RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Pelvis Parsley · 24-08-2023 10:13PM

My two daughters (one hitting 20, one late teens) have never even sat through a Toy Show (without the toys). That's at least two (former) children of Ireland Ichabod can't be referring to with his puff-chested nonsense.

Younger is a burgeoning artist who learned a pile through YT, and has ended up bloody good, eldest is like me, she grazes, but again, eschews TV-she prefers watching when she likes, as do I.

buried · 24-08-2023 10:22PM

This is the ultimate thing that RTE has failed to understand, for the last near 20 years, the vast majority of people, people that are interested in their own hobbies, their own interests, their own creations, have found a outlet from just browsing youtube, that youtube's highly skilled algorithm's has discovered that it can cater for every single semblance for that particular audiences needs, wants and hobbies. RTE will never be able to match this. No public service TV broadcasting outlet can ever match this near new two decade way of doing things that is currently showing that this is how it should be done. Only ones that the old way of public service broadcasting is going to cater for are the older generation, who have about another 5-10 years left in them, the ones that still listen to the ghost of Gay Byrne telling them how to mix the Christmas cake on Christmas eve and find that Christmas cake broadcast absolutely hilarious.

Pelvis Parsley · 24-08-2023 10:27PM

There is still a place for the legacy broadcast institutions to go, aside from their mainstays of news and sport (real time events) for now. Some are exploring that.

Dishes and aerials will soon become irrelevant. This is what's most depressing about the lamentable mess that is the RTE Player, when compared with other offerings.

This is where they need to go. Live streaming of contemporary stuff, and on demand viewing of quality shows that people will seek out-not endless repeats.

Emblematic · 24-08-2023 10:30PM

A lot of discussion seems to be about RTE becoming a proper public service broadcaster however it has never really been that.

The reason it was set up was out of fear that if no Irish TV channel existed, foreign TV would encroach into Ireland over which the State would have little control. If nothing was there it would be hard to stop cable systems and relays extending mainly British TV into Ireland and introducing new and foreign ideas that would not be appropriate (it was felt) for the public here.

My view is that we should stop trying to make RTE a proper public service broadcaster. It is far closer to a commercial outfit than a public service one, except that it is inefficient and corrupt due to licence fee money.

Let it instead, therefor, become fully commercial and sell it off to sink or swim. Create public service content separately from RTE where it does not conflict with commercial decision making, and make that available to all broadcasters as well as streaming platforms. Tax payer money going into Irish productions should be platform neutral.

freshpopcorn · 24-08-2023 10:41PM

On Youtube they've a trailer on for a new series of the new Season.

Series is called ''Hidden Assets''

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh95mQV-1Ik

fritzelly · 24-08-2023 10:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023152#Comment_121023152

Even legacy broadcasters (most) realise linear broadcasting is on the way out - why some of them release the whole series online then show the program on weekly basis as well

People have become accustomed now to binge watching a show or at least getting a good few episodes released to get in to the show then the rest on a weekly basis. And you can watch that show when you want if you don't want to binge it one go.

Linear TV cannot compete - the youth are not interested in a linear TV format, they want it when they want it in their own way. RTE in it's current format is unlikely to exist in 20-30 years (like most TV stations) as high speed BB becomes more universally available.

Analogue TV lasted a long time before becoming defunct (but really only because until fairly recently there wasn't any other real alternative), digital TV has the same future

Emblematic · 24-08-2023 11:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023152#Comment_121023152

The thing is, if you were starting from scratch and wanted to provide public service content to the Irish public, you would never rationally suggest setting up anything remotely like RTE. You might have an organization overseeing production but you would not build out a network of transmitters and masts around the country.

In fact, getting back what others have said about youtube, the public would probably be better served if high quality programmes were produced and then simply put directly on Youtube. The infrastructure is already there. If it is public service content, then a commercial return should not be the goal. The content can be limited to Irish IPs if that is a concern and then sold internationally.

I'm not suggesting this should be what happens; the point, rather, is that were we to do that, it would be more rational that setting up the likes of RTE. In reality, all platforms not just Youtube, should be utilized.

screamer · 24-08-2023 11:08PM

I’m really sorry to tell the niche hobbyists that the hint is in the name, niche. As such, niche hobbies will never feature in mainstream tv, as the programming has to appeal to the broad masses. Yes, that means off to YouTube with you, but RTE can’t compete with that, it’s apples and oranges.

