RTÉ 2 years left, unless finances are sorted out

goose2005 · 10-01-2011 11:40AM

ibarelycare wrote: »

Would absolutely thrill me to see smug overpaid bastards like Ryan Tubridy and Pat Kenny be forced to take a paycut. But you're right OP, more than likely the people at the bottom will suffer the most.

In RTE there isn't really anyone at the bottom, they're all overpaid and all related to each other.

Kimono-Girl · 10-01-2011 11:40AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

Anyhow... it's all well and good saying they are broadcasting shows you'd see on other channels such as CSI and Greys Anatomy... But not everyone has cable / digital / freesat so the national broadcaster would be the only channels avail for some...

that and if they got rid of those shows there would be nothing left to watch on it,

to be honest i only ever watch rte for shows like csi, grey's, home & away...etc all foreign and lately the rugby too, if it was all home grown stuff like Katherine lynch, and those new trte 'shows'....i wouldn't watch it at all,

honestly i can see the sports and international programmes being cut because they seem to genuinely believe people like some of their homemade ****e!

Loomis · 10-01-2011 11:45AM

They just need to sell the rights to air Fair City to international stations and they'll be sorted.

Nijmegen · 10-01-2011 11:55AM

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Always worth noting that RTÉ 2fm do not receive any public funding (ref)

It benefits greatly from public funding. In any business, an individual unit benefits from the whole organisation. The infrastructure, the clout, etc.

For example, when selling ads, RTE will do package deals across all its platforms. So for example, public funded shows with big audience help get money for 2FM shows with lower audience, in a package.

Dravokivich · 10-01-2011 11:57AM

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

They just need to sell the rights to air Fair City to international stations and they'll be sorted.

bring back glenroe!

bnt · 10-01-2011 11:59AM

The 2010 Annual Report isn't out yet, but a look at the 2009 report is interesting. From 2008 to 2009 their revenues dropped from €440m to €375m (down 15%) - but their operating costs dropped from €460m to €400m (down 13%). However, they still made a small surplus in 2008 due to roughly €10m in "finance income" (investments) and a €10m tax credit. No such luck in 2009: €27m deficit carried forward to 2010.

Even allowing for that, the 2009 balance sheet doesn't look that bad, after a quick read, and they seemed to be carrying a decent current asset balance. For the article to be accurate, for RTE to be under threat within two years, something's gone badly wrong on the revenue side, I think.

mailforkev · 10-01-2011 12:04PM

Good riddance to a good lot of them to be honest. I do see the need for a national broadcaster from a public service point of view but RTE as is currently stands is just not on the ball at all.

They do some things pretty well, current affairs/sport, but the commissioning dept. need their heads' checked. Fade Street and All Ireland Talent Show anyone?

Everyone knows what a closed shop it is, and some of the "star" salaries are nonsensical in any economy. They still haven't realised that a bad set costs as much to make as a good one too.

I haven't got a word of Irish but watch subtitled TG4 pretty much as much as RTE 1 or 2, Newstalk does me for radio news too.

Nijmegen · 10-01-2011 12:05PM

bnt wrote: »

Even allowing for that, the 2009 balance sheet doesn't look that bad, after a quick read, and they seemed to be carrying a decent current asset balance. For the article to be accurate, for RTE to be under threat within two years, something's gone badly wrong on the revenue side, I think.

Well, one Sunday newspaper had to go out of business just last week. The media spend in Ireland is in the toilet.

10-01-2011 12:09PM

.....

Where in the f*ck is my TV license going then?

Say if RTÉ does go bust, does this mean we won't have to pay a TV license any more?

Elmo · 10-01-2011 12:14PM

The licence fee does not just go towards RTÉ. Indeed this year they will make up the cut that TG4 took from the government under the 4 year plan. (7% goes to the BAI which redistributes it to Independent Producers for any FTA channel e.g. TV3, BBC and C4).

It also should be made clear that RTÉ have also had to role out Digital services alone with little interest from private operators, in terms of TV they seem to be supporting TV3's digital role out. Their investment into Digital is costly.

Gijoe · 10-01-2011 12:17PM

RTE, as they stand at the moment are a joke. As some have mentioned previously, commissioning is laughable. having said that i would hate to see our national broadcaster go down the tube.

Maybe they should somehow split it clearly between public service channels (no advertising - maybe not even 24 hours) & commercial channels which could show all the crap they wanted. But the last thing we need at the moment is the national broadcaster privatised.

Or maybe they should concentrate on less programming but putting more money into creating better quality programmes that we could possibly export.

DoesNotCompute · 10-01-2011 12:20PM

Cap all salaries in RTE at 100,000.

Or better yet, privitise the lot, and show the likes of Joe Duffy, Ryan Tubridy, and Pat Kenny the door!

FlutterinBantam · 10-01-2011 12:20PM

RTE provide a good service in my opinion.

However, like a lot of things in this country, eg the Health Service, the Public service, it costs far too much to run.

