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

More piping up about lack of funds again this morning

Fair enough, there probably is an argument that "stars" wages make up a very small percentage of spending/losses but when losses are incurred you need to start looking at the quality of the current output, stop whinging about what you cannot make, start worrying about what you are actually making right now.

I get tired of the LLS bashing to be honest, I don't watch it but theres a cohort who watch it to be annoyed. But saying that, its the flagship of RTE, it should be on point, it should be as close to cutting edge as we get in this country, its a question of taste.

And right now(and for the last 10 years) its totally representative of a station going down the toilet and millions in debt, thats a fact.

RTE would not suffer if you simply had a root and branch revolution. Even for the optics of it, they need to be seen to be culling some of these top earners (who simply would not command their wages elsewhere). The average irish joe soap will listen to the same radio slot, watch the LLS regardless of who the hell is hosting/presenting.

Now the argument will be that losing Tubridy and Duffy etc.... is a brain drain, who will be better on half, even a third of their salary? Well thats down to the executives, they are a problem too. Far too many suits completely out of touch, knowing whats relevant with young/old people. I find the idea that these guys are essential, absolutely absurd. Will the BBC or SKY be trying to poach Tubs or Joe Duffy, will they feck.

And would Tubridy be a success in the private sector working for Newstalk or the like, where he would actually have to perform (i.e the chairs won't keep getting rearranged to give him the best producers/researchers when ratings start to fall when hes being outperformed by a younger upstart). Who knows, it would be interesting to see if his listeners/viewers are watching/listening to him, or is it just a habit (he just happens to beon that station at that time). Pat Kenny found that out when he left RTE, and Kenny is a good broadcaster in terms of political coverage.

Make RTE a launchpad for young Irish talent before they go to BBC/ITV/America or whatever. Let them be creative. And foster a culture, a conveyor belt of talent, where up and comers see RTE as the place to breakout, so theres always someone ready to step in when a star wishes to fly the nest. Don't chase our tail offering them huge money to stay. Its an irish public broadcaster ffs, its not HBO, it simply needs to sustain itself whilst producing irish content, sport, news and current affairs.

I guarantee if the LLS reinvented itself, shorter show, edited, rotating host every week, more people would watch. Be a bit more off the cuff. Something has to give, I am not willing to pay more money, so Blathnaid can maintain her employee status no more than i'm willing to see any licence fee increase go straight into a select fews pocket who command the big salaries either personally or via their company status.

I simply refuse to believe they cannot make cuts in order to be more streamlined and agile of an organisation.

I'd say they are more than open to any alternative funding model, once it permits them to continue doing whatever the want, and pay their cronies whatever they want, without challenge!

They've upped their game of late, again pushing for changes to their current "restricted" circumstances, to get more money - so its appropriate that we all do the same.

Don't leave it to someone else, everyone needs to send an email to their local TDs calling for radical change at RTE, before there's any agreement on a new or increased funding structure.

If they go for a broadcasting charge the ads have to go, one or the other, fully commercial or public broadcast,

The link above says -

Moya Doherty is calling for a "thorough national debate" on media and broadcasting, one that is rooted in the public interest.

TBH it's hard to argue with that as a starting point.

We own RTE, it's only reason for existing is to serve the public interest.

The "national debate" would include those who wish to see RTE closed down and those who think it is ok as it is and every point of view in between.

Surely it can't be beyond our capacity to decide what we want and how to pay for it?

As far as I'm concerned myself public broadcasting is a public good and it's right that the public should finance it.

I think that if we gave over the control of tv and radio to purely commercial companies that we would be poorer as a nation.

I believe there is a future for public broadcasting and would like to see our news and current affairs, our music and drama, our sport and culture continue to be reflected in the programming.

Well one thing for sure we won't sort it out tonight 🙂

However it's not world peace or sending a mission to Mars we are trying to sort out.

I think we will get there in the end.

Which is easier than RTE sorting itself out

re: We own RTE, it's only reason for existing is to serve the public interest.

This is a misconception. RTE is a government sponsored enterprise (semi-state), the Irish public has no ownership claim or stake in the enterprise. The TV licence is a tax on the annual use of television sets, it confers no ownership claim on RTE. You have no voting rights on the election of its executive management. Employees of Intel corporation do not work for you they work for Intel and it's shareholders, likewise RTE employees work for their organisation and it's shareholder. Intel has to serve its customers, manage its resources, remain competitive and develop new products if it is to remain in business.

RTE per Sean Lemass "Radio Telefis Eireann was set up by legislation as an instrument of public policy and as such is responsible to the Government." If you are unhappy with RTE you must take it up with the government.

The BAI is another joke! 🙄😔

Nothing in any of my posts on this discussion has said people shouldn't contact their politicians.

However ensuring the future of public broadcasting will require a more structured approach.

I'm not an apologist for scoundrels.

I believe in Public Service Broadcasting.

Attack the post not the poster.

Happened to hear a 2FM quiz this afternoon while on the road. Seemingly just a general knowledge quiz...

2 of the questions for the first contestant were about Dancing With the Stars - 1 of which was "who was the stand-in host recently?". Unsurprisingly the answer was Lottie Ryan. The contestant didn't know that which is perhaps no surprise given that nobody cares as much about DWTS and/or Lottie as RTE do. Yet RTE continue to shove both down people's throat at every opportunity. Speaking of which...

The second contestant got a question asking about the host for Operation Transformation. Again, the contestant didn't know who Kathryn Thomas was... Good ol' RTE