Irish TV stinks

Telefís

Absolutely - and most of their studio productions look like they're coming from a hastily converted front room. At least their 'limited' production facilities are a somewhat acceptable factor, but RTÉ is utterly inexcusable. They're the national public broadcaster, and have international standard facilities.

TV3 News though is far superior production-wise to RTÉ in terms of on-air operations (not design) - they are professional and generally blunderless. That's because they're staffed by young, multiskilled people who are interested in what they're doing. In RTÉ the dodgery aul ones in the various control rooms couldn't care less.

OFDM

One good thing I saw on RTE recently was the promo for Jaws, they made it look like it was a buddy movie about threes guys going on a boat trip. The bit were compared scares was priceless.

Good promo script (except for the last line), good editing, more of this type of intelligent promoing is what's needed.

Lump Basher

OFDM wrote:

The bit were compared scares was priceless.

What? That doesn't make sense.

Mossy Monk

Atrocity wrote:

So we're in agreement on one thing:

both R.T.E. AND TV3 suck

it's unfair on RTÉ to put them at TV3's level

RTÉ do show some good programmes

Atrocity

One good thing I saw on RTE recently was the promo for Jaws, they made it look like it was a buddy movie about threes guys going on a boat trip.

They tried to do the same thing that those students did with The Shining (that was one of the best things I ever saw)
R.T.E.'s one was a bit poor but at least they're trying

SprostonGreen

One thing I genuinely dislike about RTE is only a minor thing, but it gets to me.

On The Premiership, when they're doing the analysis action replay, the have one soundtrack for the action, which is totally different from the match that being covered. So you end up the star player putting the ball in the back of the net, only to hear a chorus of boo's.

penguinbloke

One good thing I saw on RTE recently was the promo for Jaws, they made it look like it was a buddy movie about threes guys going on a boat trip. The bit were compared scares was priceless.

Still it had nothing on the ad they had for Rambo a couple of months ago with the theme from "the greatest american hero"

RTÉ is pretty much a mixed bag and in fairness they do buy some very good shows but they don't treat them with enough respect. For example CSI, other than the Quentin Tarantino season Finale did they show any of that series? and if so when was it on? as I for one did not see it advertised...

[edit]Here is a link to that shining thing[/edit]

Elmo

I never though of JAWS before like that. But I don't like JAWS.

For example CSI, other than the Quentin Tarantino season Finale did they show any of that series? and if so when was it on? as I for one did not see it advertised...

andrew.fitzpatrick@rte.ie and dermot.horan@rte.ie

The haven't even begun to show that season of CSI.

The last episode of MEDIUM to be shown before XMAS was To Be Continued.....

What replaces the show in the new year Boston Legal.

RTE have yet to finish with The Practice and their already showing the first season of the spin off. :rolleyes:

Yes I will agrue that RTE, TG4 and even TV3 have alot to offer. But they constantly fall short.

Scobie

andrew.fitzpatrick@rte.ie and dermot.horan@rte.ie

Yeah, these guys are responsible for scheduling on RTE. RTE1, not so bad, RTE2 a fiasco.

Jazzy

the panal = poor mans have i got news for you
good quality irish program by rte = Paths to freedom

OFDM

Lump Basher wrote:

What? That doesn't make sense.

Damn right. It should have read:
"The bit where they compared SCARS was priceless"

OFDM

Scobie wrote:

andrew.fitzpatrick@rte.ie and dermot.horan@rte.ie

Yeah, these guys are responsible for scheduling on RTE. RTE1, not so bad, RTE2 a fiasco.

To be honest the scheduling for both RTE 1 and RTE 2 is disasterous. Fitzpatrick's and Horan's contracts should not be renewed.

limerick_man

in all fairness, tv3 have a slightly different budget compared to RTÉ, plus they are still working on paying off the set up costs!!!

