nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Is RTE a real national gem?

Rabelais

I sat down this evening and decided I'd watch some television. Flicked through the channels and it was a continuous stream of repeats: Friends, Deadly Catch, QI, Top Gear and Bull's Eye (which I was tempted to watch out of nostalgia).

Watched The Summit on RTE. A magnificent documentary that would be confined to BBC2 or BBC3 across the water. Which brings me to my next point - why do we compare RTE to the BBC? The BBC is the largest publicly-funded broadcaster in the world, one of the last great Public Service Broadcasters in the world. RTE is a minnow compared to it. Yet most people are happy to pay for such a service.

I'm beginning to think RTE is a gem. From their sports coverage; through current affairs, the RTE Doc on One Series, The Hamilton Series on Lyric on a Saturday, Late Date.

Are you an overall fan of RTE? Or would you see it replaced? And what would you see it replaced with? How would that be funded? Public service broadcasting with a remit to entertain.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

kneemos

Franticfrank wrote: »

The best way to appreciate RTE is to move abroad, especially to a place like Germany where the standard of television is absolutely horrific. Tom Hanks was on their main talk show (for 3 or 4 hours) and the host jumped around him in a sack - he had no idea what the show was about and longed for it to end. Our drama, current affairs, sports coverage and dare I say the Late Late Show beats Germany's broadcasters, a nation of more than 80 million people, right out of the water.

Complain all you want about RTE but go and live in a non English speaking country and you'll really appreciate it.

There's so many simple things that could be changed ti make it better,like not keeping useless presenters for decades or the timing of some if their top shows,the conservatism and they're ability to ruin anything successful,can't remember the last time they had a good film on.

swimming in a sea

MrCreosote wrote: »

Having lived in both countries, I can tell you that RTE is so much better than the sh*t that passes for public telly in NZ it's not just on another planet, it's in another galaxy.

It's not the Beeb for sure, but compares very well with anywhere else I've been, especially news, current affairs, docos

But do you have to pay a TV tax in New Zealand?

gobnaitolunacy

RTE do my head in with CONSTANT repeats (oh...Simpsons and Fr Ted worked well in this slot last time, we'll do it again and again and again...) and the likes of a showing of a Top Gear that aired an aeon ago.

The news/current affairs are good, home produced docus are mostly good, though thin on the ground. Late Late aint what it used to be and RTE comedy is hit and miss. Had the misfortune to watch (for 5 mins before I switched off) an atrocity called 'Mattie', sweet Jebus.

Oh btw it's the only tv station in a secular country that I can think of that has a daily 'call to prayer', either cater for all faiths or drop it.

murpho999

swimming in a sea wrote: »

But do you have to pay a TV tax in New Zealand?

Yes.

Read here

walrusgumble

deadybai wrote: »

i am a massive fan of rte.they have everything you want really. Ive feeling your going to get a lot of people saying its terrible somehow. But yeah my family has decided to get rid of sky digital completely because most of the stuff on it is pure rubbish. Like how many channels show Friends and CSI repeats? Have to say though was extremely dissapointed when they got rid of the Premiership

It is amazing, well over 300 channels, and bar a few sports channels the digital is utterly rubbish, nothing on. The history channel for instance is brutal now , repeated airings of a bunch of redneck Americans paying silly money for garage trash in the hope of making a quick buck. People who watch that regularly are retards

BBC is good for comedy and political shows

Rte can get things right with documententaries .there is really NO need for many of the over priced talking heads and presenters.it would be nice if talk shows brought in non rte people as guests

Sports, ya, rte are good, bar failing to get the heino cup(then again bbc lost it too) an Irish soccer friendlies

walrusgumble

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

RTE do my head in with CONSTANT repeats (oh...Simpsons and Fr Ted worked well in this slot last time, we'll do it again and again and again...) and the likes of a showing of a Top Gear that aired an aeon ago.

The news/current affairs are good, home produced docus are mostly good, though thin on the ground. Late Late aint what it used to be and RTE comedy is hit and miss. Had the misfortune to watch (for 5 mins before I switched off) an atrocity called 'Mattie', sweet Jebus.

