What would we lose if RTÉ was abolished

pixelburp

Simple question: when has a privatisation of a public body ever improved costs or quality of service? Genuine question as I'm drawing a blank, while can think of plenty of horror shows around things like health or trains (in the UK, so bad they're gonna re-nationalise IIRC); cos as much as we carp about RTÉ, it not like the actual private TV entities in Ireland have proved to be any better given the chance - if anything they're arguably worse, Virgin shovelling out British ITV "reality" trash that is a large reason why we don't even have a TV package. Why pay money to get the same shít twice over, the material not even homegrown? Already paying through the nose for streaming services.

Reform first before outright privatisation.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121900960#Comment_121900960

Privatise RTÉ? If only we could we find some eejit to take it on! 🤣

Seriously, I don't think it's a solution, especially as we're not going to hand over a stream of licence fees to a private investor.

As I said before, I think it would be possible, with the right leadership, to reform RTÉ's news/current affairs/sports departments. Their output is generally competent but e.g. RTÉ was caught napping on the referendums and I can't recall the last Prime Time Investigates which broke a story with real impact.

In contrast, and this is the reason I started the thread, I can't think of any achievement by RTÉ in the cultural sphere, certainly nothing that made an international impact. Practically everyone of this thread agrees that whole area of RTÉ could vanish and no one would notice. The vast sums which RTÉ spends in that area should go directly to those producing original and creative work.

More generally and looking globally, I think it's fair to say that nationalisation of commercial enterprises have often been catastrophic for national economies while privatisation did not solve the problems in many cases. Certainly in Europe, nationalised industries were by-words for shoddy service, bad products and inefficiencies. Which ones do you think were successful, apart from the natural monopolies (which broadcasting is not)?

Most European public broadcasters are of a similar standard to RTÉ i.e. competent news/current affairs/sports but rarely if ever producing anything of cultural merit. Denmark may be an exception (Borgen, The Bridge).

z80CPU

If RTÉ were abolished, absolutely NOTHING MEMORABLE would be lost in terms of current affairs, tv series like Fair City, and childrens rte junior. What I mean to say is, Post Pandemic, what MEMORABLE RTE tv or radio production do I recall? None whatsoever.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121908330#Comment_121908330

You cannot say nothing would be lost with current affairs. Look at the news output of virgin compared to rte. Try watching the news over Christmas, they basically stop. Wait until we have elections coming up. RTE will be covering everywhere, there'll be a significant difference in quality and quantity when compared to virgin.

thereiver

Rte cover many sports events gaa rugby plus excellent current affairs also rte 1 radio covers arts culture like no other Irish radio station a commercial tv station can only make programs based on ratings and advertising revenue

Rte also make original Irish tv drama and programs like dancing on ice first dates. If rte shut down 1000s of people would be unemployed

Look at tv3 it's mostly programs from the itv network and a few low budget news programs rte is vital to our democracy it makes high quality current affairs and news programs

I don't watch sports on tv but I'm sure it's sports programs gets a large audience

Just cos you don't like fair city does not mean rte should be closed down

I know a lot of young people probably just watch Netflix or programs on itv bbc and other cable channels

BailMeOut

RTE needs to be scaled back to 100% public service and that's it. No dancing competitions and certainly no soaps (Eastenders has absolutely no place on an Irish public broadcaster). RTE should simply be news, weather current affairs, the arts, and education and everything else can be shown on the private channels. Then move the entire facility outside the M50 or ideally to a different city in Ireland and ban the term 'star' or 'celebrity' when referring to anyone working there. Lastly, ban all nepotism for any new hires or external contractors.

kazamo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121900960#Comment_121900960

Imo privatisation is never done with the aim to reduce costs or improve service.

It is usually done as a way to avoid further investment by the state, Telecom Éireann is a classic example.

The private sector pays for a state asset and in order to make it worthwhile, staff numbers are cut and non profitable areas are culled. If the remit is to improve service and reduce costs, it should remain in state hands rather than expect a sale price on top of improvements.

