Not a good look. I wonder did he go because this was going to come to light?
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"RTÉ to announce new Direction next week"
Jesus, I thought they were going to launch a boy band.
Will it be ‘ligger’ tolerant or will the ‘liggers’ be ‘clen ouh’….
Whats goin’ to happen?
Will we hold our breath….
Better not hold your breath. It is RTE and the liggers would have to be dragged kicking and screaming from the trough.
Regards...jmcc
Beaker seems to have some information on the plan.
Not sure if management will be purged. It will probably be the ordinary staff.
It sounds as I expect it to be, what RTÉ plans to do if it doesn't get a bail out
Job losses, service reductions, part-privatisation and land sale all on the table
While
Government promising €40m bailout but wants definite plan
If the bail out is €40m then what are they cutting, unless people just completely stop paying the license.
I think it was be an unimaginative document with very little detail, much like strategy 2024.
And the school teacher/TD minister will probably feel sorry for poor, underpaid RTE management and "talent". She will give them the bailout. There should be moves to recover funds from the former board members and current and former management.
Say they sell off 2fm, they'll just bring the staff into the fold and be no better off. Couldn't see anyone buying it out with the current wage structure and benefits
If they sell off 2FM, that deal might include the staff but it would be difficult to see any real commerical broadcaster wanting to overpay for a station that has continually lost money.
If the sell 2fm they will need to have staff agreements to move them to who ever buys 2FM
Baure might be interested in having a national station. But it isn't going to raise much money.
I am not a fan of selling off RTÉ services but RTÉ have put themselves in this position.
I think if they come up with plans to sell this that and the other I think they are just back to playing the poor man, and forcing the politicians to pay up.
We are closing down Lyric... no your not!
Talking about selling the land - do they actually own it? I thought it wasn't theirs but let use of?
Bauer will examine the numbers for 2FM very closely. It already has the ex-Communicorp stations and it doesn't really need another of the same type. Ironically, Lyric might be a more attractive sale though the RTE management changed it from being a Classical and Arts station to being a bit of a dumping ground. If it wants to compete with the RTE Radio 1 09:00 slot, Marty Whelan is a good option. It doesn't have much news but other than its main morning and afternoon programmes, it is a niche station. RTE management must not be allowed to sell 2RN in a repeat of the FF/PD fuckwittery that saw critical national infrastructure (Telecom Eireann's network) sold off to be plundered.
Have they hinted anything about the future of all of their digital radio services yet?
Sell it altogether. Can be done from anywhere in the state and cheaper too.
Lottie to Real Madrid???
So the team talk minutes between Forbes and tubs agent etc are not to be released to public if shown to PAC.
How democratic. And how open rte are striving to be.
Hiding behind privacy/confidentiality is another way of thumbing their nose at those who keep them in comfort.
RTE still seem to believe they are calling the shots.
They have some neck. Adrian Lynch still on the executive board.
Widespread 40% cut in pay for those earning over 100 grand and a 30% cut in pay for those earning 45 to 100 grand.
Sorry I meant Wireless (aka UTV Radio), Baure wouldn't get it due to competition issues you'd hope.
Yeah I can see in terms of capital RTÉ perhaps selling sites that they own, and also if they own RTÉ Cork Studios that will be sold off.
And they will then suggest to the politicians if you want us to keep these things then you save us.
Politicians should state actually we were thinking of something else that does involve RTÉ as it now stands. If they were smart.
It would be interesting if another purchaser could be found but 2FM might have to be reformatted as a Dublin station rather than a national station. It was only when Dinny O'Brien ran into trouble with Digicel that he had to sell the Communicorp stations and Mediahuis bought IN&M in a firesale. There was an attempt to offload one of the Communicorp stations to IN&M but it was rejected.
The big weakness in the chain is Catherine Martin. This is why RTE seems to think it can get away with lipservice to reform. A more competent minister would have dealt with the Tubridy problem earlier. Selling property seems to be a problem for RTE. While it could sell part of Montrose, selling the Cork property, if it is owned by RTE, might be rejected by the politicians as they need the Cork votes. It would also make it seem like RTE was becoming a Dublin broadcaster rather than remaining a national broadcaster.