Far far too much.

rednik · 10-01-2011 12:23PM

Goodbye RTE you are the weakest link.

Elmo · 10-01-2011 12:23PM

Gijoe wrote: »

Maybe they should somehow split it clearly between public service channels (no advertising - maybe not even 24 hours) & commercial channels which could show all the crap they wanted. But the last thing we need at the moment is the national broadcaster privatised.

Or maybe they should concentrate on less programming but putting more money into creating better quality programmes that we could possibly export.

I would agree with this no reason why RTÉ 1 could not just focus on Home Produced programming. They have had a few success in international sales such as Single Handed (which they now co-produce with ITV), but TV drama is expensive and it is also difficult to get distribution for European shows.

While RTÉ Two could just become a commercial service for RTÉ in the same way the BBC own 50% of Dave, Gold and the rest of the UKTV channels.

Children's TV would have to move to RTÉ 1.

Zombrex · 10-01-2011 12:26PM

Do people really want to privatize RTE? Do we really want another TV3? With constant CSI Miami and Family Guy re-runs showing 24/7?

abouttobebanned · 10-01-2011 12:27PM

skelliser wrote: »

Its a well known fact that RTE is a closed shop.
The only way you can get a job there is if your related to someone, Lucey Kenndy, have political pull, Ryan Tubridy or have been around for so long that you basically own the place Gay Byrne, Joe Duffy etc.

With a situation like that no wonder it is in the ****.

Privatise the lot of it, dont see why we have to finance these gob****es massive pay packets.

This post right here sums up what's wrong with boards.ie. You want to have a go at RTE and you don't care how you do it. On one hand it's people who only have a job cause of political pull but you also have a problem with someone who started out doing work experience and worked his way to the top.

Moan all you want about massive pay packets but basically you're just jealous because you're not receiving one. And if given the chance to earn one would you say "ah you know, that's too much money lads, especially in this day and age".

I'm not tubridy's biggest fan but I remember when he used to follow pat kenny around handing out free pens to people. He has worked hard and continues to work hard so deserves whatever he gets.

It may be cool to slate RTE but at least they make a lot of homegrown shows. It's criminal that they're under pressure when TV3 otherwise known as lowest common denominator telly continues to thrive with horrendous reality TV and virtually no home grown entertainment. It's horrible candy for the Facebook generation.

Elmo · 10-01-2011 12:28PM

Wicknight wrote: »

Do we really want another TV3? With constant CSI Miami and Family Guy re-runs showing 24/7?

In fairness to TV3 that is 3e.

dolphin city · 10-01-2011 12:30PM

abouttobebanned wrote: »

This post right here sums up what's wrong with boards.ie. You want to have a go at RTE and you don't care how you do it. On one hand it's people who only have a job cause of political pull but you also have a problem with someone who started out doing work experience and worked his way to the top.

Moan all you want about massive pay packets but basically you're just jealous because you're not receiving one. And if given the chance to earn one would you say "ah you know, that's too much money lads, especially in this day and age".

I'm not tubridy's biggest fan but I remember when he used to follow pat kenny around handing out free pens to people. He has worked hard and continues to work hard so deserves whatever he gets.

It may be cool to slate RTE but at least they make a lot of homegrown shows. It's criminal that they're under pressure when TV3 otherwise known as lowest common denominator telly continues to thrive with horrendous reality TV and virtually no home grown entertainment. It's horrible candy for the Facebook generation.

that's it - we're all jealous :rolleyes:

RTE will be no major loss - its getting worse as the weeks go by. the programmes are terrible.

but of course they won't let it go - they will probably raise the TV license to 500 Euro per year.

ibarelycare · 10-01-2011 12:34PM

abouttobebanned wrote: »

This post right here sums up what's wrong with boards.ie. You want to have a go at RTE and you don't care how you do it. On one hand it's people who only have a job cause of political pull but you also have a problem with someone who started out doing work experience and worked his way to the top.

Moan all you want about massive pay packets but basically you're just jealous because you're not receiving one. And if given the chance to earn one would you say "ah you know, that's too much money lads, especially in this day and age".

I'm not tubridy's biggest fan but I remember when he used to follow pat kenny around handing out free pens to people. He has worked hard and continues to work hard so deserves whatever he gets.

It may be cool to slate RTE but at least they make a lot of homegrown shows. It's criminal that they're under pressure when TV3 otherwise known as lowest common denominator telly continues to thrive with horrendous reality TV and virtually no home grown entertainment. It's horrible candy for the Facebook generation.

There's a difference. You can choose to have absolutely nothing to do with TV3. But we're forced to pay RTE for the privilege of viewing such amazing homegrown shows as Fade Street and Joe Duffy's Spirit Level.

Lumen · 10-01-2011 12:35PM

TV is expensive to produce. Ireland has a small population. Therefore, content produced exclusively for the Irish market is always going to be massively expensive on a per-capita basis, regardless of efficiency.

