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

Moving expenses, executive expenses, executive cars, a pension.... Try it some time...

But you've never really said what you want or how you would fund it, you can't have an agreement without putting forward some opinion on what PSB/M is or what it should be in the future. You've continual had the line "The sooner the better we decide what it is we want from public broadcasting and then fund it." but you've never really expressed an opinion that either the current service provided by either PSB/M is bad or good. Though I think you've mentioned exchequer funding.

Your argument remains circular even when I point out all of the things that have been progress by different Ministers and departments since Dee Forbes became DG of RTÉ.

You seem not to think that the change in DG helps to constantly review the workings of RTÉ and that you'd "safely say there's not a company or organisation of any kind that couldn't do with a good look under the bonnet." have they even looked under that bonnet?

And to avoid any defense of RTÉ you end your post with things like "I'd hope for a quick and decisive process but I'm prepared to be disappointed."

But you tell us nothing of where you are on the topic at hand.

For example what do you think of the news service provided on RTÉ2 versus its commercial counterpart VMTV ONE or its PSB counterpart TG4. And does the answer tell you something?

I though you were making about about BoC and his relationship to a former RTÉ executive! I think TT's point was lost, when you posted a link to the 99% of "other things" RTÉ provide.

And the Broad community support for what we want for PSB has been given, and several times over, there are only so many consultations that you can have.

I disagree with direct exchequer funding which I have outline and TG4's exchequer funding is a good example of why it should not be exchequer lead.

You want better funding but for what? What we have?

Arrrghhh honestly take out the "we" and tell what you would like. If lets say you were in a discussion at a public forum organized by officialdom and the first question was: -

What do you believe public service broadcasting to be?

How would you answer this.

If you want to explore what people want you need to tell others what you would like? They might turn around and say I disagree but ... I do agree with X, Y and Z. Then you come to some conclusion as to what people want in general. It could be simply be:-

I think RTÉ do a good job on the budget the have and I believe that the only issue is funding and I think we need to increase it, but in general I believe the we should keep the current set up of services and content coming from the 2 incumbents.*

*This is a sample answer to the question. I may agree or disagree with this statement, but would be happy to discuss such a statement in a forum to progress the idea of what the public in general may want or may agree to.

So you obviously didn't see the absolute car crash interview with Pussy Riot after they got out of one of Putin's Gulags? This was the first interview they did after their release, and their first in the west, so it was a big thing. O'Connor made an absolute show of himself in that interview. It was almost as if he didn't want them at all and resented the fact that they were getting more attention than he was. Not much nous or empathy on display that day. But plenty of ego though.

RTÉ NCH NSO | Toy Show The Musical | Children's Content

I am of the view that we should have both the NSO and the RTÉ CO as part of the cultural life of Ireland, my argument is that the management of RTÉ were unable to make the move they requested in 2018 in the required time frame of 2021, and instead it occurred in 2022.

This is a loss to RTÉ of €8m which might have been spent on other content in RTÉ.

In relation to The Toy Show the Musical. I am baffled that RTÉ seem to think they were unaware of the enormity of such a project coming up to Christmas, RTÉ through both the NSO and the RTÉ CO are aware of how theater performances work, but they seem clueless.

RTÉ management in both Orchestras would be aware of costs and income involved in live events, for example the RTÉ CO hosted a number of LIVE scores to major movies in both the NCH and the Bord Gais Theatre, such programming would be at the more commercial end of both the NSO and the RTÉ CO output, much like that of the Toy Show The Musical.

Then there is Dee Forbes' response to the failure of The Toy Show The Musical, I will let you read the response here: -

https://www.rte.ie/eile/2022/1217/1342461-dee-forbes-rte-is-very-proud-of-toy-show-the-musical/

As you can see it is ultimately a generic PR article that could be applied to any piece of content that RTÉ produces.

For example RTÉ could apply it to Children's Content ... However, in 2016 after telling everyone that they would not cut children's content they had already cut it by 25% and in 2017 they'd cut it by 50%, children's content has never really recovered since those cuts were announced by RTÉ, some 7 years ago.

On the other hand, TG4 would be well placed to write a similar article in relation to its Oscar Nominated film The Quiet Girl.

Which bring me to RTÉ's insistence that it cannot produce drama alone, while The Quiet Girl's funding has equal amounts coming from TG4, Screen Ireland and Coimisiún na Meán (BAI) through the CINE4 project its cost was that of an episode of "Normal People" according to Dee Forbes at the Oireachtas Media committee, but Ms Forbes seems to forget that RTÉ have the ability to commission Drama at a cost of €100,000 per half hour at the lowest point and €250,000 at the mid point of TV drama production in Ireland, and they have done so successful in the past.

I believe it was a one off, at first. Celebrating the likes of Big Tom, who wasn't long more for this world, tbh.

But of course, Tubridy has never heard of 'too much of a good thing', so he decided to make it annual. More than likely to fill out his already dwindling guest list. Then he started adding people who were never country (Ronan Keating, Una Healy) to fill out the roster of guests, and even they got bored, so he started singing himself. Then it was the nieces and nephews of country singers, I think Declan Nerney or whoever has brought his niece or daughter on a few times (who genuinely knows), and each time she has a new face. The show got good ratings, I think, for the first episode, and I wouldn't blame it. It was a tribute to the likes of Big Tom, so for folks who hadn't seen him perform in a long while, it was a nice nostalgia trip for them.

Now, the country special, like the Valentine's 'special' has unfortunately suffered from dwindling guests due to people dying, the aforementioned Big Tom being one of them.

The frustrating thing is, I'm sure there are great singers out there... they're just not getting any promotion on the likes of the LLS. Which can be a great platform to showcase new talent. Instead, it's just the same old, same old.

But how much it is really going to save them, not much when you consider everything else. I mean it be like suggesting cutting top earner wages or cutting expenses to Executives, not really going to do much in the long term!