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

Shan Doras

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122337559#Comment_122337559

I was being funny 🤣

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122337709#Comment_122337709

🤣 you could have stringed me along

pjordan

https://www.independent.ie/style/celebrity/celebrity-news/it-was-heartbreaking-jennifer-zamparelli-says-she-left-2fm-after-rte-refused-her-time-off-to-care-for-children/a1094517610.html

Surprised I'm the first throwing this out for discussion on this thread. Strikes me as a bit of PR spin by Zamparelli to protect her "brand" and preserve her fee value for DWTS.

I was of the impression that the reason for herself and The Johnnies and Garrihy leaving 2fm was because of the commercial restrictions of the new regieme and the greater financial potential and scope with podcasts. Now instead she's embarking on a emotive charm offensive that somehow it wasn't her choice at all. It was all down to RTE forcing her to chose between her show and her family (yep that's sure to pull on some heart strings, but some how I don't buy it!).

Maybe she's already discovering that the faraway hills mightn't be as green as the fattened teat that fed unabated and unconditionally.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122338247#Comment_122338247

Yeah, I said this about Claire Byrne and her exit from TV. But all of these people are well paid and have partners that are well paid and have good holidays, no real reason that they don't have some "house staff" to help with the children during the school year, I know its very Victorian of me but why don't more people employ Nannies?

Dream life

Morning School Run

Arrive to the studio a 8:50 for my RoTelly Radio show at 9am

Some sob story, followed by how expensive life has become (Don't care have to have my work life balance)

12:00 Daily show meeting

12:30 head to pub, then Lunch a Roly's with the DG, make sure everything is good (after this busy day with accountant and such)

Meanwhile

1pm Maid/Nanny arrives to my luxary home, Tidies up (washing etc.)

1:30 gets ready for Children to come back from school as something for them, may have to pick up the younger ones from the school at 2:30

3pm gets children to do their home work, and help wash lunch boxes and preparing lunch for tomorrow (you don't want your kids to be above themselves but they are brats)

4pm Prepares dinner (The nanny does this sorry, I am at the accountants or with the bank manager, oh prob with the agent)

6pm We return home from a long days work, ready to heat up dinner and put the children to bed.

7pm looks up boarding schools for teen years (they are brats now wait for the teen years, they need structure and I have the money to give them that structure)

8pm opens my usual bottle of the most expensive red wine, as I put the children to bed.

During the summer, take my 40 days holiday as much as possible, but might leave if they refuse!

Furze99

Virtually every interview with a politician on RTE radio and often on TV for the last several months contains or ends with a question as to how 'RTE will be funded'.

This is often regardless of the reason the interview is taking place. It's nakedly obvious.

My question: is this lobbying? Have RTE and it's staff registered as lobbyists? As per https://www.lobbying.ie/

On the face of it, there can be no question that the station and it's staff are seeking to influence government decisions as to their future & by implication, their personal incomes etc. But are they exempt from this I wonder as public employees. There are strict reporting rules around lobbying.

Karppi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122338247#Comment_122338247

No great loss

Shan Doras

My view is that The two Johnnies and Garrihy left due to the new commercial restrictions but I think Jennifer Zamparelli wasn't offered an new contract, her ratings for that slot were at an historic low.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122338247#Comment_122338247

My take on it would be they were told paycuts were coming, no outside gigs etc etc.

This one is actin the ******

No loss anyway, all of them.

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122338960#Comment_122338960

Significant pay cut (as mentioned above) or no new contract. It was one or the other.

She'll nasally whinge away to whoever listens.

Shan Doras

@RoTelly what are the current old-fashioned TV ratings like for Fair city? Compared to 5+ years ago like. I was surprised to hear Bakhurst praising it so much, I just haven't heard Fair city being talked about by the general public in recent years. I know 2001 was a different world before streaming but back then, Billy Meehan may as well have been real life the way people talked about it

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122340045#Comment_122340045

Between 170k to 250k.

This week FC had 171k to 193k, but it is summertime and it is up against the Euros. Average audience in Jan was 245k.

Now these figures are for adults only. (15+). RTÉ ONE +1, daytime repeats and the Omnibus edition along with the player would add to this figure.

Soap is still relatively strong, not like back in Billy Mehan's day but he was also helped by WWTBAM, and I think Coro Street was running for a while on RTÉ during his time on the show.

And if Bakhurst thought it was so good why did he cut it back to 3 nights?

The writers of FC are up in arms, you cannot say FC is **** to 4 types of people 1. RTÉ staff, 2. the crew of the show (in particular writers), 3. academics (particularly those that write for FC) and 4. the fans.

According to one academic on Twitter FC is an icon, while one of their writers suggested it was "washing its face" (breaks even). Neither are true. While a fan was impressed by longevity!

I spoke to two people randomly about FC, a shop assistant I'd say in her mid-20s, she said she didn't watch but she did with her parents and had no real view, it wasn't for her, and a Garda (late-40s) that pointed to Red Rock as a better soap.

If FC was an iconic show it would not have the nickname Fairly ****, no other soap from Ireland has ever been given such a derogatory name, and if it was breaking even why aren't RTÉ producing a second soap?

Move FC over to RTÉ2 see how long the audience stick with it, not long, I imagine.

IMO Soap has its place, I don't think it has had its day, but RTÉ have over emphasised it, just look at how the mopped up soaps as soon as Coro St left RTÉ, Neighbours, Doctors, Crossroads, EastEnder, Casualty, Holby City all taken by RTÉ since the exit of Coro St.