Pelvis Parsley · 24-08-2023 11:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023284#Comment_121023284

That is not the point.

fritzelly · 24-08-2023 11:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023284#Comment_121023284

Well others on here have said PSB should appeal to the niche of society and not talking about the fringe of society (certain radio stations for example) - PSB shouldn't be all about appealing for the biggest audience with the lowest common denominator but produce for all that might appreciate it and is a good for the society at large

You could say most broadcasters produce for the niche of society - not everyone watches soaps or game shows or politics or news or anything - you try to cover all angles of society in your production as a PSB (or rather PSM as it is now known)

squonk · 24-08-2023 11:23PM

RTE got stale of didn’t know how to keep up. It was mentioned here that they never were a public service broadcaster. I’d disagree. They used to be a public service broadcaster but forgot that as B king while ago.

Growing up in the 80s I do remember a god nice between commercial and public service. There were shows like radhsrc that were documentary series, Mary & Market which relayed cattle prices before marts went online. Landmark, a farming issues series. There were great shows like Hands showing and preserving a record of dying skills. Dick Warner’s waterways shows etc.

Somewhere along the way, maybe towards the late 90s this changed and shows sponsored by companies came along. More reality as hits slime house buying/renovation Dermot Bannon type shows, then on into Dancing With The Staff and every other show being sponsored and a vehicle for product placement. Probably somewhere along the time Noel Kelly started doing the rounds. I don’t know.

Back in the day before local independent radio RTE had a mobile unit evening the country presenting local content from an area for a week or so at a time. I remember the excitement when they showed up in my area in the mid 80s. You got shows that showed you in detail how to cook or build things. A lot of the stuff YouTube is filling in now. Channels like BBC 4 still cover some of this niche content and I will say that Rte can still do sage decent concert shows but they’re kind of sexy and they turn a blind eye to the other kinds of skills. I’d rather a show working with a bunch over 12 weeks getting people ready to run a 5K with emphasis on getting the basics right and building up than the rubbish they is Operation Transformation. Teach people real life skills. Just an example.

squonk · 24-08-2023 11:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023284#Comment_121023284

Tell that to the BBC. They seem to be doing quite well catering to niche audiences. I’ve an interest in astronomy and once a month there is an episode of The Sky At Night for that niche group. It’s quite anorak type content and high quality but they make it work along with the big ticket stuff like Strictly and sport. They make the effort and it’s appreciated by the core audience and who knows how many it’s inspired over the years after they caught an episode.

screamer · 25-08-2023 12:06AM

BBC- the big budget corporation given millions to serve an audience of 70+ million and of course they will have more people interested in the niches than in Ireland audience of less than 5 million. Rte is never going to be able to serve the niche cohort and make money. I think some of the documentaries they have especially the costal ones recently are beautiful, but the quality of fair city for example is really not good enough, and as it is on so often that mediocrity at best becomes the overriding feeling that rte gives off in their evening programming.

ShamNNspace · 25-08-2023 12:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121022965#Comment_121022965

They'd probably get one of the Brennans and Katyrn Thomas and give them a few teams and set them tasks of lighting a fire and suchlike and get that buckleppin shouter Hector to hide in the bushes somewhere and hop out Mor-ya (as Joe might say) every now and again to deliver the tasks🗣️That's what da peeple want sez the man from rte in the big shiny office

Iecrawfc · 25-08-2023 01:07AM

The most depressing thing is with a, bit of imagination, they could be something more. In their D4 echo chamber they have absolutely no idea how to serve a Public Broadcasting remit so they dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator, hence all the reality crap. Case in point, for instance, GAA coverage, they could cheaply produce a 1 hour midweek talk show previewing the games over summer but dont bother and cede that space to podcasts, they're all over the Rugby though(which I enjoy aswell to be fair).

jmcc · 25-08-2023 03:02AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121021677#Comment_121021677

Hard not to laugh at the PR spin that's being put on Tubridy's firing. Podcasts are great for people with something interesting to say. Mindless babble doesn't work on podcasts. As for writing books, especially non-fiction, it is not as easy as it looks. Non-fiction books require a lot of research, sourcing and citations. The research and citations can take longer to do than the writing. If Tubridy couldn't do the basic prep for an hour long radio show then he'd struggle with the kind of work required in writing. Books also have to be promoted and marketed. He's probably missed the window for the JFK books (60th anniversary of JFK's assassination) this year. Even GB News may have second thoughts about hiring him to lose viewers and advertisers.