Ruskie4Rent

to be honest, they're well ahead of british tv with Lost and the West Wing and most shows from america so i don't really get bothered by rte that much.

it's the homegrown shows that are hopeless, especially the ones that try to be FUNKY or GROOVY like those dating shows. they remind me of the meteor adds. Oh, and what happeed to the DEN, now i can be HIP and watch ID where it has COOL presenters, who obvously were found just outside the rte buildings in
Donybrook
Dublin 4

rant ove.

OFDM

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

to be honest, they're well ahead of british tv with Lost and the West Wing and most shows from america so i don't really get bothered by rte that much.

But look at the stupidly late time they put on most of these shows.

The classic example is That 70's Show: it gets good rating for the first few seasons when it was on before Friends, then they started moving it around all over the schedule and it understandably loses ratings as a result. RTE axe it, don't show a new episode for two years, then they buy the next two seasons and show it at 2am on a Monday morning.

The RTE schedulers have their heads firmly concreted up their asses.

Ruskie4Rent

I also noticed that. When they are on to something good, they screw around with it.

pork99

Yer all missin the point about RTE TV3 TG4 being mostly sh1te - it provides plenty of fodder for Colin Murphy's brilliant Blizzard of Odd (best prog on Irish TV imho). That's what it's there for. Speaking of which it's on in 15 minutes

Ruskie4Rent

yahoo.

Ruskie4Rent

it might be the last episode?
IRISH TV BITES TESTICLES!!!

SprostonGreen

OFDM wrote:

But look at the stupidly late time they put on most of these shows.

The classic example is That 70's Show: it gets good rating for the first few seasons when it was on before Friends, then they started moving it around all over the schedule and it understandably loses ratings as a result. RTE axe it, don't show a new episode for two years, then they buy the next two seasons and show it at 2am on a Monday morning.

The RTE schedulers have their heads firmly concreted up their asses.

Exactly!

Six Feet Under started on RTE as a competitor to Dunphy's chat show on TV3, 10pm Fridays. Next its switched to Thursday/Fridays ranging from 23:50, 23:55 or 0.10 you never really new. Finally it ends up at 3am Saturday morning. This one of the greatest shows in the last ten years. :rolleyes:

Kojak

pork99 wrote:

Yer all missin the point about RTE TV3 TG4 being mostly sh1te - it provides plenty of fodder for Colin Murphy's brilliant Blizzard of Odd (best prog on Irish TV imho). That's what it's there for.

At least they are good for someting.

Some of the programmes they come up with are pure sh1t. Example: The Last Furlong, The Big Bow-Wow etc.

Then TV3 have UK cast offs, i.e. Celebrity Love Island (Pile of sh1t), old, old episodes of Parkinson.

elurhs

I agree 100% with the comments on RTE2 scheduling. I must admit it’s one of my pet hates, the way they show a decent programme in a certain timeslot (say 10pm) and just when it’s built up a following it gets shoved out to a graveyard slot at 2am on a Tuesday morning. Madness! I reckon they make the excuse that they have to make room for new programmes. Well, I think they have some sort of a blind spot for the 7pm to 9pm slot on RTE2, as all they ever show there is frigging wildlife programmes. Most people are home from work and relaxing at this time. This is technically regarded as “primetime” and as a result, soaps are shown on all the other channels. Now half the country loves soaps and half can’t stand them, but RTE make an attempt to tap into this potential audience? Do they heck! For all the criticism we give the US, their soaps are largely confined to the daytime. The West Wing is shown at 8 pm in the US, unlike here where it floats around the 11 pm slot.

With that out of the way, there is a lot to recommend about Irish TV. RTE sport is almost uniformly excellent, destroying the Beeb and ITV when it comes to soccer, and showing a much wider range of sport than either of them. Whatever about the time they show them, they are consistently ahead of the UK channels with new American drama, almost every time. Current affairs is decent, and some of the documentaries can be very interesting. Granted some of their home grown stuff is rubbish, (Last Furlong, Stew), but some of it is very good (Pure Mule, Blizzard of Odd). The biggest waste of money at RTE is Fair City. Nuff said.

