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

Beta Ray Bill

Dee Forbes is at it again over the TV licence fee.

Whinging the €60m wasn't collected and RTE cannot compete.

That's about 375,00 homes not paying the fee, so evasion is about 15%

The whole TV licence thing REALLY bugs me.
I don't watch RTE, not even for the Soccer/GAA. I might listen to the radio when I drive the car in the morning (which is once a blue moon)
I don't use the service, why the hell should I have to pay for it!

Obviously we cannot get rid of RTE as there are a great many people that do use the service.
That being said massive reforms are needed.
Firstly, do we really need RTE1 and RTE2? One channel would be enough.
Same with the radio stations, we only need one.
Do we REALLY need TG4?

The land they are on as well is ridiculous, some of the most valuable land in the country. They don't need to be there, they could be out in Athlone or somewhere an no one would know the difference.

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all
That salary puts him on a par with the likes of Claudia Winkleman, Alan Shearer, Fiona Bruce of the BBC.
He is nothing compared to them.
BBC can justify big salaries as it is broadcast around the world, and the content is generally quite good.
No one outside of Ireland know's who Tubb's is.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-director-general-calls-for-changes-in-tv-licence-fee-as-60m-uncollected-annually-840770.html

weldoninhio

grahambo wrote: »

Dee Forbes is at it again over the TV licence fee.

Whinging the €60m wasn't collected and RTE cannot compete.

That's about 375,00 homes not paying the fee, so evasion is about 15%

The whole TV licence thing REALLY bugs me.
I don't watch RTE, not even for the Soccer/GAA. I might listen to the radio when I drive the car in the morning (which is once a blue moon)
I don't use the service, why the hell should I have to pay for it!

Obviously we cannot get rid of RTE as there are a great many people that do use the service.
That being said massive reforms are needed.
Firstly, do we really need RTE1 and RTE2? One channel would be enough.
Same with the radio stations, we only need one.
Do we REALLY need TG4?

The land they are on as well is ridiculous, some of the most valuable land in the country. They don't need to be there, they could be out in Athlone or somewhere an no one would know the difference.

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all
That salary puts him on a par with the likes of Claudia Winkleman, Alan Shearer, Fiona Bruce of the BBC.
He is nothing compared to them.
BBC can justify big salaries as it is broadcast around the world, and the content is generally quite good.
No one outside of Ireland know's who Tubb's is.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-director-general-calls-for-changes-in-tv-licence-fee-as-60m-uncollected-annually-840770.html

I'd start smaller. Do we really need two fecking orchestras!!!

kippy

grahambo wrote: »

Dee Forbes is at it again over the TV licence fee.

Whinging the €60m wasn't collected and RTE cannot compete.

That's about 375,00 homes not paying the fee, so evasion is about 15%

The whole TV licence thing REALLY bugs me.
I don't watch RTE, not even for the Soccer/GAA. I might listen to the radio when I drive the car in the morning (which is once a blue moon)
I don't use the service, why the hell should I have to pay for it!

Obviously we cannot get rid of RTE as there are a great many people that do use the service.
That being said massive reforms are needed.
Firstly, do we really need RTE1 and RTE2? One channel would be enough.
Same with the radio stations, we only need one.
Do we REALLY need TG4?

The land they are on as well is ridiculous, some of the most valuable land in the country. They don't need to be there, they could be out in Athlone or somewhere an no one would know the difference.

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all
That salary puts him on a par with the likes of Claudia Winkleman, Alan Shearer, Fiona Bruce of the BBC.
He is nothing compared to them.
BBC can justify big salaries as it is broadcast around the world, and the content is generally quite good.
No one outside of Ireland know's who Tubb's is.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-director-general-calls-for-changes-in-tv-licence-fee-as-60m-uncollected-annually-840770.html

I don't disagree with the general tone of your post however there are lots of services you never use and may never use that you pay for.

Ulysses Gaze

The simple fact is that they need to start cutting their cloth.
Start downsizing the number of admin staff, start cutting salaries of presenters, scrap at least one of the orchestras.

silverharp

I'd collapse RTE down to TG4 and Radio1 and sell off the rest. Get rid of the fee and set up a gov fund for worthy programme making. The licence fee is a real make work scheme for paper pushers

Gannicus

I'd have:

1 or 2 radio stations

RTE 1 & TG4

1 Orchestra

Huge paycuts and reshuffling of the "stars".

ninja 12

grahambo wrote: »

The land they are on as well is ridiculous, some of the most valuable land in the country. They don't need to be there ,

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

The simple fact is that they need to start cutting their cloth.
Start downsizing the number of admin staff, start cutting salaries of presenters, scrap at least one of the orchestras.

