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

The amount of ads you have to sit through in the often vain attempt to actually watch something on their player should be raking them a fortune alone!

Once they stop paying the top earning "stars" more than the president of the USA for less than a full time job, they might be supported by me. There is not one single person in this country worth nearly 500k a year for a few hours work each week. Not one. Yet RTE seem to think we have 2 (Tubs and D'Arcy) who are worth more, closely followed by Duffy and Finucane. They can all go feck, they're not worth one salary between the 4 of them.

Bring in a threshold, max salary of 200k (still too much imo) for those doing multiple roles/shows across tv and radio. If they think they're worth more, off with them to other shores to earn it. There's no doubt a massive pool of talent who would be willing to work for a measly 200k per annum.

There is another long running thread on the subject of RTE and their unending quest for more tax revenue to be redirected to them . . . .

There is a problem that more taxation won't solve.

• Younger viewers are switching off TV
• Concern as RTÉ fails to attract younger viewers
• RTÉ risks ‘super-serving’ older audience, BAI warns

The question not being asked how much longer can the linear media broadcast format remain relevant? This is not just an RTE problem, the same problem is affecting UK broadcast stations (BBC, ITV etc) and many US television stations less so to those that cater to older audiences e.g FOX news. There are households in Ireland that have no connection to or limited consumption of RTE and other Irish media broadcast companies and in that context raising the price does not win any new converts and probably pushes off those who are already irregular consumers.

Their only way forward is to develop funding based on a subscription model that allows consumers to pick and chose what they want, otherwise if you have a specific idea how broadcast media should be then run it as a subscriber-owned club model similar to the national trust does in the UK.

Subsiding a costly failing business model with more taxation is just delaying the inevitable. RTE can be switched off right now, the world is moving on.

I'm eagerly anticipating the new (2020) millionaire factory figures due to be released in January. Of course this depends on Dee not having one of her bouts of amnesia again. Figures should be interesting this year as it's the 1st year to be published after the 15% cut was announced at the end of 2019.

Below are the last figs from 2019 and I have shown the -15% figs [] if all remained as is. But it didn't and that makes it tricky to estimate the new figs. For instance - Duffy should be approx 333k but will be on much more due to extra TV stuff (I nearly called it work there) and the fact that he took very few holidays as he was too bust telling us to wash our hands to avoid an airborne virus. Perry, Sarah Mc, Claire Byrne and BOC are all unknown quantities as their roles/programmes have improved or are new placements.

In my 2020 estimated figs there's a lot of guess work involved but I don't think I'll be out by that much. Based on those figs alone this would make the highest earner in RTE the delightful Mr Noel Kelly - Just from the 6 NKM people below (2020) his Co, if it's a 20% commission, gets 442k and is excluding all his other crew - 2fm presenters, Bannon, Wallace, Geary, Baz etc etc etc ... the list goes on and on and on and on... I couldn't be arsed going into it further atm but I would think NKM shakes down the millionaire factory for anything between 700k and 1m pa.

I'd love to see a RTE/VM/Bauer pact where they cooperate and state: 'We don't do agency stuff anymore - We employ/pay you directly or FO somewhere else'. Yep, that would shake things up nicely.

Happy Twenny Twenny two Noel, ya ya ya ya, c'mere listen, you're totally worth it.

2019                                                               -15%

Ryan Tubridy - €495,000        (NKM)                [420k] 

Ray D’Arcy - €450,000           (NKM)           [382k] 

Joe Duffy - €392,494             (NKM)           [333k]             

Sean O’Rourke - €327,988 

Marian Finucane - €358,013 

Miriam O’Callaghan - €320,000  (?)                [272] 

Claire Byrne - €250,000          (NKM)           [212] 

Brendan O’Connor - €220,000  (NKM)         [187]    

Bryan Dobson - €209,282         (RTE)

Mary Wilson - €196,961          (RTE)

_______________________________________________________

2020 

Ryan Tubridy - €420,000        (NKM) 

*Joe Duffy - €333,000  (NKM) - (prob nearer 390k)

Ray D’Arcy - €382,000          (NKM) 

*Claire Byrne - €400,000 - est      (NKM) 

*Catriona Perry - €320,000 - est    (NKM)  

*Sarah McInerney - €320,000 - est   (?)

Miriam O’Callaghan - €272,000 - est   (?) 

*Brendan O’Connor - €187,000  (NKM) ) - (prob nearer 300k)    

*Bryan Dobson - €240,000 - est     (RTE)

David McCullagh - €240,000 - est  (RTE)

The gated community lives in comfort!

Taking your chances does not work if you pay for cable tv. Sky tv from a media provider virgin eir tv etc you.ll get a visit from the licence inspector. Theres alot of people who watch tv on tablets or laptops or pc. The app works fine you can watch in a browser. It must be up to date version. Chrome or brave browsers are ones I use. Rte need the money from ads. Making tv dramas tv shows is very expensive. The funny thing is the ads always work even if the tv show itself does not play properly on older browsers versions

Increase the charges aimed at advertisers…

rte is the only show in town… virgin media one viewership has plummeted according to TAM ratings..and is on a severe downward trend…

rte is owned by the state.. I’d like it be funded by the state, the entire population contributing.

the argument…’ I don’t watch tv ‘… forget it… some people are never sick and in hospital… should they get a tax break based on that ?

tv license inspectors, that’s a cost footed by the taxpayers 13 euros an hour is paid to each inspector …. that money would be better spent elsewhere.

I pay taxes so everyone has health care and a better standard of living for the whole population and for when I need it as well.

I don't want to fund a TV station that throws constant misery down peoples throats making them depressed whilst lining the pockets of a minority

And this baloney about 14% licence evasion is just an excuse to get more money off the government - the numbers not using a TV increase year on year

Even the LLS show which used to be prime Friday night entertainment is one long misery fest, followed by Tubs doing a week long misery fest radio show, followed by Duffy's obsession with death and stuff that happened decades ago (to fund new books he may be writing) followed by the totally inept and banal hospital radio quality D'arcy. Three of the highest paid "stars" in RTE - I challenge anyone to tell me that is value for money!

I pay my licence fee, watch very little actual tv. maybe 3 hours of netflix a week. Can't justify why I'm still paying when the last thing I actually watched regularly was Hell week. Rte show F all worthwhile. A lot of the scheduling is for mid/late life viewers who have routines set in stone. Imagine asking a teen/young adult to start watching Fair City???

Just look at this shite that we have to look forward to in the new year

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/irish-cnn-reporter-donie-osullivan-25788476

"Hailed as a national treasure"...

Jesus Fùcking Christ

How come nobody in the Dáil supports funding RTE from general taxation? I find it hard to believe that the "left" would object to abolishing a regressive charge like the TV license.