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

RoTelly

@Beta Ray Bill 5 years ago defined what would be come both Moya Doherty's and Dee Forbe's legacy at RTÉ, indeed they largely followed their predecessors Noel Curran and the late Tom Savage, they praised RTÉ's pubic service, with little or no criticism, and to demand more money rather then to reform.

I might not agree with the OP on everything 5 years on, but on that they got it right, I can only image that Irish TV will just be as bad 5 years on.

RoTelly

Tony Tormey bring case against RTÉ as contractor, he earned €99,000 in 2017 and €150,000 in 2016. Currently earning 4,500 per week! I assume he not always in for a full 52weeks which would give him 198k for 44 weeks work. Sorry he works 31 weeks so is getting 139,500. Nice work if you can get it.

FGR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119832531#Comment_119832531

I take it these 'stars' are taking these cases to get that lucrative pension on top of all the perks they had beforehand as independent contractors?

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119832565#Comment_119832565

I'd assume so, also in his case he seems to have been hit with a very hefty tax bill following an audit. 2 to 3 others look to be taking a case also.

Marcos

Well, the race for Dee's successor is down to three at this stage.

Mark Little - he of Kinzen, remember them, they were getting money from the Dept of Health to monitor what people were saying online, until it became public knowledge. Then they were quietly dropped.

Feargal O'Rourke of the well known FF family.

Tommie O'Gorman. Former RTE journalist.

Expect more of the same begging bowl and looking for an increase in the licence fee.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119836187#Comment_119836187

FFS

Mark Little who was on the Media Commission who gave out to the Government for not implementing all of the 50 recommendations but one. Expect more of the same, we poor give us more money, and no idea of content.

Feargal O'Rourke - I don't know but out of this three.

Tommie O'Gorman - he'll just go back to RTÉ and start writing a blog about Northern Ireland, I mean his articles on the RTÉ website were rambling never ending pieces.

I assume Jon Williams got wind (Much like his predecessor) and made his decision to leave because of it, while John McRemond in An Post must be bitterly disappointed considering all his work in An Post.

I am guessing Feargal will get it and Mark will become head of News. IMO.

And just to edit this. This is for the role of Chair aka Moya Doherty's role not Dee Forbes.

Chair isn't that important IMO but I'd give it to Feargal. Tommie and Mark would be too focused on News TBH.

Just happy they aren't going to be DG.

RabbleRouser2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119836606#Comment_119836606

Can't see Tommie O'Gorman taking on the gig, he is still suffering from cancer, after all. It's in 'control', for want of a better word, But he's not gonna risk his health for the sake of an RTE gig.

He's got a pension, he's retired, just enjoy the rest of the time he has with family and friends.

I'd see Mark Little or Feargal getting the gig, more than likely.

lumphammer2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119832531#Comment_119832531

Yep ... just found out a few days ago the pay Tony Tormey gets ... I previously thought actors like him got way less as they always complain about how poorly they are paid .. who are they comparing themselves to? Tom Cruise? Outside of Hollywood I think 139,500 for 31 weeks is better than excellent ....

ShamNNspace

From what I understand the position of chair is not overly arduous, Tommie Gorman is one to watch but there would have to be signals sent,grassroots would have to be sounded out, the ducks would have to be lined up and the choreography would have to be right with everyone on the same page before Tommie would sign up to that position

Potential-Monke

I'd love if someone actually followed these cretins around and see how many hours they actually clock in. I'm talking about actors who think they're bigger than they are, contractors who think they should have the best of both worlds, and higher-up staff at rte. I'd be shocked if a single one of them "works" 39 hours per week. Yet most of us do than for less (and mostly far less) than a grand a week. And they have the cheek... More proof these people don't live in the real world. I'd love if someone came along and gave all unnecessarily highly paid staff an ultimatum to take MAHOOOOOOSIVE pay cuts, or pish off. Will never happen, seems like a job for the boys. Much like most higher up positions.

Atlantic Dawn

Looks like Toy Show De Musical is going to bomb and RTE are trying to cover their holes already on this pet project, unbelievable that a decision can be made by the national broadcaster to engage in this level of risk with the organisations funds...

“And it is a big decision by RTÉ to invest in something like this. It's expensive and it’s a huge production. We’re trying to fill a big theatre a number of times a day for a month. And so it wasn’t a light decision that we made.”

