RTE want to double TV licence fee

jmayo

I would listen to Morning Ireland, Sports program on 2fm at 7pm, maybe Drivetime now and again.

I would watch RTE TV news for things like recent helicopter crash in Mayo or things like elections where national coverage is better than that offered by foreign stations.

I despise the slant they have given to issues such as migrant crisis where they are all following a party line slobbering over numbnuts like liam cunningham.

Their so called stars are shyte.
The fawning over each other is nauseating.

Gone are the days where you had true broadcasters such as Mike Murphy, Gay Byrne, etc and even then they could be a tad grating at times.

Oh and TG4 offers some of the best documentaries on TV.

Lt Dan wrote: »

So, what is the purpose of Ryle Nugent then if Rugby goes to TV3?

What is his purpose anyway.

RTE really slipped up not having the Ireland All Blacks game even live on radio.

Imagine a Michael Corcoran radio broadcast of that match instead of an insipid Royale Nugent.

bladespin

1. Who still watches tv on a daily basis? Weekend?
Practically never, our house has become almost completely streamed or Sky Plus'ed.
2. Who watches RTE on a daily basis? Weekend? Christmas?
Practically never, there's nothing there for any of us (family)
3. Who can say that the RTE radio Stations are their main radio stations (a lot I would imagine)
Don't listen to the radio, got peed off with bent coverage from RTE and Today FM so switched to audiobooks instead.
4. Who uses their website and RTE Player? How many times a week?
Never
5. Who watched RTE's Olympic Coverage as their main source (I did in fairness, and Peter Collins was great)
Not really bothered with their sports, I'm more into motorsport so it's satellite or stream for me and the boys like football so that's satellite too.

Honestly, this echos the An Post strategy of charging more because fewer and fewer are using snail-mail, bonkers, TV is dying a faster death than print media, I won't mourn RTE's lost as it's nothing more than a parasite IMO.

Lu Tze

Grayson wrote: »

That would mean anything with a HDMI. So a computer monitor would count as a TV set. Anything with a HDMI input would count.

Nope, its covering any computer with a satellite, terrestrial or cable tuner in it.

dev100

Manach wrote:

But if we do not pay double or even triple the current fee the talented people in RTE will be poached by other broadcasters in the U.K. /sarc.

It's usually the up and coming stars that head off . The over paid crustys stay put .

Nekarsulm

Haven't paid for the last 6 years, can't see me starting....

skankkuvhima

Grayson wrote: »

That would mean anything with a HDMI. So a computer monitor would count as a TV set. Anything with a HDMI input would count.

Let's say you're right (I don't think you are btw). So a monitor without HDMI doesn't need a TV Licence (they do exist, I just checked)? Correct?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

masculinist

Grayson wrote: »

That would mean anything with a HDMI. So a computer monitor would count as a TV set. Anything with a HDMI input would count.

No . Its not about the ports.. Its about the tuner .

Check these out. How could you not fund one of these by paying the 160 a year to the Credit union instead of the RTE fatcats ? 320 a year to the Credit union instead of to the RTE Fatcats you'd be suckin diesel

https://www.vizio.com/tuner-free

http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0002/vizio-make-atsc-tunerfree-4ktvs/278312

PhuckHugh

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Maybe ? They most certainly should start from there..

CoolHandBandit

Old people watch RTE and when the inevitable happens with age RTE are left without a pot to piddle in. The TV inspector called in to our new build house almost 9 year ago now and was told we don't have a TV. He hasn't been back since. It's a losing battle for Montrose as you can't force people to pay for something they don't watch.

Nekarsulm

CoolHandBandit wrote: »

Old people watch RTE and when the inevitable happens with age RTE are left without a pot to piddle in. The TV inspector called in to our new build house almost 9 year ago now and was told we don't have a TV. He hasn't been back since. It's a losing battle for Montrose as you can't force people to pay for something they don't watch.

Not just Pensioners, but every household that qualifies for the Household Benefits package gets a free TV licence.
What proportion of viewers actually pay?
Add in the level of pay to the "Stars" and you're in trouble!

masculinist

Grayson wrote: »

Just wondering. It's all gone digital now hasn't it? Is there any analogue signal? If so, unless a TV has a freeview tuner built in it doesn't have a tuner anymore.

No any sort of tuner puts you legally on the hook. You can still get a clear analogue signal from Virgin Media/NTL/UPC wall sockets.