The key to RTE privatisation would be the licence fee. If the licence goes, then so does half of RTE. Reforming a soon to be private company would seem like a wasted effort to me.

dulpit

Here's a thing we'd lose if RTE was abolished. Leo Varadkar has announced he's standing down as Taoiseach. RTÉ covered it live on RTÉ 1. Virgin Media 1 will cover it on their scheduled news at 12:30, because they are showing This Morning...

CrabRevolution

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121916821#Comment_121916821

That's a case of "damned by faint praise" if ever I've seen it.....

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121924194#Comment_121924194

What? Expecting proper current affairs coverage of a major news story is a given surely? Virgin can't or won't do that, RTÉ do it brilliantly.

icdg

Indeed VM waited for the next scheduled news bulletin to report the story rather than break into scheduled ITV network programming.

They don’t do coverage of elections or referendums other than on their scheduled programming. For a period in the early 2010s they didn’t do news at the weekend at all.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121925112#Comment_121925112

But the thread is not about abolishing the licence fee. I think if you gave any TV station €160 Million a year, they would interrupt their programming to cover your big announcement.😎

Tony EH

What would we lose if RTÉ was abolished

Well, not a lot really, it has to be said. But it does have a very good news outlet with the 'RTE News' that delivers current affairs reports in a fairly straight manner, although I miss the likes of 'Today Tonight' or 'Questions and Answers'. Any of the replacements for those programmes just haven't matched the quality of the older shows.

But aside from that, I can't think off hand that we'd lose much of anything. Programming outside of the news and current affairs sector is usually extremely poor. In fact, I can only think of a few dramas that I would recommend to anyone, 'Strumpet City', 'Family' and 'Love/Hate', and two of them were made donkey's years ago. Something like 'Reeling in the Years' is excellent too.

As for light entertainment and chat, RTE's been wretched for years in that regard. 'The Late Late Show' has been abysmal for a long time, and things like 'Today' are worse than sticking nails in your eyes.

Sport coverage ain't that great either and it's not been that good since the days of Dunphy, Giles and the lads knocking around.

So, really, if it went in the morning, the only thing I'd actually miss would be the news.

drury..

Not a lot.

I've a total abhorrence of anything rte

Bobson Dugnutt

Archives, orchestras, local correspondents, prime time investigatives, kids programming, John Creedon, independent producers, GAA.

Public service broadcasting has never been more vital.

magicbastarder

i look on RTE in a similar way to how i'd view the seanad; we had that referendum on whether to abolish it or not, where i suspect most people wanted to keep it but reform it.

there's far too much stuff on RTE that's commercially driven; take their standard gardening show for example, super garden i think it's called. no-one i know who's into gardening has the slightest bit of interest in watching it, it's just an extended ad for woodies. there's too much dross like that on.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978120#Comment_121978120

Damning with faint praise 😏

We are not talking about abolishing the licence fee. That could fund broadcasting in many other ways if RTÉ were abolished. An opportunity for independent producers. The GAA would love to get some of that licence fee to broadcast their games.

(You know they ditched the Symphony Orchestra and the choirs?)

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/rte-s-cost-savings-update-won-t-be-music-to-everybody-s-ears-1.4782678

thereiver

They have good coverage of sport, news, current affairs ,kids programming, tg4 and they commission alot of irish drama .

A private company only makes programs that get good ratings, or else low budget programs ,eg talk shows that can attract advertisers .

i think it would be a shame if rte closed down, i would not miss tg4 as most of the programs are in the irish language.

look at virgin media it mostly shows programs that are on itv, or else american drama, comedy tv shows.

it has a small amount of irish made tv shows made in one studio

Caquas

TG4 is a totally separate organisation. It provides a vital public service at a fraction of the cost of RTÉ. (Obviously, if you don't care about the Irish language, it's all just money down the drain)

RTÉ doesn't make kid's programmes anymore. It commissions them from independent producers who would make these programmes even if their funding wasn't channeled through RTE. (This thread is not about abolishing the licence fee. By the same token, there would be no shortage of producers who would provide news, current affairs and sports programming in return for a suitable chunk of the licence fee)

Everyone has a soft spot for their favourite kids programme growing up but what current Irish kids programme has real cultural impact? Kids programmes are among the most profitable British TV programmes ever made - Tellytubbies, Postman Pat, Peppa Pig. If RTE had just one international success on that scale, the merchandising alone would finance the whole station but I don't think they ever made real money abroad on any kids programme.

