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

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Comments

  • #122
    johnpatrick81
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,752 ✭✭✭johnpatrick81


    That’s a pretty substantial poll :D

    Honestly the license fee has gotten so extortionate that it deserves water charges level of protest.

    Disgraceful waste of money.

    Tv3 cover most of the needs now. News and current affairs are on a par or surpassing RTÉ.

    Their rugby and soccer coverage is far better.

    How much are we paying incompetent idiots like George Hamilton to travel around Europe and the world to watch soccer matches? The man was never great but lately you’d get a better commentary from a blind donkey. He’s clearly not fit to do the job anymore.

    Dead wood all over the shop on massive wages.

    It’s sickening.


  • #123
    TallGlass
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,935 ✭✭✭TallGlass


    Hitman3000 wrote: »
    I think we are inundated with such amazing talent we should be grateful an organisation such as the BBC has not felt brave enough to attempt to poach them.

    Pinch who exactly? Based of trends, Tubbs has done a few cover gigs for the BBC on the radio side of things.

    If RTE want to spend mad money that is fine by me, once they are performing. Tubbs to me is, he puts in the effort as best he can with RTE (in fairness it is more than likely RTE holding him back). As for some of the others, not a hope.

    But forget about that for a second, we pay RTE a set fee, and they manage there own finances.

    Now they are seeing a problem, and Dee is going the path of least resistance, which is me and you, the taxpayer. She knows she won't get anywhere cost cutting in RTE as it's wrapped up in union and management clicks, so the tax payer is on the front line for a hit.

    Someone needs to do a NTA on RTE and start a separation, it may take 40/50 years but my children will be better off in the long run and maybe even RTE.

    Look at these state organisations, the Garda is falling apart daily, the HSE, the director general is also a board member of a US health firm, and god help him he had to take a leave of absence from his US role. I mean, how does that even happen, that's a conflict of interest right there let alone the size of the HSE, how can you have time for anything else?

    ROI to me is the land of the mugged. Place is in ****, but yet we all live in lala land like it's fine.


  • #124
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,407 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    Atoms for Peace wrote: »
    Their late night and early morning music shows are decent.


    I think they just broadcast Radio Gold through the night.

    Newstalk do repeats of their shows,they being a talk station and all.


  • #125
    Kivaro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,105 ✭✭✭Kivaro


    The arrogance and condescension in RTE is overbearing. They are aghast when their liberal tainted polls/views do not match up with the majority of Irish people opinions. They brush it aside with a "they must be re-educated to our way of thinking then" mentality.

    What bothers me most is that some Government policies are in part driven by "influences" within RTE. Government ministers wrongly believe that RTE are the voice of the people, where I see them generally to be the opposite.

    Another poster talked about the morbid topics and presenters who try to push the world's negativity on top of us. I understand that bad news sells and there is a lot of it around, but RTE takes it to the extreme.

    I've noticed, as I switched off RTE years ago, the amount of very professional and engaging reporters/presenters from Ireland who work for the likes of France 24 and other similar outlets. These people were mostly young and intelligent and attractive, but wouldn't have stood a chance in hell of getting a job with "our" national broadcaster because they didn't fit the RTE mould.

    The rot within the RTE quango is so deep that the organisation needs to be dissolved completely and then a leaner, more representative self-sufficient and practical entity needs to arise and replace it.


  • #126
    JohnMc1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    Ulysses Gaze wrote: »
    Of course the majority of any license fee increase will to be pay for the monstrous pensions that RTE have to dish out.

    The irony is that the majority of RTE's "stars" are unabashed Socialists. Let them put their money where their mouths are and work for free then.


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  • #127
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,407 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    ligerdub wrote: »
    I'm not sure if the licence fee has any contribution towards the general upkeep of general signals required to provide TV services of any kind to the people of Ireland. If it does then it has a material impact on the the value of the licence fee. For the purposes of what I'll post in the next few paragraphs I'm going to assume that non-RTE channels receive no benefit from the licence fee, including any costs required to maintain their service to customers here.

    There are a few different problems I have with the licence fee in general. First off there is the threatening advertisement that the requirement of a tv licence "is the law, and one of the terms and conditions of living in the Republic of Ireland". Well that's not true for starters.

    The quality of programming has taken a marked decline since Forbes took over. I've also seen her own blog style posts appear on the main page of the RTE website. This isn't a personal website, it's the website of the national broadcaster. Their website is quite fond of certain narratives being shared in their "Lifestyle" or "Opinion" piece. These are generally on the same slants, and notably never allow for any comments at the bottom. They also conveniently state that the views don't represent the views of RTE..........why put it on your site then??! By way of a quick scan through of recent examples:

    - Karl Marx, a gushing tribute to the man.

