Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557596#Comment_118557596

LMAO - the comments are less than complimentary but Ryan thinks he was amazing and that's all that matters

garrettod

I see that Paddy Cosgrave has sent out a tweet, suggesting a possible boycott of the licence fee.

He's got a massive following on twitter, so things have just gotten a little bit more interesting!

https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/1487885287510487042?t=vmCbvM2z8dtTnai_zt2N7g&s=09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118560045#Comment_118560045

Oh wow he tweeted? I bet the government are drafting new legislation as we speak.

retalivity

I'm all for kicking RTE for their failure at everything, but if its putting me on the same side as that spanner, I would start to second-guess myself...

elperello

Altogether now -

"We want Paddy for our leader, Paddy is a man of class...."

Gone a bit quiet there 🙂

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561214#Comment_118561214

Paddy may not be the person... but RTÉ does need reform. There performance at the PAC and the Media Committee was the lowest point ever. I still don't know what they plan to do with the 65m they say they are missing. And were is An Post the people who are supposed to collect this fee, they don't even collect 1m licence fees each year.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561352#Comment_118561352

I was only being a bit lighthearted.

I don't think for a minute that PC really cares anyway.

My own position is that like PC I support Public Service Broadcasting.

I think we need to decide what sort of PSB we want and then decide how to pay for it.

I favour direct exchequer funding which means no chasing after people, no evasion and no collection costs.

PSB TV free at point of use just like radio is today.

RandomViewer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561379#Comment_118561379

Dublin is only 10% of the population yet most of the programming is Dublin Centric, either shift 90% of the programming outside of Dublin, sell the big site in Donnybrook and operate from an Industrial estate like VM123 or charge for RTE by area, areass which aren't getting local news or programming pay nothing and those who are constantly featured pay the most, Tallaght, Longford and Limerick may have issues with this

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561430#Comment_118561430

Dublin Region actually accounts for 28.5% of the population and of course it is our capital city.

https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/pressreleases/2021pressreleases/pressstatementpopulationandmigrationestimatesapril2021/#:~:text=Consequently%2C%20the%20population%20of%20Dublin,the%20year%20to%20April%202021.

Some of the infrastructure in Montrose is showing it's age anyway but a move would be vey expensive and there would be little point in it unless you were prepared to fund a complex with the best of modern technology. I'd be open to the idea but would like to see the figures.

More regional coverage would be worth considering including some more decentralisation.

Direct funding would remove the need for regional payment differentials.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561379#Comment_118561379

Should RTÉ not try to provide PSBing, after all we currently pay for it through the license fee.

Exchequer funding has it problems. 1. Political influence and 2. During a downturn the easy at which a government may decided to cut funding to public service broadcasting.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561552#Comment_118561552

They actually claim that they do but there is a long running debate here which suggests that everyone is not happy with the current output.

I'm suggesting that we put everything on the table and for once and for all decide what we want from a PSB.

You correctly identify some of the dangers inherent in direct funding but I think with the proper structures, and checks and balances put in place it could work.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561617#Comment_118561617

They claim. What do we think? Where is the debate?

But when do we get to put it on the table, when will that decision be made? And who makes that decision.

But we have direct funding to one PSBer and that funding was cut during a down turn.

And in the current situation has shown that An Post has never been taken to task about their collection of the fee.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561646#Comment_118561646

The debate is in this thread.

Maybe best if you scroll back a few pages and you will get the gist of it.

Lot's of stuff to be decided.

The TV Licence was an answer to a 20th century question. We need to move on.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561738#Comment_118561738

Ok what has this thread decided? (I have the gist of the thread, I was once here in another form!).

So we move on and in ten years the gov cuts funding because we are in a recession?

RandomViewer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561826#Comment_118561826

18 months by recent calculations, there'll be no appetite for bailing out anyone,

garrettod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561617#Comment_118561617

No offence - but this is Ireland - we don't do "proper checks and balances" in this country.

retalivity

"Some of the infrastructure in Montrose is showing it's age anyway but a move would be vey expensive and there would be little point in it unless you were prepared to fund a complex with the best of modern technology. I'd be open to the idea but would like to see the figures."

RTE sold 8 acres of Montrose for €107m a year or 2 back. The remaining site there is approximately 30acres, so extrapolating that out and not counting for land price inflation, they are looking at €400m+ for the whole site if it went for sale. Imagine what size of site that would get you elsewhere, not even in the middle of nowhere, but somewhere within 1hr of Dublin - say in Offaly or Westmeath. They could have space, new buildings, tech, and change out of that €400m, as well as bringing industry, jobs, economic activity to somewhere (slightly) outside the pale that would badly need it.