But could soap viewers be online? KB suggested 5% of all viewing on the player was FC. You can factor in that the Player has an exclusivity toward the show. I wonder how the Aussie soaps do, Home and Away is always on of the most popular shows on the player. But perhaps the player isn't doing all that well and that 5% is purely about the exclusivity of the series on the player.

I would also argue there is a slight left wing bias toward FC, for some reason they believe it really resonates with the viewing public and has been key to the progress of Ireland over the last 35 years (though most of that progress only happened in the last 10, not the greatest period for any reforming soap opera). They also believe that you should not complain about the writing or acting of Fair City, and think about the crew of the show rather than the suggestion that you might actually consider producing a better show. (Recently Doctors was axed by the BBC there is a thread on X that really shows the bias of the writer).

My real issue is that RTÉ increase in independent productions is purely coming from the move of FC and TLLS to them, rather then increasing spend in other areas of Drama and Entertainment.

They all argue I never be happy no matter what they did, but I just wish they did something.

Shan Doras

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122340171#Comment_122340171

I haven't watched a single episode of FC in about 4 yrs but when I did watch it in the 2010s, the problem was storylines full of massive plot holes, there was the story about Dermot stealing Paul's money and going on the run with his family but his 12yo foster daughter goes off on holiday to the Faroe islands with her 19yo sister in the middle of school term and never comes back, then it turns out Dermot has only 320k of pauls money, sure his house would be worth more than that but he signs that over to Jane. So to sumorise, A Dublin accountant who's also a foster carer for Tusla decides to give away his house, jack in his job and life to spend the rest of his life a fugitive with 320k, he actually had 400k but lost 80k in the back of a van.

Gen.Zhukov

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122338372#Comment_122338372

Virtually every interview with a politician on RTE radio and often on TV for the last several months contains or ends with a question as to how 'RTE will be funded'.

Good point - Is there a thinly veiled threat in there I wonder (in a subliminal way) - 'I've just given you a super-soft interview, it may not be so soft the next time buddy…think about that'

RoTelly

So to me it look like RTÉ did far more for the UK GE than they did for the Local and European Elections.

Sending staff to London for the count, I understand that RTÉ covers NI and have no problem with them posting someone to Belfast (preferably their NI staff). But was their any need for David McCullagh to be in London? They have a new London Correspondent that we'll hear from for the next month with the new government in the UK but after than like most correspondents it will be "not often seen or heard", I know his predecessor wasn't great but that wasn't the reason he had so little air time.

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122340359#Comment_122340359

some one actually sat down and wrote that shite? Shakespeare has arisen! alas,poor Yorrick,what a time to be alive!

Baba Yaga

well sure i guess london is more glamourous then Belfast or Derry and David McCullagh probably thought he'd look more "dapper,debonaire and dashing" hanging around westminster then around Belfast or Derry city hall…

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122344262#Comment_122344262

You should search there writers on line to see how full of themselves they are, though this press release sums their ego up nicely

https://about.rte.ie/2023/09/14/rte-statement-fair-city-photography/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122344293#Comment_122344293

Perhaps RTÉ is hoping the BBC will see him and snap him up!

Shan Doras

Isn't it pretty damning that RTE (which is meant to be reducing headcount by 400) had to hire the pd of Newstalk to be their head of radio? How isn't there an existing senior member of staff in the radio centre suitable for this promotion?

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346968#Comment_122346968

It could be that many don't want to take on that role considering what has happened. I don't know much about the Heads of Radio 1, Lyric or RnaG but I have slightly relieved that the other head of station didn't get the role. Carson I'd say has a good relationship with Bakhurst, I'd not be surprised if they both ate Strawberry Mess in Eton together. Rather scrumptious, with lashings of Ginger Beer, what oh! Berty! and all that!

Shan Doras

Has Dee Forbes's "ONE RTE" plan been scrapped?

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347715#Comment_122347715

Last time I checked it was still all over about.rte.ie

https://about.rte.ie/one-rte/

If it is taken down during the we know …. they are reading … wonder if they have anything to say?

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346968#Comment_122346968

Re the reducing headcount wasn't it supposed to be reduced some years ago? It seems that soem staff may have been re assigned to contracting roles (now found to be incorrectly labled) and numbers didn't really reduce at all?

Shan Doras

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122350222#Comment_122350222

Yeah, reducing headcount by several hundred has been in every RTE "plan" for the last 15 years but it never actually happens and that's no wonder when it's always voluntary

Expunge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122347715#Comment_122347715

Yes. It was a crazy HSE style load of cock to begin with.

The running of the four FM radio networks were cast to the wind in different "units", for instance.

New middle managers sprang up all over the place (appointed ultimately by Forbes) and some are quietly heading for the exits now, knowing they will climb no further.

Are they resigning? Of course not!

Leave of absence for now, then they'll see how much of a package they can secure with the VR/ER scheme opens.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357676#Comment_122357676

Leave of absence? currently, how many managers are on a leave of absence? Are they still being paid?

Shan Doras

I wonder how much "fees" do RTE pay Bebbak Ltd for Dave Fannings services doing weekend rerecord shows on RTE Gold?

Expunge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357705#Comment_122357705

I have heard of two by name and rumours of some more. Unpaid but not sure.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357943#Comment_122357943

Any idea what the units were called? was it just in Radio?

Raoul Duke III

Is there any update on how licence fee receipts are holding up? Seeing as we're halfway through the year.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122360566#Comment_122360566

https://www.thesun.ie/money/13357659/tv-licence-fee-rte-scandal-shortfall-80million/

As of June 21, 358,000 out of 1.3million homes eligible under law had paid the €160 charge.

The TD also revealed that 800,000 TV licences were sold last year, which netted RTE €128million in revenue.