General RTE Discussion

The Late Late Show

RTE have over the years given us a whole load of pure junk. That said and done, there is no doubt there is an audience for a lot of it but RTE do not cater much for other audiences. People keep watching things like Dancing With The Stars and the deplorable Operation Transformation and as long as that keeps happening, RTE will only cater for that audience even if 70-80% of the people hate these shows. People watch the chatshows out of tradition even if they do not have a good thing to say about them.

One does not really realise how awful TV can be until one comes across junk by accident. Turning on the TV to get ready to watch a good programme is how I discovered how awful things like Alison Spittle's Culchie Club and the Al Porter Show were. This out and out junk is far from being a one off and there are dozens of stupid so-called comedy on RTE 2 a lot of the time. Mrs Brown's Boys is there to prove RTE 1 comedy is no better.

Other people feel they 'have to' watch TV to get value out of the TV tax. These people tune into the drivel like the chatshows that promote the other drivel like Operation Transformation which they also tune in to to get 'value for money'. TV series like the silly and childish Culchie Club and the dour and oppressive Operation Transformation have more in common than one would think: they are made on a shoestring and all these awful series cost next to nothing to make. Yet, RTE want our money and give us cheaply made drivel. Where does our money go? Well, the answer to that is to the presenters of the cheaply made drivel we are served up.

All this cheaply made TV then can go on for months as we see with this Operation Transformation and Dancing With The Stars. And then, they have these things like The Cutting Edge to allow RTE's favourites to spout their agendas. Vile individuals like Katie Hopkins are often allowed airtime to spout hatred.

Now, all that said and done, none of the other channels are any better. 2 words often come to mind: Big Brother. 2 more words come to mind: Reality Television. Are we living in the post-traditional TV era where watching live TV is no longer what most people want to do? 30 years ago, people watched TV bigtime and the alternative was renting the odd violent film that TV would not show on VHS. People back then were content to watch Gaybo on TV and Rambo on video. There was no streaming and there was no Internet.

RTE seemed better then because it often was the only source. When the latest Bond film or popular TV drama came on, RTE was the first place Irish audiences would see it. The various revolutions in TV eroded that and multi channel, VHS, DVD and streaming all accounted for why today things like TV premiers are no longer as exciting. All that said and done, this does not excuse the drivel RTE make and show, and the obscene salaries of its presenters.

TheBlock

FrancieBrady wrote: »

They do have input. But it isn't by any stretch of the imagination either a solely RTE programme or an 'in house' production in the way that Strumpet City was an 'in house' production.

Love hate was commissioned by RTÉ with RTÉ as the sole broadcaster (It may have sold to other broadcasters after initial TX and RTÉ would be entitled to a share of any profits). It was funded by RTÉ and S481 tax relief with minor funding from BAI. The scripts where commissioned and approved by RTÉ head of Drama Jane Gogan. RTÉ had significant editorial input into the production.

Rebellion was a more complex funding model but again scripts would have to be approved by commissioning broadcasters and editorila input is a given.

There is quite a significant difference between commissioning a programme (you have editorial input) and acquiring a programme (you get what you see).

splinter65

FrancieBrady wrote: »

The protocol here is that if you make a claim and are asked to back it up that you do so.
You made the original claim, so over to you. What stats have you to show that 'every minute of non fiction and even some fiction' broadcasting is from a liberal left agenda.

'Every minute'? Should be easy to back that claim up...no?

In my opinion, from my listening to RTE radio and watching RTE tv I perceive there to be a left wing bias.
Can you refer me to the terms and conditions attached to boards.ie that dictates that every opinion must be backed up?
You can’t because that’s not protocol at all and you know it.
If every opinion on boards had to be backed up it would never get going.
I gave my opinion. Instead of just disagreeing with my opinion and giving your own opinion you couldn’t resist telling me that my opinion was wrong, while failing to tell me why.
If you don’t like my posts then either put me on ignore or report the post you think breaks the rules.
Be careful you don’t get reported for back seat modding.

pixelburp

Give it a rest the two of you.

