th showing it starts becoming a bit ridiculous for a channel like RTÉ One.

brick man

Elmo wrote:

Minister would sit on that permission and I would question why Gold would get that frequency over 2XM due to the demise of TXFM. AFAIR FM3 shared with RnaG not Radio1.

It did indeed share with RnaG but before that it was a 2 hour opt out of radio 1

political analyst

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I recall the former Tubridy Tonight show on Saturday nights prior to Summer 2009 Ryan had a resident band on the show called "The Camembert Quartet" and although, I can recall occasional appearances by orchestras on The Late Late Show but I don't remember the orchestra(s) as being a weekly fixture. However; as I was not certain I went away and did some research...

http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/20090911.html

I've since checked an episode dated Friday 11th September, 2009 (Ryan's 2nd episode as Late Late Show host) and after Ryan makes his entrance on screen he then salutes the band which in the previous set were situated at same level as the studio audience.

They are accomplished and talented musicians to be fair but I'm just not sure they are an essential requirement every week (or most weeks) just for a few fancy introductions especially given that RTÉ is in major debt and needs to make tough cut back right across the whole operation. If I was charged with making huge cutbacks in an organisation, this would be just one of the many areas I would be considering.

Otherwise, if RTÉ does not achieve major savings, we will end up with yet more repeats of programmes like "Reeling In The Years" which is an excellent programme but is sadly ending up scheduled for broadcast during prime-time hours far too often. We liked it the first time and maybe the 2nd but after the 10th or 15th showing it starts becoming a bit ridiculous for a channel like RTÉ One.

It was called "Clint Velour and the Camembert Quartet" and it is now the Late Late Show House Band.

http://www.camembertquartet.com/The_Camembert_Quartet/Home.html

AwaitYourReply

brick man wrote: »

It did indeed share with RnaG but before that it was a 2 hour opt out of radio 1

I am scratching my head as I seem to recall RTÉ Radio One continuity announcers at some stage informing us about various opt-outs to the schedule. One of the opt-outs would have been RTÉ Cork Local Radio (aka Cork 89FM, RTÉ Radio Cork) but I also seem to recall that FM3 classical music programming mentioned a lot if you wanted to re-tune and I'm not sure if FM3 went out on Radio One (Medium Wave) at some point.

I also have a recollection of viewing FM3 opt-out programme schedule within the wider RTÉ Radio One listing if you were able to obtain full comprehensive breakdown of programmes in places like the RTÉ Guide magazine. There was not much to view for FM3 and Bernadette Comerford is one name in the FM3 schedule at that time. I think it was early-mid afternoon and I'm not sure if it came back on for a while in the evening after 7pm. Some of the details on wikipedia can be inaccurate at times such as the close down of RTÉ Radio Cork as I understand it did in fact close in January, 2000 unlike the details published on the RTE Radio 1 wikipedia page. There may well be other inaccuracies out there or generalisations that do not account for the whole time period.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rte-warned-not-to-dumb-down-over-ratings-war-26123233.html

brick man

AwaitYourReply wrote:

I also have a recollection of viewing FM3 opt-out programme schedule within the wider RTÉ Radio One listing if you were able to obtain full comprehensive breakdown of programmes in places like the RTÉ Guide magazine. There was not much to view for FM3 and Bernadette Comerford is one name in the FM3 schedule at that time. I think it was early-mid afternoon and I'm not sure if it came back on for a while in the evening after 7pm. Some of the details on wikipedia can be inaccurate at times such as the close down of RTÉ Radio Cork as I understand it did in fact close in January, 2000 unlike the details published on the RTE Radio 1 wikipedia page. There may well be other inaccuracies out there or generalisations that do not account for the whole time period.

They post old issues of RTE guide on Facebook and some listings from early Eighties and used to start out as opt out of radio 1 with programmes like booktime and sunday miscellany etc and then it evolved to FM3 with dawn break , Valerie McGovern show etc and shareing time with RnaG . 6.30am to 8am FM3 then RnaG till 1.30pm back to FM3 till 5pm back to RnaG then till 8 when FM3 took over till 12 or thereabouts . Though in the last year's of FM3 it broadcast from 6.30am till 8am and from 7,30PM through the night. Of course on May 1st 1999 RTE lyric FM was born

lertsnim

I'd get rid of 2FM. Useless channel.

brick man

Back to topic a couple of things to help RTE
1; Remove rtejr programmes from RTE2 between 9am and 1.30pm so they can advertise during these hours. They advertise outside of these hours as before 9 and after half 1 is TRTE.
2; allow advertising on RTE News Now to give it some badly needed funding .
3; an example of duplication is for example during budget day when coverage on RTE 1 has one set of graphics and News Now has its own ticker and sidebar been updated yet carrying RTE 1 feed surely one set of graphics is enough just pure inefficient use of resources
4; sadly I think 2fm needs to be closed it has completly lost its sense of direction . i think put gold in its place

Radio Gold

This is know is a difficult one for some, but get rid of that Long wave 252 frequency no one listens to it and hardly any radio manufacturers have AM installed, they all have DAB/FM. Agree that the news now channel should have advertisements on it.

