€160 to watch what on TV?

sold · 2010-01-13 18:50:31

Well its that Time again, To fork out the 160 euros. I suppose there are those who like RTE1&2 and TG4, but if you are like me and work most of the week it seems a waste. I'm not going to get rid of the TV as we watch the news on it, but thats about all (and the odd movie) Are there any good programmes on RTE to watch? How…

13-01-2010 07:50PM

#1

sold

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Well its that Time again, To fork out the 160 euros. I suppose there are those who like RTE1&2 and TG4, but if you are like me and work most of the week it seems a waste. I'm not going to get rid of the TV as we watch the news on it, but thats about all (and the odd movie) Are there any good programmes on RTE to watch? How is it that TV3 can stay in business without the Licence fee? would it not be better to have free market decide?. in Uk the BCC has no adds and better programming.

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#2 13-01-2010 07:52PM

Biggins

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Welcome to RTE - if you like it or not, your paying for it!

Personally, I think RTE sucks BIG time.

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#3 13-01-2010 07:53PM

Mr. CooL ICE

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sold wrote: »

the BCC has no adds and better programming.

The UK has over 11 times more people to pay the fee. 11 times the fee = 11 times the quality

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#4 13-01-2010 07:54PM

Alvar

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RTE is bad. But TG4???!?!! Does anyone watch it?

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#5 13-01-2010 07:54PM

anniehoo

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Pay it by direct debit ..€13/mth..doesnt seem as bad then Still sickening though!

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#6 13-01-2010 07:55PM

admiralofthefleet

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pat kenny

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#7 13-01-2010 07:56PM

Mike 1972

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LordChessington wrote: »

The UK has over 11 times more people to pay the fee. 11 times the fee = 11 times the quality

The UK licence fee isint €1760 or anything like it. Ther rest of your post suggests Ireland should never have left the UK.

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#8 13-01-2010 07:57PM

FearDark

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The Panel.
Dave McSavages show.
The Late Late.
Fair City.
etc etc...

All SHIT

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#9 13-01-2010 07:57PM

Biggins

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Alvar wrote: »

RTE is bad. But TG4???!?!! Does anyone watch it?

Ask this lot: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055793871

Me? I have never watched anything on that station.
Might as well be a blank screen or a test card (I can hear the younger ones now going ""Whats a test card?" - I'm old ).

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#10 13-01-2010 07:58PM

Guy:Incognito

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Mike 1972 wrote: »

The UK licence fee isint €1760 or anything like it. Ther rest of your post suggests Ireland should never have left the UK.

He means they collect teh fee from 11 times as many people.:rolleyes:

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#11 13-01-2010 08:01PM

thomond2006

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Just avail of your "Squatter's Rights".

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#12 13-01-2010 08:06PM

Liam Byrne

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OP - can I ask if you pay for Sky ?

If so, why ?

I agree that RTE is not really worth €14 a month, but then neither is the amount of ****e that's usually on the non-FTA satellite channels.

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#13 13-01-2010 08:09PM

Aidric

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TV is shit 90% of the time but that 10% of quality keeps us coming back for more.

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#14 13-01-2010 08:09PM

[Deleted User]
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I dont agree with being forced to pay the license fee especially when RTE also advertise. I do watch some thing on RTE like the news, the champions league matches, the late late sometimes and a few other things. 160 looks like a lot but when compared to our sky bill which is 70 euro a month it doesn't look that bad I suppose.

Not paying the licence fee looks like the best option you would be very unlucky to get caught imo.

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#15 13-01-2010 08:10PM

Shulgin

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I watch a lot more bbc/c4 programming than RTE, Tv3 is the absolute pits though, I wouldnt watch RTE at all if it dropped to that standard. Commercial tv in general is very poor. Tv would be not watchable if the ITV/SKY model was only available.

I have a freesat box and an RTE antenna and everything I want to see is there.
The licence fee is high, but at least we get all of the beeb/uk stuff for free, so it all balances out.

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#16 13-01-2010 08:13PM

Xluna

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Never watch T.V. Hopefully I'll inconviniently "miss" Mr License man when he calls down.-again.

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#17 13-01-2010 08:17PM

sold

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anniehoo wrote: »

Pay it by direct debit ..€13/mth..doesnt seem as bad then Still sickening though!

But all I watch is 15 mins of news at 6 to 9pm. any maybe primetime the odd time. Thats it, To be honest what is there to see for those of us who work and get home a 6pm?

Fair city, They had it one twice today?! Wake up for work and all there is in the morning is teleshopping add for 1.5 HOURS!!! So it seems like my 160euros dosent go to getting value for money.

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#18 13-01-2010 08:17PM

sold

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Xluna wrote: »

Never watch T.V. Hopefully I'll inconviniently "miss" Mr License man when he calls down.-again.

I doubt it.

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#19 13-01-2010 08:21PM

sold

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Liam Byrne wrote: »

OP - can I ask if you pay for Sky ?

If so, why ?

I agree that RTE is not really worth €14 a month, but then neither is the amount of ****e that's usually on the non-FTA satellite channels.

I have a sky box and dish. Used to pay for it for 3 years. Then my wife and I said why are we paying for a service we hardly every used. So we canceled. But even if you cancel your subscription to sky there are still a lot of free channel on the sky box, BBC1,2,3,4 Ch4, 1TV, Channel 4 movies. ITV1,2,3,4. news, and others all free. and when I did pay for sky that was all we used!!!>

so as it stands all I pay now is the 160euros Irish Licence fee. thats it. and that is a waste.