Gannicus wrote: »

I'd have:

1 or 2 radio stations

RTE 1 & TG4

1 Orchestra

Huge paycuts and reshuffling of the "stars".

As above , Keep RTE1 and TG4 .
Keep a couple of radio stations .
Sell the site and relocate .

Slash any excess admin

Why do RTE need two orchestras ? Get rid of one .


The only Irish services I use are TG4 for the rugby and occasionally RTE Gold .

Even RTE Gold has gone downhill since it started .
It used to have minimal waffling by presenters , but now seems to be only broadcast to keep the likes of Larry Gogan etc. on the payroll .

Grayson

weldoninhio wrote: »

I'd start smaller. Do we really need two fecking orchestras!!!

I was chatting with my violin tutor and he thinks most countries have more. I don't mind the country subsidizing them, however they should definitely play more outside of Dublin. Most of the country never have a chance to see them.

As for the TV license, I was one of the dodgers. I bought one a few weeks ago because of all the annoying letters they sent me.

I don't own a radio and only use my TV for my chromecast and xbox. I don't use a single service that they provide.

dolallyoh

Close it down.

lawred2

RTE's arrogance, self regarding nature and it's general pervading air of self satisfaction is summed up in two words

Nicky Byrne

Six figure salary that lad was awarded sans any demand or competition whatsoever for his services

Beta Ray Bill

weldoninhio wrote: »

I'd start smaller. Do we really need two fecking orchestras!!!

Touché...

hmmm

I'm happy to pay a small fee for public service broadcasting, I think it's important we have an impartial news media - but I'm not happy paying RTE presenters half a million quid a year. I don't care if they go somewhere else, if I'm paying for "public service broadcasting" I don't want to be paying people who earn that much.

I think RTE needs to be radically downsized. Keep news, current affairs and some local broadcasting, but "light entertainment" and generic music channels should be private sector only. The license fee should be allocated to other broadcasters if they can provide the appropriate content. RTE should be closer to NPR in the U.S. and they should not be competing for advertisers.

lawred2

Being honest I think that the orchestras are far more worthy public services than 2FM or RTE2

minikin

Scrap the license fee and privatise RTÉ.
It’ll stand or fall on the value it creates.

We have the worst of all options at the moment... dipping their hands in our pockets to pay millionaires, mediocre programming, endless repeats and constant advertising.

Beta Ray Bill

hmmm wrote: »

I'm happy to pay a small fee for public service broadcasting, I think it's important we have an impartial news media - but I'm not happy paying RTE presenters half a million quid a year. I don't care if they go somewhere else, if I'm paying for "public service broadcasting" I don't want to be paying people who earn that much.

I think RTE needs to be radically downsized. Keep news, current affairs and some local broadcasting, but "light entertainment" and generic music channels should be private sector only. The license fee should be allocated to other broadcasters if they can provide the appropriate content. RTE should be closer to NPR in the U.S. and they should not be competing for advertisers.

I agree with everything you said. However, when it comes to international news RTE is not impartial. I feel it's very propaganda orientated. (But then again so is every other country)
I also think there might be someone pulling the strings on what is and what is not reported. IE there is an agenda.
RTE have also been caught in the past altering the sequence in which news clips are played relative to the timeline in which those clips were actually recorded. IE who threw the first punch

SEPT 23 1989

Sell off the rest of the Montrose holiday camp and move the inmates to a purpose built studio in an industrial estate in west dublin

fergiesfolly

At this moment, TG4 is showing Little House on the Prairie. Not dubbed. No subtitles. So, what's the point. Today's schedule is mostly foreign imports and repeats.
RTE television could be condensed into one channel, without any loss of domestic programming.
RTE should be channelling their energy into digital/online services, reducing their staffing levels and eliminating the excess fat( orchestra s, etc)

whisky_galore

lawred2 wrote: »

Being honest I think that the orchestras are far more worthy public services than 2FM or RTE2

Unless they start touring they are fcuk all use to anyone outside of Dublin.

whisky_galore

fergiesfolly wrote: »

At this moment, TG4 is showing Little House on the Prairie.

