What would we lose if RTÉ was abolished

ednwireland

i thought "hands" was brilliant , I always wonder how many of the craftsmen or businesses are still going.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122752410#Comment_122752410

I agree, I thought hands was a great show, I am not old enough to remember it, but the work that went into restoring the series in the 2000s is to be commended and the show itself filming these older dying trades, an important piece of work, no doubt.

And a show that could easily be repeated over The Summer Show on RTÉ2.

But should I be commending a show from the 1970s that was restored in the 2000s? That's a 50 year period, what else from RTÉ in the 1970s, I can name raft of thousands of US and UK programmes from then, for RTÉ I get "The Riordans" a show I have never seen.

I grew up in 2 TV land, I support RTÉ to the Nth, but clearly it could have done far more with the resources it had, particularly in the last 15 years.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122750027#Comment_122750027

RTE player is full of adverts, even attempting to watch the decent programs that seem to be a few years in the past involves downloading a load of advertising garbage that I dont want and cant get rid of.

RTE player is my only interface with RTE now since they removed text services.

It's a menu system only, as I can always find a source of programs that are not wrecked with the endless adverts RTE use to rub their punters noses in after charging them an exorbitant license fee to watch mainly English rubbish.

If I could legally keep my TV and simply remove the pretty useless TV aerial, I would gladly do that and save the money I object to paying for the license.

Sadly the fact that you don't watch the garbage means that you are not exempt from payment.

I legally stopped paying a UK license when the aerial blew down some years back in the UK. There was no problem, just a few letters telling me what the dire consequences of being caught viewing without a license were.

BBC were streets ahead of RTE, basically because if something of interest did occasionally come on, the adverts didn't distract from the subject matter every few minutes.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122748419#Comment_122748419

But RTÉ invested heavily in its own "talent" 🤑

Rooks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122752933#Comment_122752933

Exactly. Ryan Tubridy was hot property apparently. Strange how British and American TV programmes are ignoring his obvious high level talents.

thereiver

You look on rte ie player there's loads of programs drama politics comedy documentary

I mainly watch USA comedys or films or listen to podcasts I don't like sport or crime tv shows

Those programs I mentioned are the ones I remember I think tg4 make some good programs but I don't speak Irish I don't watch current affairs or news programs but I think if rte went we,d end up with another tv3 showing mostly UK or USA programs and low budget news or chat shows

I watch alot of documentaries

Rte has radio stations too

Bbc have massive budgets compared with rte to

Make comedy dramas documentary,s news programs

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122755522#Comment_122755522

From Ireland? or international programmes, if international then any broadcast / on demand service can provide them we don't need RTÉ for Imported programming any more.

You've not named any programmes but genres.

Yes you are right not to massively compare BBC to RTÉ, but with so much waste at RTÉ you imagine that RTÉ believe they are working at the BBC.

What comedies do RTÉ make?

thereiver

Using the rte player. It shows a 3 minute ad before you can watch a program. I don't think theres much waste at rte unless you can define tg4 programs as waste since most people don't watch tv programs in the Irish language you can still watch rte dramas or comedys made 10 years ago

Yes rte shows a lot of UK and USA made programs

Yes I understand if you have broadband you may not bother watching rte unless you like news or sport

Rooks

"I don't think theres much waste at rte"

They are a TV station that can't survive despite having TV licence income AND commercial breaks.

blackbox

They do a good job of covering the elections on TV.

I read the Irish news headlines on their website.

I watched Love/Hate which was an excellent drama series several years ago.

I use almost nothing from it else despite paying the licence fee.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122773914#Comment_122773914

How much do RTÉ spend on Imported programming each year?

RTÉ have little to do with TG4, TG4 is a separate entity with a different board and different managers, it is based in Galway, has its own studios.

So I might loss news and sport that I can read across numerous online publications.

icdg

RTE still supplies TG4 with an average of one hour of free programming each day including its news service. (This is 365 hours a year, which TG4 do not have to pay for and is not necessarily exactly one hour per each individual day).

TG4 do want out of this arrangement, at least in so far as it pertains to Nuacht TG4, because they have fallen out with RTE over it, for reasons. They won’t go ahead and actually do it though, for the moment, because they won’t find anyone else to give them news for a price better than “free”. So they are currently looking for additional government funding to allow them to pay someone else to provide their news to them while not having to make cuts elsewhere to fund it.

Moreover TG4 was originally a wholly owned subsidiary of RTE, and remained so until 2007 when it was separated from it.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122755522#Comment_122755522

If RTE disappeared, there'd be an increase in advertising spend on the remaining channels, giving them a chance to produce their own shows to attract new audiences.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122773914#Comment_122773914

you can still watch rte dramas or comedys made 10 years ago

Yes, just look at their broadcast schedules

jayo44

Iver covid times was the only time I'd say I watched RTE in the last 20 year it simply has nothing of quality to offer.