Oh btw it's the only tv station in a secular country that I can think of that has a daily 'call to prayer', either cater for all faiths or drop it.

Ireland , ie not just a small part of Dublin, is not a secular country, stop talking nonsense.

Son Of A Vidic

Rabelais wrote: »

Is RTE a real national gem?

Is that you Dobbo?

murpho999

Franticfrank wrote: »

The best way to appreciate RTE is to move abroad, especially to a place like Germany where the standard of television is absolutely horrific. Tom Hanks was on their main talk show (for 3 or 4 hours) and the host jumped around him in a sack - he had no idea what the show was about and longed for it to end. Our drama, current affairs, sports coverage and dare I say the Late Late Show beats Germany's broadcasters, a nation of more than 80 million people, right out of the water.

Complain all you want about RTE but go and live in a non English speaking country and you'll really appreciate it.

Agree totally with this.

Did the Australia backpacking for a year and their TV is absolute muck.

Also lived in Netherlands for 7 years, at the time (Early 2000's),Benny Hill and Hello Hello was still being shown on prime time tv.

Their commercial stations full of showbiz news, american imports and premium line phone quizes, like Play TV used to be on here.

3 x publicly funded national stations had some interesting documentaries but had a very poor line -up with poorly produced news programmes and lots of people just sitting around a table talking.

Really people complain here about RTE but would miss it if abroad.

desertcircus

Netflix turns a profit charging me 84 quid a year. RTE charges me twice that for Love/Hate and rugby coverage fronted by George Hook and still needs advertising income.

kneemos

desertcircus wrote: »

Netflix turns a profit charging me 84 quid a year. RTE charges me twice that for Love/Hate and rugby coverage fronted by George Hook and still needs advertising income.

More customers.

D1stant

murpho999 wrote: »

Agree totally with this.

Did the Australia backpacking for a year and their TV is absolute muck.

Also lived in Netherlands for 7 years, at the time (Early 2000's),Benny Hill and Hello Hello was still being shown on prime time tv.

Their commercial stations full of showbiz news, american imports and premium line phone quizes, like Play TV used to be on here.

3 x publicly funded national stations had some interesting documentaries but had a very poor line -up with poorly produced news programmes and lots of people just sitting around a table talking.

Really people complain here about RTE but would miss it if abroad.

Exactly. Not to mention the advert-dripping drivel served on 200 channels in the US

In some ways it is good to get compared to the BBC. It raises the bar

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

It's just another bill to pay but in the form of coercion, I can just throw my phone in the river, no more phone bills for me, I can not have the internet which means no internet bills, not have a 3DTV ect. It's the having to pay for Miriam's free childcare or go to jail which grinds my gears.

Is it Finucane who does a few hours a week (a few hours a week) on the radio (on the radio) for hundreds of thousands of euro, who the hell is she competing with on the radio at the weekend, Henry McKean gets paid in sandwiches over at Newstalk.

I don't listen to Joe but he most likely actually earns his salary in advertising and probably does his Jesus tv show for nothing extra but most of 'the top talent' at RTE get paid more than they deserve.

Nobody cares what Trevor Welsh gets paid at TV3 because we don't pay his wages. I ****ing love Trevor Welsh.

kneemos

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

It's just another bill to pay but in the form of coercion, I can just throw my phone in the river, no more phone bills for me, I can not have the internet which means no internet bills, not have a 3DTV ect. It's the having to pay for Miriam's free childcare or go to jail which grinds my gears.

Is it Finucane who does a few hours a week (a few hours a week) on the radio (on the radio) for hundreds of thousands of euro, who the hell is she competing with on the radio at the weekend, Henry McKean gets paid in sandwiches over at Newstalk.

I don't listen to Joe but he most likely actually earns his salary in advertising and probably does his Jesus tv show for nothing extra but most of 'the top talent' at RTE get paid more than they deserve.

Nobody cares what Trevor Welsh gets paid at TV3 because we don't pay his wages. I ****ing love Trevor Welsh.

