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

Dee was considered a maverick apparently by RTE lifers,no idea why.

What's this new guy like? A "safe pair of hands" no doubt.

It'd be interesting to know who else applied for the position this time round considering that Dee was up against the same two candidates.

I thought that Dee was there as a Seagull initially charged to change staffing arrangements in RTÉ but she really ended up with no teeth and continued much of the work that Noel Curran had done. It's a pity.

The new guy isn't going to change anything. He will be worse that Dee, and I get to say that without having to worry about his gender.

The appointment of Dee Forbes

The Appointment of Kevin Bakhurst

And there we have it!

RTÉ will tell you this is normal for linear TV and that both the BBC and Channel4 have a high number of repeats... However

BBC and C4 both provide stats on the number of repeat in peak viewing hours for BBC 1, 2 and Channel 4. They publish them in their Annual reports.

It shows that BBC 1 airs about 3% of repeats in peak hours (6pm to 11pm), BBC 2 airs 25% while C4 airs 9%.

While I took a look at RTÉ a few years ago and found that RTÉ ONE had 25% repeats and RTÉ2 had 50% repeats.

What is worse is that RTÉ2 will repeat both the RTÉ ONE version of DIY SOS and their version in peak hours.

On top of this if you are an RTÉ ONE viewer if you take away all of the regurlarly schedule programming in peak hours such as SIX ONE, NATIONWIDE, NINE NEWS, PRIME TIME, FAIR CITY, EASTENDERS, TLLS your left with 50% + repeats on the channel, so of the 2 or so hours of PEAK hours that are not regular programmes they are regular regurgitations!

Meanwhile they spend 25m on imported programme which they could schedule to avoid so many repeats.

Watching the Tonight Show on VM1, where they discussed Claire Byrne ruling herself out of the LLS gig. They noted that she probably got some insider information regarding changes (possibly wages, thought that wasn't mentioned) that will be made to the LLS gig, and thus that's why she opted out.

Wonder if it's anything to do with her and Ryan sharing an agent? Did Noel Kelly realise that RTE are so in the crapper, that negotiating her wages would be a non-option?

RTÉ and the King's Coronation

I tend not to get bogged down in politics in this thread. But I can't hold my tongue. Firstly, I have no problem with RTÉ airing the King's coronation, I didn't watch, but I had hoped that RTÉ would simply air BBC's coverage of the event along with some Irish commentators, every now and then Mary Kennedy could pipe up "... John its interesting when you think about but his great great great grandmother was known as the Famine Queen ..." with John Bowman replying "... yes it is important to note Ireland's relationship with the royal family...", though even with such a slight I be annoyed two retirees were commenting from RTÉ Studios in Dublin.

But ... and here is the but ... 3 reporters sent to London to cover this ... an hour long six one news ... I didn't watch the nine ... but David McCullough interviewing the First Minister, An Taoiseach and the President in LONDON, why not have John Kilrane do those interviews ... or if you have little faith in John ... have David interview An Taoiseach and the President before the leave for LONDON and the NI corrospondent could interview the First Minister.

There was no need for this type coverage on RTÉ... and before you all reply ...

1. What's RTÉ's coverage of the local elections in NI looking like?
2. What's RTÉ's news programmes like during the Eurovision next week?
3. Why do they take a long break at Summer Time?
4. And do they really have the money to send people off to LONDON?
5. Did they show the Prince Andrew interview with News Night?

TLLS and TUBS

Really there are maybe 5 possibly RTÉ replacements, 3 replacements that are well known in England and none from either VMTV or TG4 that I can think of ... if TUBS is the best RTÉ have failed to develop other so called "talent", it should show you the **** show that is RTÉ.

The always pull the 'RTE is the state national broadcaster' as if that entitles them to first come, first served... but as you noted, they never approached anyone else.

When the GAA signed a deal with SKY, RTE were probably having the biggest conniption over not having exclusive rights. What they were REALLY annoyed about was that the GAA had basically taken the major money from Sky Sports to air the matches, and had sold it to the highest bidder. RTE's sports division has been in the crapper for years, so this 'service' from the people who can't get the RTE player to work, feels like an ever more egregious backdoor charge.