A friend of mine that moved over from the UK made an observation a while back that he couldn't believe how little Irish people watch Irish made tv he said each house he visit or happened to be in was just like tv back home, same channels being viewed and same content.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122774170#Comment_122774170

No sadly this would not happen.

It might help Radio in radio as Irish Radio doesn't have commercial competition from UK radio stations, meaning if RTÉ Radio dropped advertising much of it would go to national radio, then to regional (all baure stations) and then down to local radio.

TV on the other had 50% of people watch UK TV, of which 45% is commercial, of which currently 50% is sell advertising, if RTÉ were to drop advertising Virgin Media TV might see an initial increase, but as Channel 4, UKTV, Viacom and Sky were to ad more opt-outs Virgin Media TV would be left pretty much in the same place as they are now.

Of course much of this will be come a moot point as time goes on and we go more online.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122774156#Comment_122774156

This is true and I did say that previously, RTÉ value this support at €7m per year to TG4. €360k is provide in this to TG4 for Drama, I am trying to find out the Drama that RTÉ produce for TG4… but I am coming to a blank.

I will repeat this here as I have said it often, TG4 and RnaG should be merged and funding provided by the Exchequer, bump exchequer funding to the new group to about 64m but this would include RnaG, TG4 move to be independent in terms of news and as for more money with out any extra programming would not be a good move.

Over all though the question was asked what would we lose if RTÉ was abolished, TG4 has its own budget and has had its own budget provided by the exchequer since 1996. Between 2011 and 2018 funding was cut and the gap was filled by the license fee, which was overlooked by many, I am still questioning how it was allowed how RTÉ, TG4 and the BAI didn't question this move of funding from RTÉ to TG4.

Caquas

RTÉ has been a hot topic in Leinster House for the past two years but I doubt if, during the forthcoming election campaign, any party or candidate will bring forward a proposal to reform RTÉ. There has been endless (justified) criticism about waste and feather-bedding but no politician dared say what practically everyone here believes - that RTÉ produces little or nothing of value except for News and Sports.

The Government parties seem to have no fresh ideas about what a national broadcaster should do. Did they approve Bakhurst's Strategy and, if so, why do they think RTÉ can deliver on this strategy after decades of failing to deliver on similar plans? Instead of strategic thinking, the Government spent months arguing about a system of funding a bloated and dysfunctional organisation. The Greens (Catherine Martin) wanted the taxpayer to fund the whole circus and FF/FG know the bolshie citizens would storm the Bastille if the licence fee was increased. So RTÉ will get a guaranteed €725 million over the next three year - the taxpayer will have to top up whatever the licence fee brings in. Once again, failure has its rewards.

Is there anyone in the Opposition with radical ideas for RTÉ? When faced with dysfunctional public service bodies, our self-styled radicals have but one response - more resources! Don't expect to hear a peep out of Labour, the SDs, PBP etc. about RTÉ during the election because they know that their unspoken aim - prop up RTÉ at all costs - is a vote loser.

SF are in a quandary - they hate RTÉ News but they are socialists now so they can't oppose any public spending. SF and many of the Independents wish RTÉ was "more Irish" but I don't think voters would buy that. How much coverage would the national broadcaster give to any Independent who had the temerity to call for its abolition 🤨

thereiver

Rte news is fairly neutral on all party's in the last few months Sf have been involved in a few screwups eg giving references to a person rumoured to be of sending messages to children. Of course rte has to report the decline of sf in the polls

I think rte makes some good popular programs fair city dancing with the stars great house revival that people like to watch .rte 1 is a good radio station for news arts and political coverage .

Rte is not a failure it has a varied program and radio station schedule of course if you have 100

Tv channels and streaming apps you might not bother watching rte unless it's a sports program

I.m not sure if we still need tg4 conside most people do not speak Irish it does show some UK and USA programs in English

I think rte is doing ok considering it's budget is quite small if you compare it with itv or channel 4

RoTelly

@thereiver

Rte news is fairly neutral on all party's in the last few months Sf have been involved in a few screwups eg giving references to a person rumoured to be of sending messages to children. Of course rte has to report the decline of sf in the polls

Again RTÉ produce news, Virgin Media News has been just as neural I would say in relation to the SF scandals over the last few months, both are required to be non-bias in relation to these things, many might say that RTÉ are bias to the right, while others might say they are bias to the left. TBH they can't win.

I think rte makes some good popular programs fair city dancing with the stars great house revival that people like to watch .rte 1 is a good radio station for news arts and political coverage .

Popular does not mean good. Fair City is not good, no offense to Fair City fans. I understand where it sits in terms of the need for a show to provided some experience for Actors and for Writers, but largely its badly acted and badly written, and yes I can turn around and say "well it is a soap". Ros Na Run is generally better in terms of both.