Regards..jmcc

stevejr · 25-08-2023 08:59AM

Anyone remember The Emperor's New Clothes?

Pluralistic ignorance is an interesting and well studied phychological phenomenon. It holds that most people will persist with a mistaken view, in the mistaken belief that most people in the group support this view. Warped fairytales for the masses. Corrupt narratives that corrode.

However, there's a reason why fairytales are tales as old as time, songs as old as rhyme. Essential tools for child-rearing, they have helped parents teach morality to generations of children the world over. Early on in life. Subconscious lessons absorbed at time in life when it really matters.

But The Emporor's New Clothes always sorta confused me as a child. It really was next-level teaching. It taught many of us a lesson, a slow-burn that wouldn't truly be understood until we were adults.

Only now are people starting to realise that we were being fooled all along by RTE. Ditto by Tubridy. It took a child to scream from the packed crowd, to scream at the emperor that he had no clothes.

There's a lot of screaming now. RTE have been caught doing the dishevelled hungover 'walk of shame'. And what's worse, they're naked to boot. The good time has been had. However, the imaginary clothes of competence have finally been stripped away. Forgotten on the floor of a sordid D4 hotel bedroom.

We're all pointing now, having a laugh at these deluded emperors. This would all be so much funnier if it wasn't so serious. It's time to stop paying the emperor's hotel bills. The free-bar has created a monster.

buried · 25-08-2023 09:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121023284#Comment_121023284

But sure how many people in Ireland own a canal boat? Thats a niche hobby, didnt stop RTE making years of programmes following Dick Warner showcasing the country on them, some of the best programmes that they ever produced.

squonk · 25-08-2023 10:11AM

Definitely. RTE need to widen they’d view again. They still have moments. I watched a thing cashed The Summer Show 2 weeks ago with Joanne whatshername, the weather presenter, walking a canal route in Kilkenny filling in with lots of info and history. It was lovely to king at and very interesting but just an insert and way too short. I know they’ve done tracks and trails shows before but they could do more. Just even things like slow tv, sailing around the coast of west cork for an hour. UK statins have done that with rail routes. It’s different and can be relaxing.

I also think they should be split in tel geographically speaking. I find a lot of the orit bite to be very east coast centric. Days before that I find a lot of TG4s outit to be much nite relevant to Pele living in the west coast alright I’m just scruff the bay from TG4 so might be a radical impression. I know they have Cork and Limerick studios but the output from there is low with the Today show being maybe the most relevant. I feel they need to diversify their output. The arrival of TG4 absolved them of much of the river PSB mandate like catering to the Gaeltacht and content nite likeable to those in rural Ireland. They used to do sound of the traditional music shows TG4 now do very well but seem to have just stopped. It’s probably easier do reality shows or Dermot Bannon types of stuff.

As suggestive living in the west of Ireland in a rural setting I don’t find much of real relevance in RTEs schedules these days. I do realise that a large swathe of the population is centred in the east coast and the eastern third of the country in general but we’re all obligated to pay a licence regardless of location. It’s just that they seem to have forgotten what made them great I’ve, probably east to do in tire in a d4 bubble and only head west on your weekends away.

CONSI · 25-08-2023 10:39AM

RTE need to seriously look at everything they do. World athletics championships on and no coverage at all, disgraceful really. They need to start providing a breakdown of what their budget goes on. How much to Sport, Drama, news, light entertainment etc..the other night their movie in prime time spot was "A few good Men", a movie from 1992...now a good movie but started at 9.30, finished at 12.30..for a movie with a run time of just over 2 hours 10 mins....if the government do go down the route of paying for RTE I hope its like the BBC, no ads...

Brendan Bendar · 25-08-2023 10:54AM

Auld thread is gettin' a bit etherial if I may be so bold to observe, starting' to list toward the Kildare side like.