Miles better presenters on TV3 and newstalk.
Very few of RTE's crew would get a job anywhere else yet they're paid a massive wage so they don't jump ship?

Mint Sauce

The Glass Key wrote: »

Whats RTE? Only have FTA satellite so don't watch it and don't miss it either.

Think only thing I have watched on RTE since getting FTA was the odd movie over Christmas, Ireland Internationals in Rugby and Football, and Gaelic Football.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

kneemos wrote: »

Miles better presenters on TV3 and newstalk.
Very few of RTE's crew would get a job anywhere else yet they're paid a massive wage so they don't jump ship??????????????????????????????

Needs more question marks.

Kenny is good, still had to take a cut. Who would pay Derek Mooney a few hundred thousand 'to jump ship'. Dobbo the same. They seem like nice guys but that doesn't justify the inflated salaries we all pay.

If someone else is paying I don't care what someone is paid.

MOH

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The Clinic, Love/Hate and Mrs. Brown's Boys, for starters.

Leaving aside Mrs Brown's Boys being dire, it's a BBC production (albeit in partnership with RTE) that's produced in the UK. Hardly home grown.

There's a few things that are OK, mainly factual - some of their sports coverage is decent, occasional documentaries.

But in general they're a farce. They can't even manage to stick to their advertised schedule. I've frequently recorded programmes or films to find the end missing. The year they had Lost ahead of Sky they were advertising the scheduled time everywhere for weeks beforehand, then started it 5 minutes early. The 9 o'clock news (or whatever it's called these days) starts anything up to 5 past.
Doesn't help that they take BBC soaps that fit into a half hour slot on BBC and allocate a half hour slot on RTE, with ads before, during and after. Then surprisingly everything after runs late.

Their scheduling is a nightmare anyway, especially for imported shows. Both 24 and The West Wing used to jump time slots and even between days on a weekly basis. How many shows have they bought and buried in late night slots? While prime time is full of repeats of Fr Ted.

Most of their chat shows seem to consist of RTE personalities interviewing other RTE personalities. Massively overpaid 'stars'. Endless 'reality' programmes, about 70% of which seem to involve property in some way.

Unimaginative, repetitive, boring.

So to answer the OP's question, I guess it is a national gem. Bloated, incompetent, worth nowhere near the amount we pay for it every year, it fits in well with our other gems.

desertcircus

kneemos wrote: »

More customers.

Which is a fairly clear signal that three taxpayer-funded TV channels is wildly excessive in a market of less than five million. There's a case for a domestic channel, but I'm not convinced there's a case for more than one.

AnonoBoy

I think if we didn't have RTE we'd have to invent it to give people on the internet something to bitch and moan about.

thegreatgonzo

Daqster wrote: »

My Dad used to love watching Nationwide and I have taken the baton from him on that and watch it whenever I can. I used to hate the thought of it but now I quite like it. It's a very positive show and regularly has episodes dedicated to people who started their own businesses and stuff like that.

What? It's good.

I'm getting old amn't I

I like it too but then my favourite programme is Countryfile on BBC1 which is like a combination of Nationwide, Ear to the Ground and Tracks and Trails. I'm getting old too obviously. I like its lack of pretension more than anything else.

Mr Pseudonym

Irish Halo wrote: »

a) The RI Lectures have very little to do with the BBC (being organised by the RI since 1825)
b) BBC actually ditched them in 1999 and were not broadcast by them again till 2010 and then relegated to BBC Four

I'm a fan of the BBC but to give them credit for something started almost 100 years before they were founded, do not bear the brunt of the costs for and have little to no input on is unfair.

I'm aware of that. My point was that RTE could emulate the BBC in filming unaffiliated events: Oxygen, public lectures in universities, etc. As it happens, I think RTE would be able to organise a RI lecture equivalent quite cheaply - bus 200 kids into Montrose, get some engaging uni lecturer to do some experiments, film it (!), and it could become a staple of Irish TV.

I wasn't giving BBC credit for it. I was merely rebuking RTE for not doing something I thought they obviously should have.

