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

I think a lot of the so called "cultured" people would also choose not not subscribe given that a lot of RTEs output is commercial trash. But that does not mean it should not be done.

And remember that just because RTE would be a subscription channel does not mean that funding of cultural and artistic programming for all channels would not be possible.

It would mean, however, that guaranteed incomes for the top presenters and brass at RTE would no longer be possible regardless of quality of output.

well this is the reality that seems to me to make direct exchequer funding of RTE an appealing option for our political classes. With the exchequer taking in over 100 billion a year in taxes, you could almost replace RTe's entire income from the licence fee and commercial sources with one day's tax take. Once the initial flurry of controversy about RTE becoming entirely tax funded had passed, who would notice or care about the source of RTe's income going forward?

So if you have all you can eat data on your mobile plan like I do as well as having broadband will I be paying twice?

That's true. Poor implementation, not understanding what is required is always a danger with this crowd.

I remember Hungary in 2014 wanted to bring in a tax of 50cent per GB of data traffic, that would have put me in NAMA 😂...

"enjoy" RTE programming? I'm right in the middle of their target demographic and they have next to nothing I'm interested in.

A subscription model isn't going to happen, because it'd finish RTE, and even if the majority of households wanted to subscribe it'd cost an absolute fortune to implement. BBC and ITV stopped encrypting their signals on satellite because it was cheaper to pay for Republic of Ireland rights than it was to keep paying for the encryption. Every household in the country would need a new set top box and a viewing card. Who's going to pay for that?

Ironically, I paid the licence and didn't use any of their services.

I no longer have access to live television or any tv channels beyond what I can get on my Apple TV e.g. RTE iPlayer (it's not even installed) or YouTube (definitely not used for RTE content in my household).

The last time I watched RTE was to watch the last episode of Love/Hate, whenever that was aired. I haven't watched RTE since.

I have an electric car; I have to pay road tax of €130/yr based on vehicle emissions i.e. the emissions the vehicle itself makes. That should sum up the bonkers Irish rationale for indirect taxation. The same vehicle, in the UK, warrants no motor tax because the car doesn't actually produce exhaust emissions (I acknowledge that power generation generally has emissions but that's taxed elsewhere).

Our TV license is based on the citizen having access to RTE products, regardless of usage. The TV licence is the only public service that you pay for directly whether you use it or not. It's like paying for a train ticket whether you use the train or not.

RTE can go **** themselves if they think I'm ever paying the tv license again.

Does your home theatre monitor have a TV tuner built into it? If not, then you don't have pay a licence. You are free to watch Apple TV, Netflix, Prime whatever without paying a licence.

I don't have broadband just mobile internet and it works great for me. A post above says mobile internet could be hit.

Is this definitely for real? Is this definitely coming in or will they back down.

With EU roaming, could I buy a SIM card from an EU phone company and use EU roaming or would that be too expensive?

What would the best EU mobile package be?

If they can privatize bin collections and electricity, why can't they privatize RTE?

Can't you get a NI sim card and roam with broadband?

This will be a punitive tax that seeks to reward RTE. Why should we be paying for RTE's fook ups?

If this government brings this in, they will loose a lot of seats in the next election.

I live alone and I could be paying €30 a month because I have broadband and a mobile.

I pity households who have multiple mobile phones and broadband too.

Lastly I am wondering if you have a dumb phone such as a basic Doro or a pay as you go phone will you be paying as well?

Seems like RTE is going to get what they have wanted for some time: unconditional payment from the public regardless of whether they have televisions.

The ironic thing is that they will have achieved this through being incompetent and greedy.

Prior to this, you had the right to not pay RTE fully legally, though it meant not owning a TV. Now this final bit of consumer power that might keep RTE accountable is being taken away.

The correct response to the RTE scandals is to give consumers more power, not less. Don't take the tiny bit of power away from the public.

Bloody Hell! This looks really bad for the board of RTE and for Forbes.

Regards...jmcc

The report will be published tomorrow but apparently the board was meant to sign off on it. They did not. Some of them might be encouraged to resign for the good of RTE. This is far worse for Forbes and the former board of RTE than the Tubridy paynents scandal.

Regards...jmcc

Fantastic timing really, when the talk was about direct funding through taxation or a levy on broadband. Remind everyone what these crooks did and why giving them a blank cheque is a horrendous idea