Imagine you not maybe being able to justify the money for a new TV while the RTE fatcats have it all. Any reasonable self interested person would say enough is enough. If I'm going to lose 160 a year I may as well pay it in interest to a credit union for brand new high spec devices with no tuners involved. And RTE fatcats can go sing for their money because with no tuners under my roof they have no business coming to me with begging letters.

murpho999

RTE always comes in for a lot of bashing some deserved and some not.

I don’t believe people when they say that they never watch RTE.

So they never watch any news, Irish sport or big shows like Love/Hate when it was on, political debates in the run up to elections?

Big events in the last week like the Coast Guard tragedy or Martin McGuinness passing and nobody used any of RTE services for that?

I just don’t believe that.
RTE radio also provides a good service.


They have good programmes, particularly documentaries and news shows such as Prime time.

They fall down badly on drama, entertainment and comedy and far too many repeats.

Too many chat-shows that feature poor guests.

They need to change. After all if TV3 & TG4 can survive with a smaller cut of the licence fee then why can’t RTE.

I do wonder if this mention of doubling the licence fee is a way of making a €50 fee look not so bad.

Finally, if people stopped evading paying the licence fee as they are legally obliged too then it probably wouldn’t be as expensive.

skankkuvhima

Do you know what really gets on my tits. I pay my license yet here I am, on RTE news website, unable to view news clips unless I turn off my ad blockers. Fuck off :mad:

CoolHandBandit

I very rarely watch TV but when i do i like to be entertained. Late late show, darcy show, prime time, fair city, property porn shows isn't entertainment to me anyway. Thanks but no thanks.

masculinist

murpho999 wrote: »

I don’t believe people when they say that they never watch RTE..

I believe them. I am one of them.

valoren

If you can somehow justify paying yourself €250k a year while you oversee an annual loss of €20,000,000 you simply lose all credibility.

Suggesting a 100% increase in the license fee vindicates that assertion.

Grayson

masculinist wrote: »

No . Its not about the ports.. Its about the tuner .

Check these out. How could you not fund one of these by paying the 160 a year to the Credit union instead of the RTE fatcats ? 320 a year to the Credit union instead of to the RTE Fatcats you'd be suckin diesel

https://www.vizio.com/tuner-free

http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0002/vizio-make-atsc-tunerfree-4ktvs/278312

They only seem to ship to the continental US.

PhuckHugh

CoolHandBandit wrote: »

I very rarely watch TV but when i do i like to be entertained. Late late show, darcy show, prime time, fair city, property porn shows isn't entertainment to me anyway. Thanks but no thanks.

Prime Time is a decent and needed show - If anything, we need more like it.

Grayson

masculinist wrote: »

I believe them. I am one of them.

same here. I don't have a TV subscription and I don't have a freeview box. I have an internet connection, a chromecast, a raspberry pi and an xbox.

BlinkingLights

As much as I agree with the concept of public service broadcasting, RTE is not worth 320 a year to me and that's getting beyond a simple fee and into the area of a regressive, stealth tax.

A lot of families would struggle to find €320 a year for TV.

They need to cut back big time.

One of the areas that really annoys me for example is that RTE sponsors things like sports, arts etc. That is NOT its job. If they can't find commerical sponsorors, let the state or councils decide to fund them or not. Do not siphon money out of the public broadcasting service into non broadcasting projects

Also there's way to much money being spent on non broadcasting activities like orchestras and so on. They're valid and reasonable art projects but they're nothing to do with broadcasting.

I would sell Montrose entirely, move RTE news and radio into the city centre and build new production facilities somewhere much cheaper.

Also RTE is an absolute disgrace when it comes to lack of regional television. You should at least have TV out of Cork for Munster and Galway for the West and it should have been like since 1961. Almost all equivalent EU public service broadcasters have regional TV and radio.

2FM should be sold off - I can see absolutely no public service remit whatsoever and if it is not profit making and subsidizing loss making public service content on other stations it should be sold or shut down.

You can't just milk more and more money out of the license fee. There's a limit to what people are willing to pay for.

Boom_Bap

I've just read a joe.ie article quoting yer wan saying the douling of the fee is nonsence.
But they are going after those who have not paid.