    - "Can't Cope, Won't Cope hails all female-driven team" - self-explanatory

    - "Comic on the genius and absurdity of being a woman" - some female stand-up comedian, that's noteworthy apparently.

    - "Why Beyonce Matters" - a dreadful piece

    - A few articles on the disparity in pay between the 2 main actors in "The Crown", as well as a few around the Navratilova/BBC non-issue.

    - "Lottie will be running amok on Can't Stop Dancing" - Gerry Ryan will never depart RTE, and for some reason they want us to believe that we want all of their kids to be successful in the entertainment industry. We've seen 2 of his daughters and 1 of his sons promoted on their site for some reason. It's not like Ryan was particularly talented or ubiquitously popular. He was at best a reasonably popular guy, in the mould of an Ian Dempsey or Dave Fanning. Nice guys and all, but not remarkable. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the level of nepotism is unbelievable in Montrose.

    Forbes has also strongly pursued a feminist agenda, with gender quotas for programming, salary and positions front and centre. We've seen all sorts of crap promoted as elite level stuff and presented people as national treasures, Huberman, "Can't Cope, Won't Cope", Alison Spittle. We've seen plenty of rubbish from guys too, but they rarely get the same level of faux fanfare.

    If RTE was truly this impartial organisation then we wouldn't have seen the endless unnecessary anti-Trump, anti-Brexit stuff from them. When it comes to stuff from home then it has largely done well to remain apolitical, but even that is under threat I feel.

    I consider it anti-competitive to demand a payment for a service, and only then can people use the services of their competitor. What if I want to sign-up to Sky Sports or the like but I have absolutely zero interest in anything RTE produce, to the point where I'd be happy to limit any signal into the house? Why should I have to pay for something I want, and then something I don't want because of that?

    If there was no such thing as RTE up until now and we had the option of watching the likes of Sky, then there would be absolutely no way that people would put up with a situation where we'd suddenly have to fork out dosh for this brand new state broadcaster with Tubs et al on show....and the best part being you have to pay for it if you want to keep watching the other stuff. The licence fee is from an era when the only option was RTE, and then at a later point the option of BBC and a small number of UK channels. In 2018 there is an absolutely huge amount of choice for the viewer.

    There's very little that RTE shows which of sufficient quality, and that can't be found through other means. It is kept going simply on the basis that people haven't dissented enough to move to a better model.


    The feminist leaning might explain the complete absence of any men on news bulletins.
    Seem to have opted for the generic and "professional looking" two women in primary colours. God knows who they're copying with that one,Sky or something.


  • #128
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    I rarely watch anything on RTE, haven't done in years. I tried watching the Late Late Show for the debate last week on RTE Player.

    9 and a half minutes of unskippable ads. Along side the banners, and whathave you. **** right off.


  • #129
    Venom
    Registered Users Posts: 6,984 ✭✭✭Venom


    kneemos wrote: »
    The feminist leaning might explain the complete absence of any men on news bulletins.
    Seem to have opted for the generic and "professional looking" two women in primary colours. God knows who they're copying with that one,Sky or something.

    It's crazy that the very recent revamp of the Six One news programme by a station that's losing money year after year, would copy some outdated US news format when all the other channels in the same region such as TV3, BBC, Sky and Channel 4 have only one news anchor these days. This would have been an obvious way to save 200-300k per year for any other company and yet another example that no matter how much the public purse is raided by RTE, spending their budget wisely will never happen.


  • #130
    Sephiroth_dude
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,956 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    They could start by reducing tubby's salary and she reducing her own!


  • #131
    briany
    Registered Users Posts: 13,506 ✭✭✭✭briany


    For Forks Sake wrote: »
    image.jpg

    I bet RTE could somehow make this static image stutter on the Player.


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  • #132
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,383 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    The fee is far too high for starters. Why not implement a % charge of Sky packages or something like that? €160 or whatever it is is a lot of money for something as frivolous as a tv license and in the era of free social media 24:7 I fail to see why the taxpayer needs to be supporting a TV station at all. Hospitals, education, infrastructure etc yes. Tv stations no.


  • #133
    road_high
    Registered Users Posts: 19,383 ✭✭✭✭road_high


    Venom wrote: »
    It's crazy that the very recent revamp of the Six One news programme by a station that's losing money year after year, would copy some outdated US news format when all the other channels in the same region such as TV3, BBC, Sky and Channel 4 have only one news anchor these days. This would have been an obvious way to save 200-300k per year for any other company and yet another example that no matter how much the public purse is raided by RTE, spending their budget wisely will never happen.

