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

I doubt that anyone in a higher position would be treated like TV3's employee

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/payroll-worker-who-stole-over-870k-from-virgin-media-tv-out-after-just-four-months/41650537.html

Well it would save them having to go into the City to report the news and the Fair City outdoor set will be free this summer, and in August RTÉ is pretty much deserted.

Then each tent can have a TV and RTÉ can charge them 160 euro.

She reported from the Book of Kells :)

No he had a deal with on the Bookshell with Tubs, so he can't speak to other media. And Paul Howard is Tubs guest this week.

Not that I ever regarded OT as the best TV can offer it was very popular but just another example of cutting content to maintain paying wages to sub standard presenters

Not to defend RTÉ, but the series is on series 17, they are looking for a new programme that will replace OT, I am guessing they will go for something similar.

I imagine they are going to try something similar TBH. I some how doubt that they are letting go of the series fully. I imagine they will probably integrate it even more into Ray D'Arcy's fun runs. IMO RTÉ failed to produce a similar show in the last 2 years that may have replaced OT. But I imagine a new lifestyle type weight positive programme come Jan next year.

You know …. if this is the case … you can probable search google to find Dee Forbes extoling the virtues of Reeling in the Years and the introduction of The Way We Were and Keys To My Life.

Their new show

"Pop culture: that's barely even pop culture in Ireland that might have been nostalgic in the 2000s… well possibly the 1990s and even then we weren't impressed"

RTÉ delve yet again into their archive with this new series starting with a look at that 1990s archive show "Raiders of the Lost Archive", in the second episode producers of "Reeling in the Year" go through the process of developing the epic show over the last 25 years as the decades role on.

A five part series will also see interviews with Pat Shortt as he looks back on his "On d'Telly" series, while a host of celebrities take a look back on their interviews on Keys to My Life.

Mike Murphy then looks back at iconic nostalgic series such as "Gaybo Laugh's Back", "Reeling in the Years" and "The Best of Today with Maura and Dathi" with a few interruptions from his show "The Live Mike". You'll never believe how trendy Fr Ted was back in the early 1980s.

Guest presenters include Fiona Looney, Fintan O'Toole, Brendan O'Connor and Katherine Lynch.

Willie was on Morning Ireland just now with a condensed version. He’s a media guru because he listens to podcasts and knows that women are on Insta.😜 but he gave no clue about the most interesting question - the timing of these departures.

Everything he said about new media has been true for years so why this coordinated (what, did ya think it was coincidental?) rush for the exits?

My guess - Bakhurst is cracking down on nixers of all kinds and these “stars” have other gigs lined up. Can RTÉ recognise an opportunity or does it still think it has a monopoly on talent?

He was a member of RTÉ's Executive when Dee Frobes was running the company. Did they ask if he took a redundancy payment? Was he aware of the barter accounts? Is this all a fall out of the mismanagemnet of RTÉ, under part of his watch?

Willie and Moya were riding high on Today FM and its transformation. You have to remember that Radio Ireland was about to collapse prior to the arrival of Today FM and Ian Dempsey. Really only The Last Word was keeping Radio Ireland alive by that point. Then bring Ray D'Arcy into the fold in 2002 or so, "Guess who's joining our Den".

Does anyone actually believe that the government will have come up with a replacement for the television license system "by the summer recess" ? I e within 6 weeks time? My arse they will

An post getting a tenner from every licence sold was daft to begin with

They may somehow wriggle out of actually implementing the new funding model before the government finishes up, especially if the general election is this year, but I think they'll have to commit 'in principle' to something this summer, given how clearly they have signalled their intention to do this…

Just read an analysis/history of 2FM on the RTE website.

https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2024/0526/1451253-2fm/

These paragraphs at the end were the most interesting part:

"The main problem may be one that Dan Healy knows better than most -
the relationship between a radio presenter and their listener is a
delicate thing.

Who you switch on and invite in to your kitchen is a deeply personal
choice and all the enthusiasm in the world can’t compel the listeners to
stay tuned, regardless of who is comin'atcha."

Does this kitchen table market from 45 years ago even exist at the same scale today for 2FM's 15-34 year old target market? Is RTE radio and TV, and especially under the Dee Forbes era was, largely pitching to a set of markets that ceased to exist in those forms almost half a century ago?

Did the licence fee create a kind of Montrose timewarp while the real world outside moved on while RTE continued to operate in a pre satellite TV/Internet bubble? Ironically, Forbes had a background in cable and satellite TV. The problem in hiring her was that those battles against cable and satellite TV had been fought and lost by RTE decades ago. The competitor was and is the Internet and streaming.

Even the licence fee is a concept from another century.

Regards…jmcc