A private company only makes programs that get good ratings, or else low budget programs ,eg talk shows that can attract advertisers .

A good description of what RTÉ tries, but fails, to be. DWTS!

thereiver

Rte provides employment for alot of actors presenters and it commissions programs from independent tv production company's and of course it covers sport and broadcasts current affairs and news programs .

thereiver

The seanad is a talking shop for old politicians that seems to have no purpose .imagine a tv station that made programs that were never broadcast .But there seems to be no way to close it down .

At least some people watch rte programs

even if the ratings are small apart from programs like googlebox Ireland or first dates

BurnUp78

Only thing I watch is first dates

kowloonkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121902407#Comment_121902407

You clearly don't understand the remit of a national public broadcaster, but it is not to give artists a stepping stone to Hollywood.

They are supposed to be a public service that without bias, documents the news of the day and broadcasts significant events. It is not really their job to be creative. They might give some creative people a platform, but the product of that is not necessarily their child.

I would say that RTE has failed in its primary duty to give an unbalanced view of Ireland today. They have become a propaganda tool for liberals and don't reflect the opinions majority of people in the country. For that reason, and no other, as an organisation it is no longer fit for purpose.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044982#Comment_122044982

Read my posts. This is not just about Hollywood. We have many artists of international stature in various fields but none - none😂! - owe anything to RTÉ which has long claimed to be at the heart of creativity and the arts in Ireland.The few who passed through Montrose couldn’t leave fast enough and RTÉ was glad to see them go.

If you are right, RTÉ doesn’t understand its own remit. It puts “ foster and support creative ambition” as one of its guiding principles.

https://about.rte.ie/inside-rte-2/raiteas-seirbhise-poibli/

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044863#Comment_122044863

Up to recently I would have agreed with you but now the Seanad is the only democratic forum which reflects the diversity of views in Irish society. The referendums proved that. I would hate to think what broadcasting would be like if the politicians in the Dáil had their way.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044982#Comment_122044982

Explain how it's a propaganda tool. Do you have a specific example of this?

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045457#Comment_122045457

It's voted on by the city/county councillors and the members of the oireachtas, with the exception of 6 who are voted on by trinity and nui graduates and the 11 nominated by the taoiseach. On that basis, it overly represents the view of the government, not the public as a whole.

Just because Michael McDowell was on the winning side of the referendum doesn't make it a decent chamber.

I say this as someone who thinks the Seanad is vital but needs to be entirely reformed as to how people are elected to it.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044850#Comment_122044850

could’t all that be done more efficiently and effectively if RTÉ was abolished and the licence fee was distributed to independent production companies? Including by companies providing news, sports and current affairs programmes.

Norrie Rugger Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121889613#Comment_121889613

I rarely watch it but every time I do I thank feck we have it Vs Virgin media.

In radio you lose RTÉ Radio one and compared to Newstalk that would be a massive loss. Newstalk is as tabloid as they come and designed to ferment disquiet all for those sweet 50c (or whatever) texts.

Every private option, in this country, is far far worse than RTÉ.

thereiver

The problem is a private company would have little interest in covering news ,sport ,arts and culture in the range and quality that rte does .Private companys make programs that get ratings that can attract advertisers or make drama programs that can be sold to the uk or other countrys . I watch rte but its mainly programs like the great house revival ,first dates , googlebox ireland i have no interest in watching sports or soap opera,s or crime drama,s .

Virgin media is basically itv with a few low budget irish news programs made in one studio.

i cant think of a program i,d watch on virgin media that is not also shown on itv .sometimes theres a good american film or comedy thats on tg4