Ah, poor RTE is playing we have no money.....

An outrageous abuse of their platform to push such a transparent propaganda video..

That would be enough for me for the government to be seeking that dismissal of that whinging Dee Forbes.

One thing I always wondered is with RTE reporters/correspondents on RTE News is what are they doing all the rest of the time? Like the religious/education correspondent is on maybe once a month talking for a minute or two. Is that their full time job?

RTE on the offensive re state money and the lack of it . There must be a budget or something happening soon !

Yeah my great grandad had 'no money' either from his cartwheel and horseshoe business back in the day.

But rather than whinging to the govt he accepted that motor cars were now a thing. He set about learning something new and adapting.

RTÉ are not stupid people. They do know that scheduled TV is now history and that tech has rendered them utterly redundant for 2020 and beyond.

People are really tired of their stance and how it is being run. I often say - we never get referendums on what really matters.

zeebre12 wrote: »

What kind of staff get free taxis? Has this always been the way?

I know a person who lives in north Dublin close to a dart station that gets taxis paid for when working late, and late is when the dart is still running. This person works behind the scenes, not on tv or radio. Now they do get the train during what you might call regular hours but the taxi option does get used a lot.

punisher5112 wrote: »

Prime time doing an investigation into how rte themselves have no money....

They have 3 people watching clips and are asked should we be forced to pay...... Guess the answer yes yes we should be forced....

RTE are a shocking set up and squander a fortune....

I still can't wrap my head around how RTE gets both Advertising money and License Fee's from the public AND funding from the government and it's STILL almost broke? Banana Republic stuff.

Sleepy wrote: »

According to a quick google, RTE had 1,856 employees (as of 31 December 2013) when compared to Channel 4's 727 (2010). That's more than double the employees for a media network that doesn't come close to Channel 4's in terms of quality.

Not comparable. Channel 4 does not make any content. They buy it all in. RTE still makes a lot of content.

lawred2 wrote: »

when you say they buy it all in? Do you men that they use production companies?

Yes.
RTE commission independent production companies too but they also produce a lot of content themselves. This requires a lot more staff.

Anton Shapely Pocketknife wrote: »

Do we really need RTE producing domestic versions of The Voice or Dancing with the Stars? How do these shows serve the Irish taxpayer who is paying to produce them?

RTÉ should be limited to creating public-interest programmes that commercial channels would not produce. They should be able to do that with one TV station and one radio station. No need for "star" presenters, a staff of around 2,000 people, plus 500 more self-employed contractors, all whinging that they aren't being handed enough of people's hard-earned money.

outside of current affairs, news and covering sport I can't see why there is any need for RTE to produce 'content'

padd b1975 wrote: »

Channel 4 bares no resemblance to what it once was.

Went down the woke rabbit hole years ago.

instinctive roll eyes when I see that term

El_Bee wrote: »

I still can't wrap my head around how RTE gets both Advertising money and License Fee's from the public AND funding from the government and it's STILL almost broke? Banana Republic stuff.

It's not banana republic stuff. It's completely normal.

Here's a list of countries that have TV licence fees.

It's the BBC that is the exception and not the norm in that it's completely funded in the UK by Licence fees and no advertising. It's compelled by law on that and has advertsing on its services outside the UK.

Sleepy wrote: »

RTE already buy most of their most popular content from the likes of Coco / Octagon etc and their "big name" presenters are all managing their tax bills through their own production companies.

Why do you think the organisations aren't comparable? Both are state media companies with a public service broadcasting remit.

Who's doing the better job?

All I commented on was that you can't compare staff numbers in RTE to staff numbers in Channel 4 because RTE produce programming and Channel 4 do not.
Channel 4 are not a state media company and does not have a public service remit.

NIMAN wrote: »

It was overspending beyond its means for years cos they always knew they'd get bailed out.

Time for the bailing out to stop.

DF needs to be told there is no extra money getting pumped in, and she has to do her job and make tough decisions. Its not good enough to just keep spending more than you're getting in.

She could start by looking at her own salary. She seems to be doing a fairly poor job since she started. Is she worth the salary?

Excellent point. Why would they bother implementing any cuts when they know they can go cap in hand looking for a bail out to cover their deficit.

A firm no to such a request would go a long way to getting RTE to get their house in order and live within their means, means which are quite generous as it is thanks to a licence fee and advertising revenue.

- Irish version of Takeshi's Castle/Wipeout, with genuinely funny and difficult obstacles, and without the bleeping for the cursing.
- A series based on how alcohol affects you doing every day things. They do the thing normally first, then everyone has a feed drinks and then tries to them. Episodes would include driving (obviously on a race track and not at speed), 5 a side soccer, writing a business letter, making a dinner, riding a bike. A bit of a laugh and a bit educational too.
- Satirical news show along the lines of Waterford Whispers.
- Spoof comedy along the lines of Fr Ted based around a Sunday league team.
- Simple question based game show where players start with 100 points and take points off each other until they eliminate each other.
- For the sports enthusiast, a GAA magazine show during the summer. Talk to obscure clubs and players, local characters instead of the usual 10 or so people.
- Visual programme about Irish wildlife/scenery. The TV3 drone over Ireland programme as a template.
- Set aside 30 minutes a weekday evening for independently home produced programmes who are shown based on a competition. Meets the "assist Irish arts" criteria and costs them nothing bar a fraction of some of the higher ups wages in prize money.

Set up work experience programmes with various universities and IT's to take in a set number of media students every year to help run the programmes and cut costs. Can provide fresh blood/talent to the station as an aside

Some programmes and an idea for new blood/lower costs pulled out of my arse in the space of 5 minutes. Surely they can do actually better with a bit of planning.