--Kaiser--

If you think RTE is worth the money the TV license demands then you are an idiot. And the occasional mediocre documentary (The Summit) or TV series (Love/Hate) doesn't mitigate that fact

aaronjumper

I think that the "If you think RTE is bad you should watch (insert random countrys national channel)" is not really a valid arguement.

Basically defending RTE on the basis that there is worse out there.

rubadub

Banjo String wrote: »

I say make them a subscriber only channel.

Let's see exactly How many would 'be happy to pay' to watch it.

kneemos wrote: »

Market is too small for a subscription service..

I don't see how it is too small? it already is in effect a compulsory subscription service, the idiots squandering a fortune on admin collecting it. If its to be forced upon us by law then at least just cover it with normal taxation.

Subscription was already investigated 10 years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Criticism

The associated opinion poll recorded agree:disagree percentages of 54:29 for the statement "Public Broadcasting should be financed by the licence fee."[32] Respondents were asked what level of monthly fee they would be prepared to pay to receive RTÉ if subscription access were hypothetically to replace the licence fee: the annualised mean and median household figures were €180 and €252.60, compared to the then licence fee of €150, with those who frequently watched RTE programs most willing to pay[

RTE have a false sense of popularity, people are forced to pay for it so might not be able to afford additional (optional) subscriptions. Some might be able to afford it but then if they are watching other services they are in effect wasting their current subscription. If the government had a cooker licence and supplied you with mediocre food each day then many would eat it, so the "eating figures" would be high, this doesn't meant the food is liked and good quality, people might not want to waste it and so just make do, or cannot afford other food ontop of the "cooker licence fee". I said before it they showed a video of a dog running around a garden in the late late time slot they would get thousands of viewers.

nelly17

in Answer to your question OP:NO its sheite and I resent having to pay for the those arrogant pricks in Montrose

Fr. Ned

RTE is nothing more than the state propaganda machine.

It'll never question the government of the day in any meaningful way, way too afraid of the consequences for it's overpaid 'stars'.

Cian92

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

wtf are the first two

You're telling me you've never heard of the clinic or love hate? Are you living under a rock?

MrCreosote

aaronjumper wrote: »

I think that the "If you think RTE is bad you should watch (insert random countrys national channel)" is not really a valid arguement.

Basically defending RTE on the basis that there is worse out there.

Well what are you supposed to compare it to if not other countries' public broadcasting services? And forget about the licence fee- other countries without a licence fee fund their services via taxation, so it's effectively the same thing.

Red Alert

I'm delighted to be in Co. Louth, and getting overspill of the BBC and more stuff from the North. (You can also do this with a dish and FreeSat receiver without needing to pay Sky.)

RTE needs to stop making eejit-promotion shows like Republic Of Telly and remove that cretin who "presents" the Late Late show.

Cantona's Collars

Rte's philosophy: Let's clog up the primetime slots with stuff of minimal interest with the odd special that might be of some use to viewers.
Buy in quality shows from abroad & stick them on at stupid o' clock so viewers with access to satellite channels will watch them there at a reasonable hour.
Use up over 2 hours of a Friday night with a chat show that is neither entertaining or serious,fill Saturday night with another chat show for those that didn't make the grade to appear on Friday night's one.

sadie06

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

If you think RTE is worth the money the TV license demands then you are an idiot. And the occasional mediocre documentary (The Summit) or TV series (Love/Hate) doesn't mitigate that fact

You really think The Summit was mediocre? No wonder you think RTÉ is so woeful. You obviously have impossibly high standards. ;-)

I am no big fan of RTÉ as most of the time it doesn't cater to my tastes (no one channel fully does) but it does cater to the masses. I am regularly bored to tears listening to conversations about The Voice, Fair City, or even worse Brendan O'Connor and whatever nobody he had on, but that's life. People lap this stuff up.

I am intrigued that some people are critical of the style of delivery on the RTÉ news. I for one am delighted that our newsreaders maintain a serious tone and haven't tried to imitate the story-telling American style of delivery.