Asked how the tickets were selling, he said it was going “pretty well at the moment” with the matinees proving popular.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/its-expensive-and-its-a-huge-production-rtes-head-of-strategy-says-decision-to-launch-christmas-musical-wasnt-taken-lightly-42125826.html

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119847720#Comment_119847720

Yeah - read between the lines, who thought this would be successful???

xxxxxxl

Would it not just be like a LL its a small world.

NIMAN

If Toy Show The Musical bombs, I can't wait to hear Tubs talk about it.

RabbleRouser2k

'Toy Show the Musical' sounded like as good an idea as 'Gerry Ryan: A one man show'...

Brock Turnpike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119847981#Comment_119847981

When it bombs.

Loafing Oaf

Hugh Linehan slams successive governments for long-fingering a decision on RTE funding

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2022/11/05/hugh-linehan-welcome-to-season-15-of-lets-not-make-a-decision/

we’ve had 14 years of investigations, reports, strategic evaluations, working groups, commissions, pauses for reflection, unexpected delays and all the other paraphernalia of prevarication and obfuscation which the State’s apparatus deploys when faced with a choice it really, really doesn’t want to make.

Gen.Zhukov

Poor auld Forbesy - She's going to have to release the top 10 ten earner figs for 2020 soon, right in the middle of a massive CoL crisis and today's JNLR figs. The optics will be appalling. It's nearly 2 years since she released the 2019 figs (in Jan 2021 iirc) She probably thought about releasing the figs on the 24th of Feb this year but was advised against it.

I've mentioned the three card trick a few times now - it's basically a slight of hand that she's doing which involves making the contractors take more holidays while filling in with replacement contractors that cost almost as much. Total production costs for the show (that we pay for) remain the same but the heavy hitters look like they took a cut in fee rates.

I posted the below in the Darcy thread a few months ago re another theory I had, so just copied and pasted here:

Forbes 'the management speak waffler', may be waiting an extra amount of time to publish the 2020 top 10 figs as her Nov 2019 announcement of a 15% cut didn't work out at all. Her whole plan was based on the 'Three card trick'. FA holidays were taken in 2020. Duffy was probably forced at gun point to take a week off/or they locked him out for a week.

This will be proof that the fees were NOT reduced. So I suspect her plan is to publish 2020 and 2021 at the same time (end of this year) and when asked about her big 15% cut bollocks, she can deflect to the 2021 figs which will be marginally down as more hols were taken.

The other version of the 'Three card trick' is the 'Three cups trick' - Dee prefers the 'Three cups trick' variation, the only problem with that is she learned everything she knows about it from this guy :-

https://tenor.com/view/3cups-trick-transparent-cup-transparent-cups-trick-guess-gif-16406401

Couldn't embed that gif for some reason

Anyway, the freeloading bullsh!tter is just counting down the days til she can gtfo of the place and run off with the €2.5m and the big pension she got for doing fa for 7 years.

EDIT: Jaysus, she'd never try to get to the end of her freeloading stint without releasing the figs would she?

xxxxxxl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119852585#Comment_119852585

maybe if they did not pay for this.

we’ve had 14 years of investigations, reports, strategic evaluations, working groups, commissions

They might actually have some money.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119860146#Comment_119860146

In fairness many of the reports were paid for by the Government.

The problem with Hugh Linehan's article is that the fails to examine the problems in RTÉ over the last 15 years and fails to point out that over the last 5 or so years RTÉ has had a variety of income returned to them from "TG4 portion of the licence fee" to "the removal of the NSO from RTÉ".

Hugh Linehan and many seem to forget that in season 13 of the series RTÉ was given the go ahead to move the NSO over the NCH and that in season 12 and 13 they had had discussions of this move with their counterparts in the NCH. And that for all their crying during season 14 about their income they failed to move the NSO over to the NCH, which didn't happen until season 15 meaning they lost 7m or so in the delayed process.

It puts RTÉ as a beacon of light in how it and media is run in the country. It fails to point out the mismanagement of the services over the last decade and a half.

It's funny (my previous pseudonym here on boards.ie) possible quote the following from a letter I wrote as I got mad as hell in a Peter Finch like moment of my own which said: -

If your conclusion is to only to provide a “clear pathway to reform the TV Licence system” so that RTÉ may “return to a stable financial position” and fulfill their “public service remit”, while “sustaining much of what they do today” then I call on you to ask the Government to reform the method of collection before the end of the month. To drag the licence fee payer and the audience through a nine month wait on a predetermined decision is wasteful. 

On the other hand, if actual reform can be delivered with the input of the audience I wait patiently for the Commission’s report and the subsequent reforms being made without hesitation by the government of the day.

