RTE News Now to close - (MOD: unconfirmed newspaper report)

Never Say Never Again

According to yesterday's Sunday indo, RTE are to close News Now from next year for cost reasons.

brick man

Never Say Never Again wrote:

According to yesterday's Sunday indo, RTE are to close News Now from next year for cost reasons.

They will need ministerial approval for that and from BAI . I don't see them getting that it needed adverts and proper funding for RTE . How much worse can it get in montrose

Digifriendly

Would be sorry to see this channel close. It is one of the few channels on Saorview I regularly watch.

Gerry Wicklow

It's not surprising really, having been crippled at birth by political interference, (the politest term I can think of for it)

JDxtra

How can it cost millions of Euro to operate this station? Unless the vast bulk is transmission fees?

Never Say Never Again

JDxtra wrote: »

How can it cost millions of Euro to operate this station? Unless the vast bulk is transmission fees?

Yes it would be transmission fees

fergus1001

The feckin thing is just on a loop anyways, if anyone comes knocking st my door looking about licence fees I'll tell em I want my news now or feck off

Never Say Never Again

It will be bad for people in saorview only land

PTH2009

I'd always watch it when the GAA Championship draws are on but there is little need for them now with the new systems in place in the GAA

sad to see it go but sky news can't be beaten for news coverage

Johnboy1951

I have not watched Sky News for ages .... possibly a year or two.
RTÉ, BBC and ITV ....... and I use News Now when I want to play 'catch up' on the Irish news.

dublinman1990

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

It will be bad for people in saorview only land

Can people not see them on Saorview Connect though? What I mean is watching RTÉ News & Current Affairs programmes on the RTÉ Player.

I assume that will continue indefinitely when the linear channel gets BAI approval for it to close down.

Yakult

Ran by a bunch of clowns.

Gerry Wicklow

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Can people not see them on Saorview Connect though? What I mean is watching RTÉ News & Current Affairs programmes on the RTÉ Player.

I assume that will continue indefinitely when the linear channel gets BAI approval for it to close down.

Assuming they have good enough and affordable broadband access. Many people in Ireland still don't have decent fixed BB or rely on very expensive mobile BB.

Former Former

It never ceases to amaze me the reaction that every story, regardless of what is, about RTE gets on boards.ie. The sheer hatred for them is incredible, even when they're doing something right.

RTE News Now adds absolutely nothing to the broadcast landscape and the only surprise around its closure is that it didn't happen years ago. This is a great decision and the only sensible one to take. It was a gamble that didn't come off, fair play for trying and all that but let's pull the plug and move on.

lgs 4

RTE are too close News Now from next year for cost reason. Maybe we are getting RTE 3 4k as a replacement.

theoneeyedman

How much does it actually cost to run this? Content is stuff already being ran already, rte TV news, morning ireland weather forecast etc. Unless someone else is willing to pay for the channel they are using on saorview, then I'd imagine the running costs should be minimal enough.

cc

If it's just transmission fees they should keep it online/saorview connect at least

icdg

To emphasise - this is from a newspaper report, has not been in any way publically confirmed by RTE, and even if they did propose it as previous posters have said it would require ministerial approval. Accordingly the OP should not have been so definitive with their thread title and I’ve amended it accordingly

Gerry Wicklow

Don't know about you guys but I found Newsnow to be a total waste of electricity these past few days. Silly me kept putting on the news channel to see what's happening around the country only to get constantly recycled rubbish from months ago.
Maybe they are trying to kill it off

STB.

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Don't know about you guys but I found Newsnow to be a total waste of electricity these past few days. Silly me kept putting on the news channel to see what's happening around the country only to get constantly recycled rubbish from months ago.
Maybe they are trying to kill it off

@ICDG Samantha McCaughrans piece in the Indo

This is a simple case of economics vs vanity.

The channel needs serious dough thrown at if it were to be any way professional. RTE are losing money. Why should they throw money at it, given that advertising is prohibited on it.

They are pointing at poor viewership but acknowledge that people turn to other digital options for breaking news. Theres a reason for that. You either have a dedicated news service with advertising that will cover costs or you dont. Otherwise it wont be taken seriously.

RTE journos unhappy with its quality and direction too, I'd imagine. So much you could do with it if you threw some staff and cash at it.

icdg

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it won’t happen - remember where RTE News Now came from originally, I am not saying it has any love either in the news division generally or among management in particular.

All I’m saying is that we cannot regard this as an open shut confirmed decision at this time. There is nothing official from RTE (no, “RTE insiders” doesn’t count).

brick man

icdg wrote:

All I’m saying is that we cannot regard this as an open shut confirmed decision at this time. There is nothing official from RTE (no, “RTE insiders†doesn’t count).

icdg wrote:

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it won’t happen - remember where RTE News Now came from originally, I am not saying it has any love either in the news division generally or among management in particular.

RTE could be using it as a bargaining chip in discussions with BAI and Minister after all TDs love to be on the telly , that said I emailed them on November 7th last over News Now and got no reply as of yet . I am going to e-mail them again this week over News Now if I don't get reply I will go to BAI or Minister Naughton

Sam Russell

brick man wrote: »

RTE could be using it as a bargaining chip in discussions with BAI and Minister after all TDs love to be on the telly , that said I emailed them on November 7th last over News Now and got no reply as of yet . I am going to e-mail them again this week over News Now if I don't get reply I will go to BAI or Minister Naughton

The Minister appears to be talking about a broadcasting charge, so it could well be a bargaining chip to get more funding. However, there is talk of some licencing money going to the print media which is not a good thing.

brick man

Sam Russell wrote:

The Minister appears to be talking about a broadcasting charge, so it could well be a bargaining chip to get more funding. However, there is talk of some licencing money going to the print media which is not a good thing.

I agree with you in that I would not be in favour of print media getting slice of fee but I would support fund for local radio who do an excellent job in local news and current affairs .
The broadcasting act clearly states that in order to vary number of channels must get ministerial approval so News Now to close would have to get that

jujamax

Suppose we can series link the 6pm news and delete after viewing!

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Tuned in to News Now at noon today and a repeat of The Claire Byrne Show was on. I don't know if this was a first for News Now but it was nice to see something different rather than the same old replays of News At One.

John Dough

lgs 4 wrote: »

RTE are too close News Now from next year for cost reason. Maybe we are getting RTE 3 4k as a replacement.

:D:D:D

Ireland trains

Rte have all ready completley scaled back the content on the news now channel.
There used to be bullitens nearly every hour from 10am to 4pm and also at 11pm
Now the only extra news is a 5 min headlines at 2 pm
Late extra is on on a friday on rte 1 but not even on rte news now

Shurimgreat

Useful channel, far more useful to ordinary people than the orchestras, Aertel or 2FM.

Ireland trains

I was wondernig if there is a chance of a news revamp as it has been 4 years but after reading how much money rte need i doubt itll be happening any time soon

Sam Russell

I suspect an increase in the licence fee might see a few changes, particularly if RTE NN were allowed to advertise.

brick man

Ireland trains wrote:

Rte have all ready completley scaled back the content on the news now channel. There used to be bullitens nearly every hour from 10am to 4pm and also at 11pm Now the only extra news is a 5 min headlines at 2 pm Late extra is on on a friday on rte 1 but not even on rte news now

Is there a 5 minute bulletin at 2pm?

Ireland trains

Sorry i meant 4 pm