TV3, unfortunately, are a sham, with no home based programmes bar news and the unspeakable Ireland AM. They are the sh1t bits of UTV with sh1t filler. TG4 are the wild cards, with some offbeat, quirky stuff that can be very entertaining. I know TG4 is subsidised, but I imagine that TV3 can’t be that financially far off them. They should look at TG4 and hang their heads. I don’t think its lack of talent or skill that makes TV3 so bad, its lack of ambition.

limerick_man

Yeah, I think the government should stand in too. Ireland has always been known for our creative genius, look at how many Irish stars have impacted Hollywood, from acting over to music we are a tiny nation but on the world entertainment stage... we have our say!
Ireland is the land of oppurtunity, if you enter into the entertainment business here, your sure to get some work, whether you could live off it or not...!
People are blaming the channels too much, its up to the many production companies in this country to come up to the channels and submit stuff, not the channels to accept everything!!!!
I think production companies are too frightened to take a real chance with something, if the government would really step in and do something to get the business in this country moving, i mean look at the comical genuis this country has to work with!!!
People need to start focusing on the government to fork out to help with irish productions

father_ted9t9

And channel 6 is coming on air this spring also so that will add some new sice to the market

Channel 6, also marketed as Six, is an Irish cable and satellite television operation, intending to launch on the Dublin, Waterford and Cork cable systems formerly owned by NTL, and Sky Digital in spring 2006. Staffing and Marketing has begun in January 2006, and the station will Contain Irish home produced programming as well as US Series etc.

The channel was initially only licenced by Ofcom in the UK for Sky Digital operation, and as such would have been operating as a semi-pirate in broadcasting to Ireland. However, the BCI has granted the station a cable and MMDS broadcasting licence last year so it will be carried on NTL Analogue/ Digital and Sky Digital.
Its backers have been revealed to include the Gowan group, a motor dealership chain, and Barrys, a food and beverages company.

Ruskie4Rent

I'm tellin u the people in the ideas dept. of all the irish channels are as unorigional as sour cream and onion. They also treat the audience like idiots, even the late night chat shows are dumbed down(look at the late, late show's quiz) for no reason and any alternative has to be all metrosexual for the young go-getting audience (whatever the tv3 lad is called).

father_ted9t9 wrote:

And channel 6 is coming on air this spring also so that will add some new spice to the market

what happened to channel 5?

father_ted9t9

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

what happened to channel 5?

Channel 6 is called so not to conflict with the UK Channel 5 in the future. Also Setanta is officially the 5th tv station to get a license in ireland.

Mossy Monk

father_ted9t9 wrote:

would have been operating as a semi-pirate in broadcasting to Ireland

hahahahaha

rubbish

father_ted9t9

Explain please?

Bob Geldolf tried to start up a channel which would be based in dublin in 1998 called atomic tv. His plan was similar to Channel 6's from the point of view he was going to produce and transmit from dublin to UK then bounce it back to Ireland. The channel was stopped in the courts as it was seen as a type of Semi-Piracy, bypassing all broadcasting regulations here in Ireland.

Channel 6 had planned to do the same, but the BCI Then gave them a licence to broadcast here making it Fully legal.


The semi-piracy bit was from the angle that the station would be broadcasting FROM Ireland without a licence also not the fact it could be viewed in ireland

limerick_man

What about Chorus???

Mossy Monk

it doesnt matter where a license is obtained as long as it is in the EU

Elmo

The TV3 Budget

1. Est. 40,000,000 euro from advertising
2. 6.7million spent on staffing (175est staff)
3. 20,000,000 euro divide between each of the shareholders Irish Guys, Canwest and ITV.
4. rest spent on ITV programmes and American Programmes.

Now both RTE and TV3 could if they wanted increase their budgets for Irish Programming. It seems to me that TG4 is the only one that takes their Finances seriously.

Bob Geldof

If you are planning to set up a business in Ireland do not attempt to try to start one with Bob Geldof, someone high up in Irish Media doesn't like him.