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#20 13-01-2010 08:23PM

My name is URL

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Where do you put the money? I don't see a slot =/

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#21 13-01-2010 08:27PM

anniehoo

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sold wrote: »

But all I watch is 15 mins of news at 6 to 9pm. any maybe primetime the odd time. So it seems like my 160euros dosent go to getting value for money.

Well for that little amount of telly you watch..then definitely its a complete waste. But regardless of how much or how little you watch it still has to be paid if you have a TV.

You'd be better off watching it online or listening to the news on the radio tbh.

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#22 13-01-2010 08:30PM

plein de force

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but without paying that we'd miss such jems as:

The All Ireland talent show
Oireachtas Report
Ear to the Ground
Endless repeats of Murder She Wrote

:rolleyes:

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#23 13-01-2010 08:35PM

Mike 1972

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Stekelly wrote: »

He means they collect teh fee from 11 times as many people.:rolleyes:

Should have said that then :P

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#24 13-01-2010 08:39PM

Korvanica

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Ah yea. Just do what i do... No tv, 23" monitor, rte player...... Awww yea....

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#25 13-01-2010 08:45PM

Liam Byrne

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sold wrote: »

But even if you cancel your subscription to sky there are still a lot of free channel on the sky box, BBC1,2,3,4 Ch4, 1TV, Channel 4 movies. ITV1,2,3,4. news, and others all free.

They're only "free" (to you) because someone else is paying for them.

sold wrote: »

and when I did pay for sky that was all we used!!!>

Not sure what you mean by that - you ignored all the "free" channels that you've listed above ?

sold wrote: »

so as it stands all I pay now is the 160euros Irish Licence fee. thats it. and that is a waste.

That allows you to own a TV, via which you can receive the "free" channels lke BBC1,2,3,4 etc.

If you're only watching 15 mins of news, then you have a point; it'd be a bit like owning a car and driving 5 miles a week. But if you're watching any of the above "free" channels, then that's what you're paying for.

I do think it's a disgrace that the licence doesn't cover having RTE free-to-air to Irish people on Sky, but unfortunately that's what happens when the monopoly is in another country.

And count yourself lucky, in a way......if you were in an apartment block you'd probably have no choice but to pay Chorus or Sky in order to get any decent signal.

I've said it before; once upon a time, the TV licence included soccer and rugby matches and a whole host of other stuff, but the powers-that-be decided that those could be paid for another way : allowing pay-tv to outbid RTE in a business model that involved you paying even more.

There's more choice now, admittedly, but the stuff that RTE used to provide for the licence fee was decent enough until Sky & Setanta and whoever else got in on the act.

Subscription TV should have been allowed offer EXTRA stuff (stuff that wasn't being shown) and should never have been allowed take from what we were already paying for and getting.

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#26 13-01-2010 08:45PM

The Pontiac

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sold wrote: »

Well its that Time again, To fork out the 160 euros. I suppose there are those who like RTE1&2 and TG4, but if you are like me and work most of the week it seems a waste. I'm not going to get rid of the TV as we watch the news on it, but thats about all (and the odd movie) Are there any good programmes on RTE to watch? How is it that TV3 can stay in business without the Licence fee? would it not be better to have free market decide?. in Uk the BCC has no adds and better programming.

I don't think the BBC has better sports coverage/analysis than RTE. In fact, I think RTE is the best channel for sport by a country mile. Sky have the live matches and the money behind them, but when it comes to actual analysis, then it's nonexistent really. You could clearly see how shocked Graham Souness was with the bluntness and honesty by RTE's soccer commentary when he started here first.

Most countries have a licence fee anyway, and the ones that don't receive funding from the government. Some countries also have radio licence fee eg. Denmark's have a TV licence of €288 and a Radio licence fee of €43.

RTE bashing is as old as the hills anyway. RTE were the first station in Europe to start showing The Sopranos. I remember the series would be over here and just starting in the UK. We don't have a fraction of the budget the BBC has, but bar Top Gear (which has an astronomical budget) and the axed Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (€6 a year salary), I think we compete very well for such a small country.

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#27 13-01-2010 08:48PM

Herb Powell

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Alvar wrote: »

RTE is bad. But TG4???!?!! Does anyone watch it?

TG4 is better than RTE

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#28 13-01-2010 08:49PM

Biggins

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I know of a good few places that are paying for RTE twice.
Places where ariels are not able to be put up - so folk have to pay for the likes of SKY (etc) just to get RTE and the basic channels. Then they have to pay for the Licence fee for RTE on top of that again.

That to me is a rip-off in this day and age.
(paying twice over for the same stuff!)

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#29 13-01-2010 08:52PM

My name is URL

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Korvanica wrote: »

Ah yea. Just do what i do... No tv, 23" monitor, rte player...... Awww yea....

RTE & the government believe that the software they use is an "apparatus capable of exhibiting television broadcasting" and that needs to be licensed :rolleyes:

under 'part 9'

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#30 13-01-2010 09:13PM

Korvanica

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My name is URL wrote: »

RTE & the government believe that the software they use is an "apparatus capable of exhibiting television broadcasting" and that needs to be licensed :rolleyes:

under 'part 9'

Damn it! I spent ages looking into if i needed one, even asked on here, ah well.

Im paying in 1c coins.

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#31 13-01-2010 09:13PM

Alun

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My name is URL wrote: »

RTE & the government believe that the software they use is an "apparatus capable of exhibiting television broadcasting" and that needs to be licensed :rolleyes:

under 'part 9'

In Germany they think the same.

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