TG4... sometimes half decent documentaries, rest of the time Westerns, sh1t home produced 'comedy' and dramas that hardly anyone watches, cartoons etc.

foxy farmer

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/rte-to-pump-proceeds-of-montrose-sale-into-upgrades-452397.html

weldoninhio

lawred2 wrote: »

Being honest I think that the orchestras are far more worthy public services than 2FM or RTE2

Anyone in the country can listen to 2FM or watch RTE2 at any time. They also bring in advertising revenue. How many people can see the RTE orchestra's yearly if all of their events are sold out?, i'd guess its less than 5% the amount of people who'd watch a big Ireland rugby international or CL final on RTE 2.

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich

I didn't know we had 2 orchestras but I like the idea of having state orchestras, but maybe it should be paid for via the Dept of Arts Culture and Gaeltacht and not through licence money.
If you look at original programming shown on the two RTEs you'll see that one channel would be more than enough. I've never listened to 2FM but if the likes of Newstalk can operate independently then why do we need to throw so much money at a radio station?
If anyone wants to form an angry mob with pitchforks etc and march on Montrose, I'm down.

Varik

No poll option for just scrapping the licence and any public funding, and then letting do whatever they want.

ChikiChiki

Come back and look for the money Dee when you restructure your organisation.

Its not like its not your job or anything....

GavRedKing

RTE is the absolute pinnacle of nepotism in this country.

Some of the people on 6 figure salaries is an absolute joke.

Was it someone form RTE that said they have to pay these prices because they'll go elsewhere, where and who would pay someone like Ray D'arcy.

Its not just D'Arcy, RTE has a plethora of below average presenters hanging on to huge pay packets.

If they looked inwards (they wont) they coudl make huge savings, stop paying these people 500k a year and see if C4, BBC, ITV, Sky etc come in to give them equally large or more money across the pond, I'm willing to bet none of them would be picked up by "rival" broadcasters, they're all sub standard.

vicwatson

The more of our money they get the more of our money they will waste, simples.

lawred2

weldoninhio wrote: »

Anyone in the country can listen to 2FM or watch RTE2 at any time. They also bring in advertising revenue. How many people can see the RTE orchestra's yearly if all of their events are sold out?, i'd guess its less than 5% the amount of people who'd watch a big Ireland rugby international or CL final on RTE 2.

you don't think that RTE couldn't move them to RTE1?

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich

Have they given Lottie f**king Ryan a job yet by the way?

Eponymous

Typical RTE, pushing forward the Dee Forbes media agenda.

trixiebust

They should be looking to reduce the fee, not increase it. OP is right - valuable land, vastly overpaid stars, tired formats, a catch up service which is terrible.

I'd be happy to pay a basic €50 per year, & the rest on a pay per view basis or something.

CJhaughey

4166 people have to pay for their license just so Ryan Tubridy can have the salary he enjoys.
Thats a mind boggling figure for just one substandard presenter.

Beta Ray Bill

trixiebust wrote: »

They should be looking to reduce the fee, not increase it. OP is right - valuable land, vastly overpaid stars, tired formats, a catch up service which is terrible.

I'd be happy to pay a basic €50 per year, & the rest on a pay per view basis or something.

This is the way things are going and the big subscription TV stations such as Sky are terrified of it.

WWE has started the ball rolling on this one.
You used to have to pay SKY for Sky Sports to watch the WWE and then pay extra for PPV event such as Wrestlemania or the Royal Rumble.
Now you can go to the WWE directly and pay X amount a month and watch all the WWE you like including main events for a fraction of the cost over the Web.
IE SKY has been cut out of the picture.

Same applies for Netflix/Disney/Amazon prime web TV.
Subscription TV is dead, and the Broadcasters know this.
That's how far RTE are behind. It's not even funny.
They have absolutely nothing to offer anyone yet demand €160 off every household in the state.

Ulysses Gaze

grahambo wrote: »

This is the way things are going and the big subscription TV stations such as Sky are terrified of it.

WWE has started the ball rolling on this one.
You used to have to pay SKY for Sky Sports to watch the WWE and then pay extra for PPV event such as Wrestlemania or the Royal Rumble.
Now you can go to the WWE directly and pay X amount a month and watch all the WWE you like including main events for a fraction of the cost over the Web.
IE SKY has been cut out of the picture.