DWTS is a copy of a BBC show. Great House revival is grand but how many property programmes are there on RTÉ. Though in general this can be a problem with all TV.

RTÉ Radio 1's Arena is good for Arts and again …. RTÉ do news.

Rte is not a failure it has a varied program and radio station schedule of course if you have 100 Tv channels and streaming apps you might not bother watching rte unless it's a sports program

I agree there is far more choice now, but as I pointed out even back in the day, people were pointing aerials up north and west to get UK TV. RTÉ is local of course we are going to watch the programming that it provides after all it has little to no local competition. And that failure of competition and regulation cannot be whole placed on RTÉ. I am not a fan of sport so I don't watch sport on RTÉ or any channel but again… RTÉ, TG4 and VMTV all provide sport this is not unusual and neither sport nor news should be real be considered when assessing RTÉ because at the end of the day this is something they should do. Though they seem to take a break for no reason in August, no news on RTÉ2, TV news doesn't start until 1pm each day.

I.m not sure if we still need tg4 conside most people do not speak Irish it does show some UK and USA programs in English

You have a huge issue against TG4 because of the Irish language, the channel provide a broad set of programmes from the US (though some of those choice are strange of the last decade or so), but if you think RTÉ is good on art surely TG4 is good on culture regardless of your view of the Irish language. They even got an Oscar nomination for one of their commissioned films last year. The Quiet Girl, you should take a look, I haven't but I believe it is a very strong film, even a contender for an Oscar … while last year RTÉ paid for a failed musical.

Indeed if you feel so strongly about TG4 why do we still need RTÉ RnaG when "most people do not speak Irish"?

I think rte is doing ok considering it's budget is quite small if you compare it with itv or channel 4

Did anyone compare it to either ITV or Channel 4? It's budget isn't that small for the size of the market we have, they just think they are working for ITV or Channel 4.

RTÉ is bloated and could be doing far more with the money that it gets. It spends €25m each year on imported programming, they should cut that to €12m, they have rarely if ever cut that part of their funding.

Why not give the funding to new Public Service Broadcaster.

Rooks

I would gladly shut down rte for their clear and brazen waste of public funds. But I would gladly see TG4 kept open with said funds, as it has consistently good quality programming and actually meets it's purpose of promoting the Irish language, unlike RTE who solely exist to line the pockets of the well connected.

thereiver

I think most of the programs on tv3 itv are awful mediocre soap operas endless crime dramas that could be written by Ai with rugby sport soccer eg the sport that nots shown on sky sport popular does not equal good or high quality I don't know if tg4 makes good programs as I cannot watch Irish language tv it has some good programs and films made in America I think fair city has a pretty blem in that most of the actors have been on it for 30 years at least

The question is do we need a public service tv channel funded by a licence fee when there's so many tv available free or people can opt to pay for cable tv or sky streaming service

bbc at least has the budget to make good dramas comedy and documentary s and radio programs

RoTelly

@thereiver

I think most of the programs on tv3 itv are awful mediocre soap operas endless crime dramas that could be written by Ai

It really depends on what you are looking at like with anything. The Soap (including Fair City and Ros Na Run) have all largely fallen in terms of any quality that they may have once had. But ITV dramas are hit and miss, their big one this year being Mr Bates and The Post Office.

I don't know if tg4 makes good programs as I cannot watch Irish language tv it has some good programs and films made in America

I have issues with TG4's overuse of Country music shows, but outside of this they make decent programming (all with English subtitling) and certainly they live up to most of what RTÉ and TV3 produce, and they always have TBH. Their choice of US programming and film has largely been good, though over repeats of The Golden Girls and The Wonder Years, time they moved on to Friends and Malcolm in the Middle IMO.

The question is do we need a public service tv channel funded by a licence fee when there's so many tv available free or people can opt to pay for cable tv or sky streaming service

IMO we do need a public service broadcaster funded by the license fee, but that isn't RTÉ, RTÉ have failed as a public service broadcaster IMO.

bbc at least has the budget to make good dramas comedy and documentary s and radio programs

I think RTÉ has no will to make drama or comedy, I will give them docs but even then few and far between. I amn't a massive Radio person but I think Radio 1 does stand up, their prime time Radio might be a bit blah alright.

thereiver

They spend millions buying UK and American programs because that's what people want to watch not everyone has cable tv or sky tv they have to appeal to rural viewer top

Rte,s budget is a tiny fraction of the government s income in the economist there's an article the Irish problem the government has more money than it knows what to do with a budget surplus

Rte has always shown us and UK comedy dramas the last good Irish comedy I can remember is batchelors walk I don't think rte can make a good comedy making dramas is very expensive

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122789397#Comment_122789397

25m gives them about 11000 hours of content from UK, America and Australia. That's 30 hours a day but RTÉ ONE manages 25% of repeats in prime time and RTÉ2 manages 50%.

