RTE Revamp 2006

good point. if anyone wants to talk about the merits of TV3 or TG4 please do so in another thread

thanks

Absolutely – certainly anything like the scale of News 24 or Sky is off the cards, though an ‘information’ channel is still very much a possibility. How News would to relate to that is unclear, but it could run along the lines of the first 20-30 minutes of every hour being news, and the remainder standard programming. As we’ve seen, the Scandinavian broadcasters have had difficulty with rolling news on DTT and they’re in a similar market to RTÉ, even with larger audiences. In Denmark apparently the above limited model is being adopted.

The best we could hope for here, indeed all we really need here, are more regular bulletins on one of the additional channels, and a greater commitment to regional coverage – rather than constant rolling coverage which is simply unnecessary, let alone financially unfeasible. Apparently RTÉ’s proposals are currently before Cabinet…


Regarding the relaunch, it isn’t taking place to accommodate DTT – though it does conveniently coincide with it – but rather it’s simply time for a revamp. Three years have now passed which is the standard period, but moreover for what has been probably the worst news pres package ever concocted by the station, and they know it. It’s very much time to get rid!


To summarise on what we’ve established so far:

The set was transferred in the dark hours of last Sunday night from Studio 3 to a temporary studio elsewhere in the Television Building, leaving the regular facility free for refurbishment works.

The changeover has happened four weeks in advance of transmission of the new look in September, much longer than the typical two weeks RTÉ uses, suggesting a complex refit of both studio and news gallery.

This is mainly taking place to accommodate the introduction of 16:9 to RTÉ News which takes place in September – currently the last bastion of 4:3 in RTÉ along with its Nationwide arm. Most gallery equipment and all monitors have to be converted or replaced, and the five cameras likewise – I imagine they’re about 10 years old now anyway.

We’ve also stumbled on the tender issued by RTÉ a few months ago in search of large LED screens for use in the new studio design which pretty much fit exactly the dimensions of Studio 3. It is very interesting that they’re willing to spend this amount of cash, and that the pres of bulletins may way alter radically with use of graphics or even just a decent LED backdrop:

Publication Date: 31 May 2006

Radio Telefis Eireann, (RTE), Ireland's national Broadcasting Services, wishes to enter into technical dialogue with interested parties in consideration of purchasing an LED panel display approximately 13,8 metres long by 1,5 metres high for use as part of the set in a television news studio. As yet no firm decision has been taken as to the procurement specification that will be used. The contracting authority invites interested parties to contact us with a view to investigating options available. RTE will be particularly interested to here from companies who already provide such services to television broadcasters. The object of the technical dialogue will therefore be to enable RTE to assess all possible procurement variations.


They also recently issued a tender for improved sat and fibre links, again tying in nicely with what one would assume to be increased use of reporter stand-up acts and increased international coverage:

Publication Date: 4 July 2006

Radio Telefis Eireann, (RTE), Ireland's National Broadcasting Services, wishes to enter into technical dialogue with interested parties in consideration of acquiring contribution links for television and radio programme content acquisition, primarily sourced from Europe including but not confined to Ireland and the United Kingdom. Such capacity may include permanent leased satellite capacity, fixed and switchable fibre links together with occasional satellite and fibre capacity. As yet no firm decision has been taken as to the procurement specification or specifications that may be used. The contracting authority invites interested parties to contact us with a view to investigating options available. RTE will be particularly interested to hear from companies with experience of providing programme content contribution links solutions to broadcasters. The object of the dialogue will be to enable RTE to assess all possible procurement variations.

Good news given the appalling unreliability of current feeds – often going down mid-bulletin. International feeds also tend to have poor transfer quality with RTÉ for some reason. The station seems to be limited in booking times in their use of sats as highlighted a few times on Prime Times, so it’s good news in this regard too.

All in all, a very exciting September ahead!

Elmo wrote:

Unlike the BBC RTE also have commercial revenue (fair enough the BBC also sell DVDs and International Rights to shows and have BBC America, Canada et al which provide a major amount of commerical revenue).

But RTE spend est 25,000,000 euro on Foreign Imports, RTE has a major amount of Sporting event which they will fight for before letting Setanta take those rights (The BBC has little sporting events).

My plan suggest 3 VERY commerical stations for RTE, those stations would be set up to fund the 3 VERY PBS stations.