I don't see why anyone would buy 2FM - it's losing money, has no target audience and if the staff were transferred over to the new owners they would have to honour all contracts as they are now (which knowing RTE are very generous).
You would literally be throwing money down the drain no matter how attractive the deal may be
If anyone was seriously interested in looking for a new station it would be far more beneficial to start from scratch
I presume that 2fm has some kind of license that allows it to broadcast nationally - if that is the case, that's the only asset it has.
So if someone was looking to take 2fm, I'd say they'd be better off to buy just the license rather than the whole station. The rest of 2fm is a liability.
Exactly the licence is the only thing of value but I don't know how that side of things work - is it really that valuable that another licence cannot be bought by someone or are all bands currently taken on FM???
A new Cork broadcast centre for RTE is planned for a greenfield site. The existing city centre location is to be sold to part fund this.
No saving there.
There are 3 senior government ministers in one Cork constituency. RTE will continue in Cork, I think it's fair to say.
Backhurst is playing with the PAC now. Himself and Catherine Martin are stalling.
BTW I don't think 2FM will find a buyer. for all of the reasons above. I think RTÉ are going to play a game.
The same game they played with Strategy 2024.
So moving out of Cork .... check
closing 2fm ... check
getting out of limerick ... check
Oh but we couldn't have that, now could we!
Starting from scratch would take a lot of money as the brand and the audience would have to be created. It was created as defence for RTE against the vastly more popular pirate radio stations. But things have moved on since then but 2FM and RTE have not. It does not seem to be certain about its target audience. This uncertainty, over the years, has allowed local radio stations to effectively edge it out of their markets. Local radio is local. 2FM is not. As the population in the local radio markets grew, 2FM became increasingly less relevant and more Dublin focused. Even in Dublin, it was competing with similar stations.
All takeovers are gambles. A prospective purchaser would have to be comfortable with losing money for the first few years at least. Unlike the clowns in RTE manangement, commercial broadcasters realise the importance of breaking even though most prefer to concentrate on making a profit. With RTE, there has always been another bailout. It is doubtful of 2FM could, much like RTE, survive commercially and without licence fee money and bailouts. As has been pointed out above. the national licence could be 2FM's most valuable asset but I'm not sure how deeply entwined it is with RTE. Gerry Ryan was 2FM for many people but then they replaced him with Tubridy. Tubridy lost 40% (I think) of the Gerry Ryan audience. Unfortunately for 2FM it became more Tubridy as it aged. And when it aged, its original audience drifted to other stations and media. That's why Lyric might be a far better purchase for a broadcaster wishing to acquire market share.
Lyric has an audience, albeit small, but a dedicated audience. 2FM is a mish mash of crap and crap presenters - audience will switch all the time, even though it may have a national licence I just cannot imagine its listenership is national
Anyway cannot wait to see what this most amazing, radical plan is next week - if I may hazard a guess they will threaten to cut anything of good, cut documentaries (one good thing they can do), outsource all drama and rebuy in, cut contractors wages (instead of just getting rid of contractors and some are still in contract for years to come) and promise never ever ever to use the barter account again unless necessary to sell advertising they can't sell because of the high fees that nobody is interested in paying. But we still need correspondents around the world covering one story every 6 months and we still need the junkets and what about the Christmas party where everyone in the audience gets free hair transplants, free suits and a free holiday and car
It was Thursday morning 2nd November.
With advertising, both the size of the audience and its demographics (especially those with disposable income) matter. That's why a station like Lyric could be a better bargain for a prospective purchaser.
RTE may be told to rethink its plans if they don't go far enough.
It is still available, This morning as I went to listen my internet connection went just as I got to that point and I thought they had cut it 😂
The plug plugger was plugging the plugs on the 2nd at 13:30 mins in
There's a possibility that Bakhurst is good pals with Daithi O' Sé too (like Marty free car Morrissey) - Doesn't bode well