Same applies for Netflix/Disney/Amazon prime web TV.
Subscription TV is dead, and the Broadcasters know this.
That's how far RTE are behind. It's not even funny.
They have absolutely nothing to offer anyone yet demand €160 off every household in the state.

I am surprised that a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona has not migrated all their domestic games to their own TV channels/Networks and started charging fans for a season ticket. These are now global brands that could make a fortune directly if they did so.

That is the future of Sports as well I think.

Skylinehead

CJhaughey wrote: »

4166 people have to pay for their license just so Ryan Tubridy can have the salary he enjoys.
Thats a mind boggling figure for just one substandard presenter.

That's not even considering pensions, perks etc. I'd say it's considerably more than that!

Agricola

I wouldn't begrudge RTE the licence fee if they made an attempt to make decent prime time programming with some cultural/artistic/educational value which mightn't be the most commercially viable.... ala the BBC/BBC4.

Apart from news and current affairs, the RTE schedules are packed with so much commercial low brow dross it's unbelievable. They're not quite as bad as TV3/ITV but the only difference is they make a lot of their own, home produced crap. Case in point, this "Vogue does this" and "Vogue does that" phenomenon. Is this the kind of shíte we're paying for.

As for Tubridy, my chief pet peeve at RTE... Stealing a living. He'd work for a fifth of that salary because where in God's name would he go if they didn't renew his contract!

Beta Ray Bill

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I am surprised that a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona has not migrated all their domestic games to their own TV channels/Networks and started charging fans for a season ticket. These are now global brands that could make a fortune directly if they did so.

That is the future of Sports as well I think.

I agree. But it hasn't happened in soccer yet and probably wont for a long time.
It's because they need to carry the league
Spanish league is rubbish, 2.5 Teams carrying the rest (Real Madrid, Barcelona and maybe Athletico Madrid)
If they did the above as you said all the other teams would lose a huge amount of money unless they were playing one of those teams.
It's Biggest problem Soccer has at the moment - same teams winning all the time as they have huge investment.

It would need to be done by La Liga rather than the individual clubs.

I love the MotoGP Video pass. €150 for the season, (€7.90) a race. And I can customise my screen layout and watch which bikes I want (6 feeds).

When you look at what the WWE and MotoGP offer you realise the SKY are in big trouble should they ever lose the rights to the soccer.
It's only then you realise how far behind RTE are when compared with SKY and sport's leagues providing their own subscription services.
RTE in its current incarnation is well beyond End of Life, but it's being kept alive by the likes Dee Forbes and the state that are just terrified of what will happen if it were to ever change.

kneemos

2FM lost us nearly thirty million between 2009 and 2015.
Not sure what public service this station provides. Generic type pop music is at everyone's fingertips if they want it.https://www.boards.ie/

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich

fergiesfolly wrote: »

At this moment, TG4 is showing Little House on the Prairie. Not dubbed. No subtitles. So, what's the point. Today's schedule is mostly foreign imports and repeats.
RTE television could be condensed into one channel, without any loss of domestic programming.
RTE should be channelling their energy into digital/online services, reducing their staffing levels and eliminating the excess fat( orchestra s, etc)

They used to show Oz years ago at all hours, it's the only good thing T na G did. Why in the hell are we paying for a channel that no one watches?

Teyla Emmagan

We should have 2 TV stations and no more. One Irish, one English. And they should both show nothing but quality home produced content. Actual quality, no utter rubbish reality TV, no foreign sport, no imported shows that they have paid a fortune for and no endless chat shows. At the moment RTE seems to churn out nothing but expensive lotto shows and crap like 'up for the match'.

I would keep the orchestras though but they should be put on the road. If they could visit every small town in the country every could of years that would be amazing.

And obviously 2FM should be killed stone dead.

GMSA

Why do they have to do a televised version of live radio 1 shows when these shows are also available on the Saorview platform. RTE News Now shows Morning Ireland then repeats a section of it then shows Sean o Rourke . The Late Debate is shown too. Makes for bad viewing as its filmed through a fish eye lens.
Leaders questions in the Dail gets mighty coverage RTE 1 RYE News Now and Oireachtas Tv broadcasting the same sh1te simultaneously. Joe Duffy got similar treatment during the snow. His radio show was taking up 2 tv channels as well.