Elmo

brick man wrote: »

4; sadly I think 2fm needs to be closed it has completly lost its sense of direction . i think put gold in its place

Surely 2XM would be a better fit than GOLD unless gold was to run archive material.

maudgonner

I think their acquisitions policy should be looked at too. They buy in far too many foreign series only to bury them in late night schedules, moving them around on a whim. It's hard not to draw the conclusion that they only buy them to block their competitors from acquiring them.

The days are gone when the only way to watch foreign series was to wait for them to be shown on RTE. Cut back on what they're buying, buy quality series and schedule them properly. (And then concentrate on homegrown production, opening up the commissioning process and emphasising talent development - but that's a different conversation )

stampydmonkey

I understand they are extending the crèche and other buildings soon....hardly cut backs

iseegirls

The sharing of sporting rights with other channels will be occurring more. Shared rights of Euro 2016 went well. Possibly do the same with World Cup in 2018? I heard that TV3 and RTE placed a joint bid for the Rugby World Cup in Japan, but was outbid by Eir Sports. That bid must have been big.

As mentioned previously, American shows being shunted till after 2am needs to be stopped. Bringing in 20year-old Friends episodes to show on prime time is just a waste of money. So too was showing 4 year old episodes of Mock The Week.

I really don't mind 2FM, has it's bad points and good points (like any other channel). But when you leave Dublin, and reach a point around Ireland when all you have is R1, TodayFM, Newstalk and some Regional Channels - then that's when you appreciate 2FM, especially if you're looking for current music.

GreenFolder2

I'd like to see a breakdown of what % if RTE staff are actually involved in programme making. It seems to have a huge number if non essential jobs.

They need to look at rationalising a lot of things. Also I would question all the sponsorship of events and cultural stuff. Is that really appropriate?

The licence fee is supposed to be funding broadcasting, not indirectly propping up festivals and sports organisations etc etc. That's a job for the state and for genuine commercial sponsors.

I'd be of the view that they should look at switching off DAB radio as very few people seem to be listening to it and the commercial sector has no interest in it.
LW 252 is also serving no propose other than nostalgia.

2fm, should be retained if it's profit making. If it's not, it needs to go. It's hardly a public service. It's just w commercial music station. The fact that there's limited choice outside Dublin and Cork isn't really an excuse.

Beat, Spin SW and iRadio successfully filled that market in much of rural Ireland. It's just a matter of extending that model a bit further.

If anything, 2fm may have held up that development.

Children's programming was always poorly funded but hugely creative. It seems daft to defund that when it was a core element of RTE's remit as a public service. There are a lot of things I'd have on the chopping board before that!

Pokemon Battle

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

I'd like to see a breakdown of what % if RTE staff are actually involved in programme making. It seems to have a huge number if non essential jobs.

They need to look at rationalising a lot of things. Also I would question all the sponsorship of events and cultural stuff. Is that really appropriate?

The licence fee is supposed to be funding broadcasting, not indirectly propping up festivals and sports organisations etc etc. That's a job for the state and for genuine commercial sponsors.

I'd be of the view that they should look at switching off DAB radio as very few people seem to be listening to it and the commercial sector has no interest in it.
LW 252 is also serving no propose other than nostalgia.

2fm, should be retained if it's profit making. If it's not, it needs to go. It's hardly a public service. It's just w commercial music station. The fact that there's limited choice outside Dublin and Cork isn't really an excuse.

Beat, Spin SW and iRadio successfully filled that market in much of rural Ireland. It's just a matter of extending that model a bit further.

If anything, 2fm may have held up that development.

Children's programming was always poorly funded but hugely creative. It seems daft to defund that when it was a core element of RTE's remit as a public service. There are a lot of things I'd have on the chopping board before that!

2fm last made a profit in 2008. It has made losses of over 25 million since 2009. I am not surprised at it's losses with it's crazy 12 presenters a day roster. It only needs 4 or 5 presenters a day imo.

reubenreuben

I know, why not scrap RTE completely?

TV3 and Virgin at the helm, give me a break

NIMAN

The No1 for me has to be wages, end of.

How we can have a handful of presenters/radio hosts earning in excess of the President of the USA for hosting a radio show is baffling.

I'd cap the wages at €100k, and if all the 'talent' wants to leave and get employment elsewhere, so be it. I'm guessing most will not have that many offers.