However, and with the greatest of respect, the Commission has already failed the audience. The quick announcement of public participation during the biggest pandemic that the world has ever seen, but also during the Christmas period when most people will have families and other important thoughts on their mind.  

But sure Moya is the elite and she got a response from the Taoiseach. She now exits RTÉ after 7 years, during those seven years she agree: -

1. To cut funding to children's programming
2. To cut funding to drama and comedy
3. To buy in an over priced star of a competitor
4. To continue to fund 2FM through the lience fee
5. To fail to cut funding to 2FM
6. To axe DAB transmissions
7. To fail to axe imported programming costs
8. To cut news bulletins from RTÉ ONE in the morning and 2fm in the Evening, and drop news from RTÉ2
9. To make no reforms to pay
10. To make no structural reforms in RTÉ

Atlantic Dawn

When the reality in RTE that the popularity of tickets to the Toy Show LLS is based on each audience member getting for free a haul of prizes worth circa €500 a head and pretty much nothing towards the actual show will hurt deeply as de Musical show collapses in reality of it being a ball of overpriced sheite.

RabbleRouser2k

From what I've gathered, and this is coming from someone who hasn't watched the LLS Toy show in over a decade, there's no longer any actual toys or games being shown on the show. I know that was a problem because of Covid, but afterwards... instead, Ryan did what he always does- milk the misery, instead.

When did the 'Toy' show become the 'Tears' show? You see so many people on twitter talking about it, and being all like 'crying at my desk'... it's just sheer misery. He brings on some child who's spent Christmas in Hospital, or has a very rare disease that means they're allergic to toys, and suddenly Tubridy is making the viewers bawl.. then reminding folks to donate to a fundraiser... often by signing up with an app that's kinda dodgy to donate. Then proclaiming the viewership 'the best ever'... with numbers that are inflated or made up.

Devious manipulation.

Hotblack Desiato

There are toys on the show ffs. I'm no defender of RTE and certainly not Tubridy but if you haven't watched a show in a decade or more then maybe don't pontificate about what is or is not on that show.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119728298#Comment_119728298

You can tell tubridy arrives at his desk at 8.55 and has notes on his desk that he reads out without ever looking at them before

RabbleRouser2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880414#Comment_119880414

I have enough people to tell me about it-and how there's less and less toys every year.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880414#Comment_119880414

Having watched Tubs on the Toy show it has become less about the toys and more about his ego. Songs and acts have become important... but so to have the tragedies of the children, along with at least one very precocious child. Rather than it being The Late Late Toy Show it has consistently over the last decade become The Late Late Toy Man Show.

I'd believe the viewing figures, but it is really all RTÉ have at this point. TLLS has been massively down in terms of audience this season, while Ask Me Anything should never have been renewed (I read the new Head of Entertainment's praise of the show on linkedin and was thinking "how did you ever get to work for the BBC").

I don't think a week has gone by with out Tubs mentioning or RTÉ mentioning the toy show. From Penney's toy show pjs to the money raised for good causes and from the child with the tragic story to the Toy Show The Musical... it is consistent and boring at this point.

The Musical was badly timed when you consider the cost of living, parents will make choices over the next few weeks as to what and what not to get, and I feel an over priced panto will be last on their list, it terrible for all involved, regardless of my curmudgeonly posts I honest hope it does well for their sake.

RabbleRouser2k

I believe Dee Forbes has a similar 'worked for the BBC' dept... but in the accounts division. She doesn't know entertainment, or scouting talent or folks who have the 'IT' factor. I mean, she thought D'arcy's hiring was a coup.

I caught about ten minutes of the repeat of Angela Scanlan show, with Mary Berry being interviewed. My brother and me were sitting there like 'who's the plastic barbie sitting next to her?'... Turns out it was Rosanna Davison.

Christ, the amount of work she's had done 😦😦😦... must be prepping for a book or a show on the RTE player.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880818#Comment_119880818

Nearly I don't think she ever made it to the BBC, she was in a managerial position in Discovery and prior to her time in Discovery she was in Advertising. It's only about money for her, she hasn't a grasp of TV or Radio. Discovery is a completely different proposition.

Hotblack Desiato

Having watched Tubs on the Toy show it has become less about the toys and more about his ego.

Oh I agree but the other poster said there were no toys on the show!

I don't think there's any way back for the LLS now. Tubs has killed RTE's golden goose and he seems intent on staying with the corpse until the last bit of it has rotted away.

jelutong

Daily Mirror exclusive. RTÉ Radio one boss Peter Woods fears he will lose two major stars, Duffy and Tubs to rival stations .