Hector Bellend

Are you sure it's only a drum she's banging

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I would like to see more money spend on producing decent drama, and less on copying reality programmes from the UK; particularly the celeb versions as we just don't have that many real celebs here so they just end up looking like a poor relation of the original.

I also think the salaries that some presenters get are ridiculous. Some of them are good at what they do, but a lot of them aren't and are getting a ridiculous amount of taxpayer's money for doing something not very well.

EdgeCase

The salaries seem way too high and I don't think they should be justifying paying them based on notions of celebrity. If people want to go work for TV3 on a commercial basis and TV3 are willing to pay those kinds of fees, or if they're going to go off to the UK, let them go. There's plenty of new and interesting talent that the public service broadcaster SHOULD be nurturing anyway.

This is a very small market of 4.7 million people, not the UK with 67+ million people.

DaveyDave

Instead of looking for bigger handouts from us and also wanting to collect from revenue etc how about slashing their MASSIVE salaries? It's absolutely ridiculous that someone like Tubbs is on that money, he's a ****e presenter on Irish TV that nobody else in the world knows.

Also, the gender equality crap Sharon what's her name was on about, Brian Dobson was paid more because he was doing it much, much longer than she was and he was much better at it. I never watch the news but when I did she stuttered or got her lines wrong. Slightly off topic, but feck off with your gender nonsense, she simply wasn't as good so doesn't deserve the same pay.

They're all an overpaid shower who need a reality check. Cut salaries and let staff go like every other company short on money.

And not forgetting the cost increases RTE is pressuring the likes of Sky with for the luxury of having their channel, anyone know if this went ahead? Should be dropped to be honest.

topper75

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I am surprised that a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona has not migrated all their domestic games to their own TV channels/Networks and started charging fans for a season ticket. These are now global brands that could make a fortune directly if they did so.

That is the future of Sports as well I think.

Because opposition clubs would hold RM/Barça to ransom for their share of the rights to a game.

Better to negotiate as a complete league with a third party and divide it according to 'weight'.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

jippo nolan

CJhaughey wrote: »

4166 people have to pay for their license just so Ryan Tubridy can have the salary he enjoys.
Thats a mind boggling figure for just one substandard presenter.

Maybe cut out the middle man “an post” and deliver the €160 to Tubs new pad in monkstown!

CJhaughey

jippo nolan wrote: »

Maybe cut out the middle man “an post” and deliver the €160 to Tubs new pad in monkstown!

I am sure lots would deliver something to Mr Tubridy but I am also quite sure that he may not have much use for what he would receive...

Testament1

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich wrote: »

They used to show Oz years ago at all hours, it's the only good thing T na G did. Why in the hell are we paying for a channel that no one watches?

An Klondike was a great original TG4 mini series. Story of 2 Irish brothers trying to find their fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800s and the perils of a lawless frontier town. Filmed in Galway and featuring a mix of Irish and English language. More of that kinda work would absolutely justify their budget.

As for RTE, I recently had the misfortune of using the RTE player app to try watch a live Champions League game. The single worst media experience I've ever encountered. Pixelated hell and constant dropouts which could only be resolved by exiting the stream and trying again only for the same thing to happen a couple minutes later, all this on an 80mbps connection. Funnily enough the ads played in crystal clear uninterrupted high definition though.....

quintana76

CJhaughey wrote: »

I am sure lots would deliver something to Mr Tubridy but I am also quite sure that he may not have much use for what he would receive...

....especially if it was in a bucket and emptied all over his head.

JohnMc1

grahambo wrote: »

WWE has started the ball rolling on this one.
You used to have to pay SKY for Sky Sports to watch the WWE and then pay extra for PPV event such as Wrestlemania or the Royal Rumble.
Now you can go to the WWE directly and pay X amount a month and watch all the WWE you like including main events for a fraction of the cost over the Web.
IE SKY has been cut out of the picture.

Vince started the WWE Network to get rid of the Cable companies taking their share of the PPV income. Why pay $60+ for a PPV when you can watch it for free as part of the WWE Network service that only costs $9.99 a month? It starting the death knell of normal Cable packages was an added bonus. Now the major sports leagues have their own streaming services [aka.MLB,NFL,NBA,NHL,etc] where for a flat yearly fee you can watch all the games you want.