As linear TV goes this spend becomes as archaic as suggesting that not everyone has cable or sky TV, as rural dwellers also have access to Soarview which carries their competition TG4 and TV3, both of whom could take some of the 11000 hours of TV if available to them rather then moped up by RTÉ, I don't know of any UK TV channel buying Dr Phil, Kelly Clarkson or Drew Barrymore (I question any reason for RTÉ to buy in American Daytime Chat show, this is a relatively new development, only start in the late 1990s).

This is along with the fact that all UK TV station are available for free via satellite, or if with an aerial point north or east in certain areas.

So because the government doesn't know what to do with its money it should give it to RTÉ, why not reorganize the national broadcaster, for example in 2022 the government move the NSO from RTÉ to the NCH, why not do the same with the National Concert Orchestra? or move RTÉ RnaG over to TG4? Would that be some improvement to the finances that RTÉ seem unable to cope with?

The last good comedy from Ireland you remember is from nearly a quarter of a century ago, here's to another quarter of a century!

If RTÉ cannot make good comedy then its time to allow some one else try.

thereiver

Rte makes dramas documentarys alot of sports event coverage and programs about history culture comedy is the hardest type of program to make it has 1000s of programs free on iPlayer

Tv3 only make programs that make a profit or get high ratings or else cheap programs breakfast tv

Theres no way tv3 could replace the programs that rte makes

Its true y using a dish or aerial you can get a lot of free UK channels on freesat or saorview

Most of the Top 10 programs are live sports soccer rugby

Rooks

Rte makes money for the well connected and nothing else.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122796771#Comment_122796771

What dramas do RTÉ make?

Yes RTÉ carry a lot of sporting events as do TV3/Virgin Media TV as does TG4 for that matter. They all do, to varying degrees, yes VMTV have said they will only buy prepackaged sports that don't involve them requiring OTBs and Crews, but outside of GAA and horse racing RTÉ has very little of this, while much of TG4's sports coverage is GAA with some Rugby.

A new public service broadcaster could provide the same type of coverage as RTÉ.

This is true of TV3, I don't think I could defend TV3/VMTV nor have I ever, but all of those cheep shows run through out the year 50 weeks a year, while the same type of programming either doesn't exist on RTÉ or it only runs for a 30 week year e.g. The Today Show with Maura and Dathi.

I am not suggesting that TV3/VMTV could, but they could broadcast EastEnders, Home and Away, Neighbours, Drew Barrymore, Dr Phil and plent off other cheap programming RTÉ air.

TV3/VMTV's coverage of the Six Nations is part of those top 10 programmes.

RoTelly

Mod - poster warned

I was going to hold off on this post for a few weeks, over the last 2 or so weeks I have been posting threads on boards about new RTÉ programming.

Now there are plenty that will point to the fact that Boards is largely dead as bulletin board / social media site, for various reason, but even still the lack of interaction on these new or returning series is telling.

So for those of you who defend RTÉ here, where are you when it comes to programming on any Irish TV channel, here are latest replied to TV forum threads on the morning of the 14th of November 2024, I imagine that outside of the few long threads for TLLS, the Tonight show and Fair City's thread in Soaps nothing else gets past here in the General TV forum.

I mark the one slightly relevant Irish Telly thread but the rest are largely UK and US shows.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058379668/rte-wastage-of-taxpayer-money

Then there is this thread that got little interaction but is very pertinent to RTÉ's wastage of money, I'd like anyone to defend them sending 12 or so reporters to the states, and flying people into RTÉ in Dublin to talk about this election. It was a piss poor production.

@NIMAN last post on that thread was a reply to a dismissive posts (sorry NIMAN hope you don't mind me bring you into my post)

Why don’t you apply to work there?

while another poster offered this word of advice

Yawn.

I assume that both posters working in RTÉ and are very annoyed at the idea anyone complain about the great RTÉ.

Anyway I am sure the mods will be happy to know I can't be putting up shite posts to prove a point. Even those that are defending RTÉ will not miss

dulpit

The television forum is not a very busy forum though, outside of the busy specific shows (e.g. LLS), so that doesn't prove anything.

According to TAM Ireland (not sure how accurate this is) RTÉ1 has a share of ~20%, RTÉ2 has ~5%. In 2023 42 of the top 50 shows watched in Ireland were broadcast on RTÉ (to be fair a lot of this was sport, but still).

And the key thing isn't so much the most watched. It's the smaller programmes that people still watch, but that wouldn't be competitive in a more commercial world.

And even this week with the election ongoing - Virgin have cut back on the tonight show and won't be doing leadership debates (apparently because they can't afford it), wherea RTÉ are ramping up their coverage.