AndyBoBandy · 25-08-2023 10:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121022522#Comment_121022522

I've no idea what they earn... but a few years ago I was gobsmacked with the amount of news correspondents they had (that would make contributions to the SixOne news), so started compiling a list on my phone...

I know some of these will have moved on or moved around, but still the sheer number of news correspondents was mental!! (I stopped counting at 59).

Michael Lihane - Politics
Seán MAC an tSÍTHIGH
Pascal Sheehy - Southern
Ingrid Miley - Industry & Employment
Theresa Manion - West
Paul Cunningham - Politics
Sean Whelan - London
George Lee - Science
Ciaran Mullooly -
Samantha Librairi
Vincent Kearney - Northern Ireland
Emma O’Kelly - Education?
Brian O’Donovan - Washington/U.S.
Juliet Gash
Albha Kineally
Eleanor Mannion
Fran McNulty - Agriculture
Dimitri O’Donnell
Eamonn Horan
Conor Kane - Southeast
Pat McGrath - Western
Kathy O’Halloran
Robert Short - Economics
Sinead Crowley
Helen Donohue
Conor Hunt
Fergal O’Brien
Sinead Hussey
Jackie Fox
Laura Fletcher
Gail Conway
Justin Treacy - Sport?
Philip Bromwell
Fergal Bowers - Health
Dyane Connor
John Kilraine
Coleman O'Sullivan
Joe Stack - Sport (and Kerry lotto)
Eileen Magnier
Adam McGuire
Aengus Cox
Petula Martyn
Brian Finn
Kate Egan
Claire McNamara
Tommy Mescall
Orla O Donnell
Sharon Gaffney
Dave Kelly
Paul Reynolds - Crime
Will Goodbody - Technology
Sharon Lynch
Mary Regan
Laura Hogan
Jenny O’Sullivan
Aoife Heggarty
Karen Creed
Sandra Hurley
Tony Connolly - Europe

If we assume an average salary of €80k (I'm sure it's a lot higher....) we are looking at a correspondents wage bill of €4.7m

Loafing Oaf · 25-08-2023 11:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024287#Comment_121024287

RTE need to seriously look at everything they do.

Can't see them doing that and you know why?

Oscar_Madison · 25-08-2023 11:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024385#Comment_121024385

😀 very clever

Brendan Bendar · 25-08-2023 11:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024366#Comment_121024366

excellent list.... Sean Whelan.... where is he, I know is supposed to be in Washington but America is on fire and lads are getting arrested and as far as I can see not a peep out of Seanie?

Now you forgot one lad in your list Colm O Mongáin... was deputy Foreign Editor there for a few years and suddenly sprung back into the limelight via the Late Debate, Saturday politics stuff, filling in for the Dufficer etc.

Now the question is who was the Foreign Editor and who replaced Colm.

Sorry dragged the thread off a bit will not pursue this line.

jmcc · 25-08-2023 11:10AM

See that Tubridy is even trying to get in on the Leaving Cert results buzz. The Indo has coverage of the z-lister's Instagram video post (complete with the "I'm an intellectual" background) about it. Ryan who?

Regards...jmcc

squonk · 25-08-2023 11:13AM

Maybe some have left. One that jumped out was Mary Reagan. She used to be ask over the political stuff but you reminded me I haven’t seen her in a good while so maybe she boxed on.

UPDATE: After a quick google she is on maternity leave so best wishes to her and her bundle of joy. She’s also married to Paul O’Flynn another RTE news guy. RTE isn’t Feel Good Food Febuary 2019 home of nepotism for nothing.

hotmail.com · 25-08-2023 11:14AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024436#Comment_121024436

Rather bizarre to say the least. I bet a huge amount of leaving cert students have no idea who Tubridy is.

Was he drunk when he made the decision to do this cringe inducing stunt.

hotmail.com · 25-08-2023 11:15AM

It's very difficult to make yourself a victim if you've earned millions and millions in the last 20 years.

Tubridy is living on another planet.

jmcc · 25-08-2023 11:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024460#Comment_121024460

Didn't watch it. Just glanced at the article and saw the obligatory bookcase in the background. Must be hard for him adjusting to being formerly famous(ish).

Regards...jmcc

RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

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