Figures from 2014 (not sure if 2015 was ever released)
10. Derek Mooney - €168,871
9. Colm Hayes - €169,992
8. Richard Crowley - €174, 120
7. George Lee - €179,031
6. Bryan Dobson - €195,816
5. Miriam O'Callaghan - €280,445
4. Sean O'Rourke - €290,096
3. Marian Finucane - €295,000
2. Joe Duffy - €416,893
1. Ryan Tubridy €495,000

Those are scandalous figures for the ability of some of those folk. We are a tiny nation, its not like they are presenting in the US or Britain.

And don't forget Ray D'Arcy has to be added to that list.

reubenreuben

NIMAN wrote: »

The No1 for me has to be wages, end of.

How we can have a handful of presenters/radio hosts earning in excess of the President of the USA for hosting a radio show is baffling.

I'd cap the wages at €100k, and if all the 'talent' wants to leave and get employment elsewhere, so be it. I'm guessing most will not have that many offers.

While we at at it with RTE, why not cap wages at all the other overpaid public sector workers and also the overpaid Ministers, who get more than equivalent sized other countries. Where will this stop!
Its like a witch hunt this, ridiculous.

NIMAN

reubenreuben wrote: »

While we at at it with RTE, why not cap wages at all the other overpaid public sector workers and also the overpaid Ministers, who get more than equivalent sized other countries. Where will this stop!
Its like a witch hunt this, ridiculous.

You're preaching to the converted, I'd totally agree with you on this.

But this thread is about RTE and its debt.

nhunter100

Pokemon Battle wrote:

With lots of talk about cutbacks in RTE the past week, What cuts would you do? This is what i would do - cap all presenters "fees" at €200k. Close RTE News now, +1 and Junior (RTE Jr would still be on RTE 2) Cut 2fms staff by at least 50%

Just get rid of the TV licence, go commercial and the market place will decide I they are fit to survive or not.

GreenFolder2

From what I've heard they pay most of their talents rather badly. A lot of the people behind the programmes are on pretty bad freelance contracts.

A hand full of big names are paid too well and there seems to be a lot of people who are employed on similar terms to 1970s civil servants who have little to do with broadcasting.

I don't agree with the idea that you should scrap RTE but I would narrow it down to RTE 1, RTE radio 1, R Na G and Lyric.

RTE 2 appears to be mostly just a generic entertainment channel like TV3 so it shouldn't really be getting state subsidies.

NIMAN

There's plenty of people on big money in RTE I'd guess. I'd say anyone in a long time is on the pigs back.

That list of big earners I gave, well a couple of years ago I also seen wages for the likes of Dave Fanning and George Hamilton as well, and they were between 160k-200k iirc.

Thats huge wages for the jobs they do. Remember George Hamilton is flown all over the world to the best sporting events, put up in best hotels and fed and watered on the licence payers money, and yet he still earns 200k per year!

Good work if you can get it.

Elmo

NIMAN wrote: »

There's plenty of people on big money in RTE I'd guess. I'd say anyone in a long time is on the pigs back.

That list of big earners I gave, well a couple of years ago I also seen wages for the likes of Dave Fanning and George Hamilton as well, and they were between 160k-200k iirc.

Thats huge wages for the jobs they do. Remember George Hamilton is flown all over the world to the best sporting events, put up in best hotels and fed and watered on the licence payers money, and yet he still earns 200k per year!

Good work if you can get it.

I don't think Dave Fanning ever many the list of top 10 earners.

TheRiverman

NIMAN wrote: »

The No1 for me has to be wages, end of.

How we can have a handful of presenters/radio hosts earning in excess of the President of the USA for hosting a radio show is baffling.

I'd cap the wages at €100k, and if all the 'talent' wants to leave and get employment elsewhere, so be it. I'm guessing most will not have that many offers.

Figures from 2014 (not sure if 2015 was ever released)
10. Derek Mooney - €168,871
9. Colm Hayes - €169,992
8. Richard Crowley - €174, 120
7. George Lee - €179,031
6. Bryan Dobson - €195,816
5. Miriam O'Callaghan - €280,445
4. Sean O'Rourke - €290,096
3. Marian Finucane - €295,000
2. Joe Duffy - €416,893
1. Ryan Tubridy €495,000

Those are scandalous figures for the ability of some of those folk. We are a tiny nation, its not like they are presenting in the US or Britain.

And don't forget Ray D'Arcy has to be added to that list.

Disgraceful how George Lee got to sneak back in and get an immoral salary after his failed TD vanity trip.

NIMAN

Elmo wrote: »

I don't think Dave Fanning ever many the list of top 10 earners.

I don't think he ever made the Top Ten but I think I seen a figure of 160k once. I'm sure thats not too far off if its not accurate.

Likes of Derek Mooney used to be on 190k too.

I would say that very few of the old timers in RTE are on anything under 100k.
For example, what do you think Larry Gogan's salary would be?