But then Dee might actually have to use here car allowance to leave the city, and tubridys commute would take him away from the rock road or N11, so no chance.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118562098#Comment_118562098

Like I said I'm open to the idea.

There would be the need to keep a studio in Dublin to consider as well.

Obviously travel would be an extra cost also.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557596#Comment_118557596

He has about as much charisma as the bead of sweat running down my left ball as I got intimate with Mrs BoBandy the other night!!!!

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561998#Comment_118561998

Well we should.

Your caveat applies to all areas of public administration and is not unique to the matter under discussion.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561826#Comment_118561826

I wouldn't have the time or energy to try to sum up a thread with more than than 8000 posts but ultimately it's just an online forum and doesn't get to decide anything really.

Welcome back.

If the government of the day cut funding to PSB you would expect that the quality of the output would suffer.

However the amount required to run a PSB is so small in the context of the overall government budget you'd hope that they would concentrate cost savings in more fruitful areas.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561552#Comment_118561552

Exchequer funding has it problems. 1. Political influence and 2. During a downturn the easy at which a government may decided to cut funding to public service broadcasting.

Are these not also a risk under the current system?

Gen.Zhukov

If the government of the day cut funding to PSB you would expect that the quality of the output would suffer.

https://media.giphy.com/media/1kfhoNWKY94uLGX2kO/giphy.gif

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118562426#Comment_118562426

They shouldn't be. However we have see that Successive Irish government (without Tory malice) were able to implement almost everything that the Tories in the UK would like to do.

1. Failed to increase the license fee on a inflationary basis, thus cutting the fee to an extend (not massively but some what), a freeze.
2. Cut exchequer funding from TG4 (one of those small areas they wouldn't dare go after) only to pass part of the license fee over to TG4 to replace what they lost. Full exchequer funding returned in 2019.
3. And they also cut funding from the over 70s, which hasn't been fully return.

The quick simple answer is exchequer funding. It certainly saves An Post having to defend their non-collection of the fee.

In the meantime RTÉ have done very little. They right bemoan the above. But they also fail to properly use their income.

1. Cutting Children's Content
2. Ring Fencing Imported Programming
3. Cutting Drama
4. Doing away with what little comedy that they had
5. Giving 2fm funding from the licence fee while failing to grow its audience or to prove its public service remit.
6. Cutting Lyric FM by nearly a million in 2021.

They have no strategy for the money the currently have, as seem unwilling to tell us what they will do with the 65m of fees that An Post fail to collect each year.

RTÉ basically say: -

"To continue to provide the kind of service we currently provide into the future we need to insure we get all of the license"

Sorry RTÉ but if you think that your current service is worth 65 million extra per year you really need to consider what you have.

garrettod

Please ignore....

jippo nolan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118562098#Comment_118562098

Tubridy would **** himself!

Gen.Zhukov

This post is aimed at a Mod so I can link it and I don't have to try to fit all this into a pm.

Pre the boards.ie move to the new platform, the poll results were very different to the results seen it the OP now. I don't know how that happened and I doubt it can be undone. Can a Mod please edit the OP and include the snip below to more accurately reflect the true thoughts of posters. Perhaps the poll should be closed too.

The credit goes to @Varik on this one as he dug this out of his cache shortly after the change.

Pre platform change (approx July 2021) :

Post platform change :

Thanks.

Beasty

Sorry guys, but even with my Admin powers I do not seem to be able to change or even delete the poll

I'll check if they can do anything at the office

RabbleRouser2k

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2022/0202/1277320-the-late-late-show-valentines-special-is-back/

The Valentine's special is coming back... dear God... this has been a car crash every &*@!ing times they've done it. Nobody's enjoyed it, nobody's walked away from it thinking 'that was worth the time'...

Instead it descends into a mess, something out of Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer. Even the 'usually' positive twitter folks never have a decent thing to say about it.

I'd say it's beating a dead horse, but that would be far less insulting to people's intelligence than this dross.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118569793#Comment_118569793

TLLS need this type of one of special. TLLS 2019/2020 season relied on the deaths of a number of well known people (including Gay Byrne) and COVID. Prior to both TLLS had been losing audiences, expect for these types of "specials"

Valentines Day (Massacred in mascara)

EuroSong

Irish Country and Western Music special

and throw in a few birthdays or anniversaries