    Yes talk about taking something that used be fairly reasonable quality and making it worse. It’s like two very bland robots have taken over the show. I miss Ann Doyle!


  • #134
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,407 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    road_high wrote: »
    Yes talk about taking something that used be fairly reasonable quality and making it worse. It’s like two very bland robots have taken over the show. I miss Ann Doyle!


    I feel slightly embarrassed for them having to wear those dresses. God knows how they feel.


  • #135
    briany
    Registered Users Posts: 13,506 ✭✭✭✭briany


    road_high wrote: »
    The fee is far too high for starters. Why not implement a % charge of Sky packages or something like that? €160 or whatever it is is a lot of money for something as frivolous as a tv license and in the era of free social media 24:7 I fail to see why the taxpayer needs to be supporting a TV station at all. Hospitals, education, infrastructure etc yes. Tv stations no.

    As people have been learning, social media is anything but free. It's just the cost is not an up front one.


  • #136
    kippy
    Registered Users Posts: 18,381 ✭✭✭✭kippy


    briany wrote: »
    As people have been learning, social media is anything but free. It's just the cost is not an up front one.

    Social media is free, as in there is no monetary value associated with using it......


  • #137
    Sephiroth_dude
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,956 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    GavRedKing wrote: »
    Was it someone form RTE that said they have to pay these prices because they'll go elsewhere, where and who would pay someone like Ray D'arcy.

    Let them go else where, bunch of talentless fools!


  • #138
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    Maybe there’s an exemption or something, but shouldn’t all those contracts be put out to public tender?
    It’s a public body, using public money.

    So surely they should be inviting tenders for any contracted presentation jobs every x years.

    It’s different where someone’s a full time or part time employee, but where a someone is employed via a production company / as a contractor, I would have assumed that a tender has to be carried out.

    Perhaps I’m wrong?


  • #139
    Venom
    Registered Users Posts: 6,984 ✭✭✭Venom


    road_high wrote: »
    The fee is far too high for starters. Why not implement a % charge of Sky packages or something like that? €160 or whatever it is is a lot of money for something as frivolous as a tv license and in the era of free social media 24:7 I fail to see why the taxpayer needs to be supporting a TV station at all. Hospitals, education, infrastructure etc yes. Tv stations no.

    If SKY and Virgin Media were to implement an RTE charge, I could only see it working along the lines of their sport and movie packages with an opt-in subscription for customers. I honestly doubt many people would sign up for it.

    Social media is only free because the user is the product.


  • #140
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    I was looking at my Sky bill recently and it will be getting the chop. Far too expensive and I no longer really get any value for it either as I mostly watch Netflix and find I’ve 900+ channels of junk that I can’t even navigate easily as it’s way too many to have as linear television broadcasts.

    Sky Q is also only OK. I find it’s hard to search without a proper keyboard and it keeps turning up results that mix scheduled programmed and on demand shows in an illogical way.

    In general I think broadcast (linear) TV is dying and will be online only very soon.

    RTE need to refocus on its core mission - public service. It’s one of the areas that will survive but, stop wasting public money on poor quality programming that can be done better 100% commercially elsewhere.


  • #141
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    Gerry Ryan's daughter Lottie was given a job in RTE based on who her father was. This isn't how I want my taxpayers money spent. We recently hear of the secret RTE insider going on Twitter to talk about waste at RTE.

    In other words I believe there's a huge sense of entitlement, over paying staff and mismanagement of funds at RTE. I also believe there's a complete lack of will to do anything about that. So no, they don't deserve more money.


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  • #142
    dublinbuster
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 168 ✭✭dublinbuster


    grahambo wrote: »

    Obviously we cannot get rid of RTE as there are a great many people that do use the service.


    Why not?
    lot of people pay for Sky Sports, best of luck to them , thats what they want.
    I have no desire to watch Sky Sports so i dont subscribe to it.
    If these people want RTE let them pay a Subscription for it, and the rest of us can have nothing to do with RTE


  • #143
    dublinbuster
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 168 ✭✭dublinbuster


    I have zero capability to receive RTE tv in my house, listen to CDs in the car, why should i or anyone else be forced to pay for the the dross that the RTE stars put out


  • #144
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    I think you also have to remember that RTE evolved from Ireland’s nortoriously inefficient and ineffective - P&T - the entity that used to take several years to deliver a simple residential phone line and used antique telephone exchanges until 1981.