He thought of Buy and Sell
He thought of Beat FM but that was given to WLRfm
He thought of C6
etc etc.

Telefís

TV3 most certainly could increase their output of Irish content - it is ludicrous that they can get away with what they do, or rather how little they do.
Their market share has been rising virtually unchecked since inception:

2000: 8%
2001: 10.4%
2002: 10.7%
2003: 13.4%
2004: 14%
2005: 13.3%

..and have probably broken even at this stage, if not profitable.
Yet its schedules have remained utterly stagnant. Again I'd put the case forward, as is the case with probably most people - if you listen to the radio in the morning (i.e. don't watch Ireland AM), and watch RTÉ Television News in the evenings, put simply TV3 doesn't make any Irish programmes at all. With the exception of The Political Party, and the exceptional foray into a one-off programme or two, TV3 might as well not be an Irish broadcaster at all.

This is what offends me so much about the station - yes it makes a contribution to the variety of programmes generally offered to television viewers, so in that context it is a mildly positive addition, but as a holder of an Irish national televisin licence, as a broadcaster based in Ireland, as a station employing Irish staff, and as purveyor of a signal beaming out to nearly every Irish household, it makes absolutely no contribution whatever to the Irish broadcasting landscape.
A very sad, and deeply unstatisfactory state of affairs.

The sooner the BCI get up off their lazy arses and do something about this the better. It is so egregious that they are permitted to fulfill their Irish content quota by dumping a three hour lifesyle programme in the depths of weekday mornings when no one is watching, it is just embarrassing.
The outrage has just been replaced with sheer embarrassment at this stage as far as I'm concerned - how we must look on an international level goodness only knows.

And they have the audcaity, the barefaced audacity to continue whinging about RTÉ, including bringing their 'case' the European Comission on at least two occasions in childish whinging-to-mammy-like fashion (both rejected needless to say). It truly beggars belief. Get a life TV3 - and grow up.

father_ted9t9

Mossy Monk wrote:

it doesnt matter where a license is obtained as long as it is in the EU

Actually you are incorrect Mossy Monk. A License is required from the Country of Origin, and if what you were saying was the case then why did Channel 6 get a license from OFCOM And then The BCI? Because they had to to be 100% Legal.

The loophole they were going to use, producing all content bouncing it through london and then back to Ireland was not 100% Legal under BCI Reg, but they could have got away with it!

Terry

does anyone know what RTE's budget is and how much they are paying the retired gay byrne? i can't believe he's still on the tv.

as for the scheduling on RTE, it's a complete and utter joke. why even buy these top american shows if they're going to air them in the early hours of the morning?

The news is a joke. "The Taoisach did this and the Tánaiste did that and now here are the GA results." What is going on in the real world please?

yeah, it's IRISH news on an IRISH channel. absolute disgrace.
i can't believe they didn't report on the man who was kicked in the shins in myanmar and the storm warning for the coast of argentina.

The owner of Supermacs lives down the road, in a big weirdly shaped house

the main house is shaped like a mighty mac and the gate house is shaped like a chicken nugget.

limerick_man

No, but actually i know you where joking but now i think of it... it looks like a thing of fries!!! hmmm... OMG, now i wanna walk down and have a look, but as far as i can remember...!

Elmo

Their market share has been rising virtually unchecked since inception

The continue to imploy the same amount of people.

They have relyed totally on ITV Imports to make gains in the market, without Coro St and Emmers and the Celeb, XFactor and other ITV **** that they show they have nothing really that they can lean on. If ITV up and sell up TV3 would be in a difficult position.

But then that's not going to happen.

1. The buy in their ITV shows for how much 10mill euro
2. They give 10mill in dividends to ITV

If TV3 want they can look like they have made a huge loss by giving their shareholders hugh increase in their Dividends.

does anyone know what RTE's budget is and how much they are paying the retired gay byrne? i can't believe he's still on the tv.

Well he isn't in their top 10 employees, which you can find on http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/index.html