With 11,000 hours of Foreign Imports RTE could easily start up two new services with out taking very much revenue from RTE ONE or TWO. While they wouldn't be great TV stations my question would be what is so great about Digital TV so far?

Again while the model is taken from the BBC it would be workable, if thought about.

RTE ONE (Remain as is with no funding cuts)
RTE TWO (Remaining as is for a number of years until they can cut The Den)
RTE THREE (Providing shows for the 12 - 45 year age group, and then moving toward being The DEN during the day, Much of the TV station would be taken up with Prime Time showings of Late Night RTE ONE and TWO shows and repeats of RTE drama such as the clinic and pure mule, the weekends taken up with music) 06:00 - 12:00
RTE FOUR (Proving information, arts, 0-12 children's TV, repeats of factual programming from RTE ONE AND TWO). 06:00 - 12:00
RTE NEWS (As outlined)


RTE SPORT

Again RTE has a major amount of sport available to them, RTE TWO basically becomes a sports channel during the summer months. It would be free to air and could support itself but I will say that it isn't overly commerical.


Again at least 3 channels would have to be totally commerical and not receive funding from the Licence fee for this to work. And would provide revenue to the main PBS channels out of profits made.

TV3 and RTE TWO make nearly 60,000,000 EURO each in advertising reveune with 12% of the audience.

What would RTE 2 show during the day if the den was cut? Your proposition makes RTE 2 and 3 look the same and therefore a complete waste of money.

Although I would like to see an Irish news channel, it is realistically unlikey to happen. Sky News attains an average of 50,000 viewers at any given time during the day and the population of the UK is over 57 million...imagine what the ratings would be for an RTE News Channel with Irelands population. So any kind of news channel is out of the question.

After all, RTE provides regular news updates, several major bulletins on RTE1 and 2 and there is hourly news bulletins on Radio 1...not to mention teletext and the fairly impressive RTE News site.

What RTE needs is not more channels, but a huge improvement in the current output in terms of production values in homegrown programmes. What RTE could do IMO, is create a RTE 2 Plus 1 situation like E4 Plus 1. That would definitely be a hit IMO.

Elmo wrote:

Total waste of money to put up +1 channels. Waste of air space which provide nothing new or choice to the viewer which is what Digital TV is supposed to be.



And yet interestingly you want the same channel just an hour later??????

I am taking into account that not everyone would have Digital TV therefore RTE ONE AND TWO would have to remain as is for a few years. The Prime Time Schedule of RTE Three would be completely different.

As I have mentioned RTE spend 25,000,000 euro on 11,000 hours of foreign Imports. It would not be implausible for RTE to provide 2 new channels which would place shows like 24, Smallville, Alias, That 70's Show, Boston Legal, Law And Order, CSI: New York, The Practice, Grounded 4 Life, The West Wing, Medium, Boston Public, movies etc on during prime time without hurting RTE's budget.



RTE News would take advantage of this.



Sky News has BBC News, CNN etc to compete with RTE do not have any real competition in the news sector (in regards to National News), and they have the added advantage of the Brand (if that is an advantage????)

But yes you are right More money would always have to be invested into home produced shows for RTE One and RTE Two. I am suggesting that the Commercial channels stand on their own and either make a profit or break even.

Although your suggestions are constructive, they are unrealistic at the moment. You are comparing RTE's situation with the BBC, Sky ITV etc. In the UK, there are over 57 million people, so there is room for more channels and there is money to be made. This is not the situation in Ireland. When thinking about Ireland's television future, put it in context, don't try to compare it with the UK, RTE will never be able to compete with the UK.

By the way, BBC News 24 and CNN have pitiful viewer ratings like Sky News, so I stress that an RTE News Channel is a fanciful idea at the moment.

I find the Plus1 channels extremely beneficial and I think that they would be popular with viewers. If people have missed sport, films, new episodes of desperate housewives etc...plus1 RTE 2 channel would be a hit and would cost RTE nothing.

In additon, I would like to know where you're getting the figures on the amount spent on imported programmes. And even if it is that much, so what! RTE 2 are excellent at showing the American series first such as Friends, Desperate Housewives, Lost etc.

MYOB wrote:

Sky News and News24's UK viewing figures are misleading. Viewing figures are made from home users; yet the kind of audience that has Sky News or News24 on all day long is not in the home. How many newsagents, banks, gyms, office reception desks have you seen Sky News on a TV at?

And how many people do you see watching them?? Normally the volume is off anyway. The figures are not misleading.