KKkitty

It's not even worth half the current license fee right now. Haven't seen Fair City in years. Only watch The Toy Show because I have kids. I get my news from other sources. My kids sometimes watch RTE junior but most of their programming is bought in from the UK. As has been mentioned The Late Late Show is full of guests from inside RTE or whatever depressing story has happened in Ireland during the week. Compared to Graham Norton and chat shows in the US The Late Late Show is sh1t. How much programming is bought in from other countries?

mzungu

€320? Quality content? You must be kidding me. Is this the same RTE that churn out cooking shows nearly every day of the bloomin' week? Sending Donal Skeehan to Nam, Nevin Mcguire to Spain, and Catherine Fullvio to everywhere just to cook a plate of food. Thats not to mention the Allen clan and all their various cooking shows. How much time do RTE think people have to be trying all this stuff?

If they were to start charging that amount, they would really want to get their act together content wise. They do have some quality shows, but to justify a price hike like that they need to start bringing more to the table. Sending Daniel and Majella to a different B&B every week just won't cut the mustard.

Cantona's Collars

She should have stood outside RTE and shouted "Are you not entertained". Sorry love,we aren't. Saturday nights aren't for listening to Ray D'Arcy pontificate. I remember when he was decent and suddenly he disappeared up his own porridge lined hole.I hear the lineup for the Late Late on a Friday and it only strengthens my resolve never to watch it bar the toy show with the kids.
The only thing the missus watches is Room to Improve and that's short lived.
RTE scrapped their Premier League highlights to save the equivalent of half Tubridys salary every year,rugby is going to TV3,Sky have GAA games that RTE deem of no interest to the public and alienate half the country.

murpho999

masculinist wrote: »

I believe them. I am one of them.

So over the last year, nothing that happened in news or sport made you watch RTE?

FanadMan

Just read the interview with her and she said "Quite honestly, I think it should be double that. If you look to places like the Scandinavian markets, where their licence fee is over double what we're paying here, you see what they're getting for that, the content is singing."

It's all about context - nowhere did she say that they want to or are going to double the fee. In saying that, most of RTE programming is crap. Only time I watch RTE is for sport. And Radio 1 at night - less waffle and decent music.

animaal

I watch very little TV, but I'm glad RTE is there - for the news, Primetime, and a few other things. If RTE went subscription-only and was optional, I'd still pay the 160 for access. But I may be in the minority.

As things stand, it's a legal requirement to pay the license if you have a TV; the state has taken a decision to fund RTE in this way. They could instead fund it from general taxation, and increase income taxes. (or introduce income taxes, for the large portion of the population that pay no income tax). Funny how people get so principled about not obeying laws that require them to pay taxes or charges. I've never seen one of these people give out that they themselves have too many entitlements, and insist on paying some back. It's always somebody else who should be paying more.

I think RTE should introduce a subscription model, even with the current mandatory licensing model. All license payers should get an account that grants access to the TV channels and video streaming. Paying the license should give you something that you wouldn't otherwise have. It might even result in more income from abroad - there's a body of diaspora who feel they should be entitled to a vote in Irish elections, they presumably want to stay informed on Irish issues.

Mrs OBumble

Just get rid of your TV ... it makes you fat and stupid anyways.

Shenshen

murpho999 wrote: »

RTE always comes in for a lot of bashing some deserved and some not.

I don’t believe people when they say that they never watch RTE.

So they never watch any news, Irish sport or big shows like Love/Hate when it was on, political debates in the run up to elections?

Big events in the last week like the Coast Guard tragedy or Martin McGuinness passing and nobody used any of RTE services for that?

I just don’t believe that.
RTE radio also provides a good service.


They have good programmes, particularly documentaries and news shows such as Prime time.

They fall down badly on drama, entertainment and comedy and far too many repeats.

Too many chat-shows that feature poor guests.

They need to change. After all if TV3 & TG4 can survive with a smaller cut of the licence fee then why can’t RTE.

I do wonder if this mention of doubling the licence fee is a way of making a €50 fee look not so bad.

Finally, if people stopped evading paying the licence fee as they are legally obliged too then it probably wouldn’t be as expensive.

You can believe me. We've cancelled our Sky subscription 2 years ago and are now using a combined android and satellite box. It's really handy for UK and international stations (French and German mostly), but it can't receive RTE.
Tbf, it was about a year before I even noticed and asked the husband.

We still pay the fee, though, because, you know, the law and all that.

And quite a number of my colleagues don't even own a TV - they watch online exclusively, and I very much doubt the RTE player is anywhere on their lists.