    Until the move to Donnybrook it was a part of the post office / telephone operation of the department.

    It became a semi state in 1960, but you’d wonder if it just inherited a lot of very odd management practices and systems.


  • #145
    Danny Donut
    Closed Accounts Posts: 117 ✭✭Danny Donut


    Just get rid of Tubridy abd D'Arcy. Have their slots covered on rotation by someone on a TUS scheme.


  • #146
    Discodog
    Registered Users Posts: 15,817 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    Sofiztikated wrote: »
    I rarely watch anything on RTE, haven't done in years. I tried watching the Late Late Show for the debate last week on RTE Player.

    9 and a half minutes of unskippable ads. Along side the banners, and whathave you. **** right off.

    I was looking forward to The Handmaid's Tale. Couldn't record it so tried live & the ads killed it. Tried the player & the ads killed it. Decided to wait for UK Channel 4


  • #147
    briany
    Registered Users Posts: 13,506 ✭✭✭✭briany


    kippy wrote: »
    Social media is free, as in there is no monetary value associated with using it......

    Well, not for us there's not, but some social media platforms are raking it in with the ad money all that detailed user data gets them.


  • #148
    JohnMc1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    steddyeddy wrote: »
    Gerry Ryan's daughter Lottie was given a job in RTE based on who her father was. This isn't how I want my taxpayers money spent. We recently hear of the secret RTE insider going on Twitter to talk about waste at RTE.

    In other words I believe there's a huge sense of entitlement, over paying staff and mismanagement of funds at RTE. I also believe there's a complete lack of will to do anything about that. So no, they don't deserve more money.

    The only way to reform RTE is to starve the beast. Stop paying and when they can barely afford to keep the lights on they'll have to reform.


  • #149
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    I think we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Public service broadcasting has a role, and perhaps a more important one than ever, if it can provide goof quality news and current affairs against a backdrop of online chaos.

    The problem is we seem to have a public service broadcaster that is focused on many of the wrong things, that can’t seem to distinguish between what’s a public service and what’s using public money to compete with viable commercial services and that seems to be unable to drive decent online content, despite having a very large overall budget.

    RTE needs to look at what it is. It’s no longer 1960 and it needs to completely rethink what it is all about.

    I mean what is the public service value of 2fm or of rebroadcasting mainstream bought in commercial programming ?

    If you want to run RTE 2 and 2FM, run them on a purely commercial basis with all profits going transparently into the public service channels with the aim of REDUCING the license fee. They should be seen as a totally separate commercial enterprise that is just an investment and revenue stream. I would actually spin them out as a different company entirely.

    If they sink they sink. You sell them or write them off. You don’t subsidize them.

    There still seems to be a mentality that they're somehow the only show in town and need to provide all broadcasting services. That hasn't been the case for decades, and in reality never was as they were always up against UK stations, then commercial "pirate" radio, then a genuinely multichannel environment and now the internet.

    I'd have no issue with the licence fee, if it were funding public service broadcasting. For example, I'd LOVE to see more money going into things like news, documentary making, quality factual programming, quality kids programming, good arts programming and so on.

    Lashing money on celebrity is something that can be left to commercial outlets.


  • #150
    Sephiroth_dude
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,956 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    Biggest mistake RTE ever made was letting Dermot Morgan go!


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  • #151
    _Kaiser_
    Registered Users Posts: 28,647 ✭✭✭✭_Kaiser_


    EdgeCase wrote: »
    Sky Q is also only OK. I find it’s hard to search without a proper keyboard and it keeps turning up results that mix scheduled programmed and on demand shows in an illogical way.

    Sky Q is shockingly bad IMO given the money Sky get/have. I got it in as part of switching my broadband package (it was free basically) and the interface is a mess, it regularly seems to drop off the Irish channels entirely, and I barely use it. It's far , far inferior to the now "outdated" Sky+HD box. I did get the installer to retain my Freesat setup though so once the 12 months is up, Sky Q will be getting dropped.

    If I could get a monitor that was basically my Samsung 48" TV without the tuners but with the apps (Plex mostly) I'd probably never watch RTE or live (non-FTA) TV again.. but last I checked such monitors were still well over a thousand quid.

    RTE though is not even worth the money they DO collect. I see posters above talking about how we "need" an impartial news service with public service television.. but RTE is neither of these, what with it's biased/agenda-driven reporting, weak interviewing of politicians (especially during whatever the latest scandal is), reality TV shyte (much of which is only fueling the same property obsession that crashed this country a decade ago!), and US/UK TV imports of shows that are available through UK channels or Netflix/Amazon.


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