I think Ireland would be culturally poorer without home-produced content, but that content should not cost €160 per household per year, particularly since we still have to suffer advertising.

My vote would be to remove the licence fee altogether, release the TV spectrum and pay for very limited commissioning (e.g. €20m per year) of radio and web content from general taxation.

Aside from that, get Tubridy off the Late Late. His hosting of that programme is a national embarrassment.

Venom · 10-01-2011 12:37PM

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

@abouttobebanned

I don't care how much some talentless muppet gets paid as long as I don't have to pay for it. But since I do have to pay for it by law, its not much to expect some value for money.

drdeadlift · 10-01-2011 12:39PM

abouttobebanned wrote: »

This post right here sums up what's wrong with boards.ie. You want to have a go at RTE and you don't care how you do it. On one hand it's people who only have a job cause of political pull but you also have a problem with someone who started out doing work experience and worked his way to the top.

Moan all you want about massive pay packets but basically you're just jealous because you're not receiving one. And if given the chance to earn one would you say "ah you know, that's too much money lads, especially in this day and age".

I'm not tubridy's biggest fan but I remember when he used to follow pat kenny around handing out free pens to people. He has worked hard and continues to work hard so deserves whatever he gets.

It may be cool to slate RTE but at least they make a lot of homegrown shows. It's criminal that they're under pressure when TV3 otherwise known as lowest common denominator telly continues to thrive with horrendous reality TV and virtually no home grown entertainment. It's horrible candy for the Facebook generation.

tldr

JDxtra · 10-01-2011 12:40PM

We need a national broadcaster like RTE and I’m happy to contribute to the budget.

I have a Sky subscription with access to all the main UK channels. However, RTE 1 and 2 are still the most watched channels in my home (>75% of viewing time).

RTE produce or fund a huge amount of Irish programming, news, current affairs, sports coverage etc. This costs money. Nobody else is going to do this for the nation – certainly not TV3, Sky or any other fully commercial organisation.

They are also doing a good job with their rollout and deployment of a digital terrestrial (and eventually satellite) service. This will allow many of us to break free from the pay TV services of Sky.

However, RTE are not without their flaws. There’s no doubt that some of their top stars are over rated and over paid (Tubridy, Finucane etc). If their revenues are down then I would expect them to maintain the same level of service, but to reduce costs internally.

But, for what I get out of it – I think €160 per year represents reasonable value.

Sanjuro · 10-01-2011 12:41PM

Well since RTE squander the extortionate license fees on the wages of frankly talentless presenters, it's very hard to have any sympathy for the company. Absolutely sucks for the people who work hard in production, but I would bet that their wages are a mere fraction of the 'talent' of RTE. Tubridy, Daithi O'Se, Brendan O'Connor, that wan who does the afternoon show before O'Se's rubbish, they're all absolutely terrible at their jobs. And the less said about Joe Duffy, the better.

[/rant]

abouttobebanned · 10-01-2011 12:41PM

By the way, when you tell people that something was "too long, didn't read" all you're actually doing is telling people that you're a bit dim and you prefer to look at pictures.

Mister men · 10-01-2011 12:44PM

Could'nt care less. Hate everything about the set up they run there. Licence fee and advertising and still they can't make ends meet because of their sky high wages and that works all the way from the top down to the tea lady in the canteen.

mike65 · 10-01-2011 12:44PM

Whats the story with Montrose aren't they selling a chunk of the campus off? Okay it'll only raise a bag of Tayto and a Mars bar but tis a start. The investment in high def and digital transmission came at exactly the wrong time but that was forced on them by the government and we'd all be moaning that they were not up to speed if they didn't do it.

bonerm · 10-01-2011 12:49PM

Wicknight wrote: »

Do people really want to privatize RTE? Do we really want another TV3? With constant CSI Miami and Family Guy re-runs showing 24/7?

Well as long as I don't have to pay for it I don't care what they do.

drdeadlift · 10-01-2011 12:50PM

JDxtra wrote: »

We need a national broadcaster like RTE and I’m happy to contribute to the budget.

I have a Sky subscription with access to all the main UK channels. However, RTE 1 and 2 are still the most watched channels in my home (>75% of viewing time).

RTE produce or fund a huge amount of Irish programming, news, current affairs, sports coverage etc. This costs money. Nobody else is going to do this for the nation – certainly not TV3, Sky or any other fully commercial organisation.

They are also doing a good job with their rollout and deployment of a digital terrestrial (and eventually satellite) service. This will allow many of us to break free from the pay TV services of Sky.

However, RTE are not without their flaws. There’s no doubt that some of their top stars are over rated and over paid (Tubridy, Finucane etc). If their revenues are down then I would expect them to maintain the same level of service, but to reduce costs internally.

But, for what I get out of it – I think €160 per year represents reasonable value.

Do you work in rte by any chance?

RTÉ 2 years left, unless finances are sorted out

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