No, there's no requirement to provide evidence of a position - this is not the Politics forum - but if this is to be a serious discussion about RTÉ and its status as state broadcaster, then it's not asking much to at least give some evidence or instances where they dropped the ball in the eyes of the poster. Specific examples help focus discussion away from being a generic After Hours style whinge-fest; the kneejerk "RTÉ is a load of sh*te" comments don't really add much to the discussion, they've been done to death at this stage a thousand times over.

Funny thing about any state run media outlet though, is that it invariably p*sses off both sides for having a perceived 'bias'. No doubt caused by the presumption that anything government run will have political interference. Same goes for the BBC on the other side of the pond.

I've read just as many complaints about RTÉ's apparent heavy left bias as I have accusations of it being a mouthpiece for right-wing, conservative Ireland. People see what they want to see, and barring any open tabloid outlet such as the Daily Expresses of this world, you can easily find enough evidence to cry 'Agenda!' of any stripe or colour.

And at the end of the day, if you don't like what they're cooking, then don't consume. I don't watch RTÉ because its output is subpar - doubly so since Ryle Nugent oversaw RTÉ Sport becoming a thin shadow of itself - but I find its Radio, and other Arts output makes up for it.

FrancieBrady

TheBlock wrote: »

Love hate was commissioned by RTÉ with RTÉ as the sole broadcaster (It may have sold to other broadcasters after initial TX and RTÉ would be entitled to a share of any profits). It was funded by RTÉ and S481 tax relief with minor funding from BAI. The scripts where commissioned and approved by RTÉ head of Drama Jane Gogan. RTÉ had significant editorial input into the production.

Rebellion was a more complex funding model but again scripts would have to be approved by commissioning broadcasters and editorila input is a given.

There is quite a significant difference between commissioning a programme (you have editorial input) and acquiring a programme (you get what you see).

Yes, I know that.

Love/Hate came about as the result of a 'pitch', one of many pitches made yearly. It was originated outside RTE is my point. And it has only one producer listed in the credits on IMDB - Octagon Films. RTE is named as a distributor.

The Late Late Show

The politics of RTE is an interesting question some of you here have raised. I never got this whole left and right thing. What I understand is the majority who want to live in peace and tolerate others are branded liberal left while the right is referred to as a group racist, misogynist, warmongers whose ideal world would Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale or Nazi Germany. The term you hear less of is the liberal right and they exist alongside the illiberal left, another term you hear less of.

Anyway, back to RTE: I get the feeling RTE always are more about pushing people than ideologies. Ideologies of the people they push then become agendas. Some of the agendas on RTE fit into what many incorrectly label the 'liberal left' but what in reality is the views of the majority of people. Wrongs like racism, poor behaviour of governments, misogyny, etc. are all opposed most of the time but on the other hand, the anti-alcohol bias in the RTE media along with having Katie Hopkins on echo more the so-called far right agendas.

What RTE do is use current affairs to make the basis of their chatshows. Look at 2018 and you had the cervical cancer scandal, the housing crisis and direct provision creating the chat for the shows. The media then are shown to be 'caring' when in fact they are talking about things that don't affect their world.

TheBlock

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Yes, I know that.

Love/Hate came about as the result of a 'pitch', one of many pitches made yearly. It was originated outside RTE is my point. And it has only one producer listed in the credits on IMDB - Octagon Films. RTE is named as a distributor.

Grand so... just clearing up that it was not acquired and was in fact commissioned with Editorial input from RTÉ.

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

along with having Katie Hopkins on echo

What are you on about??

FrancieBrady

TheBlock wrote: »

Grand so... just clearing up that it was not acquired and was in fact commissioned with Editorial input from RTÉ.

Funny to be having this conversation when the Abbey Theatre are causing controversy embarking down the same (cost saving?) road.
It would be one of the criticisms I have of RTE in it's role as a national broadcaster.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/abbey-theatre-uproar-300-actors-and-directors-complain-to-minister-1.3750135?fbclid=IwAR3kf2kxbdfE-PFxWMUYC90BpqyQrPPo4YceuvvK51qBfk6sJfBKUxdcocg

Arghus

It's not perfect; a lot of its programming is fairly low on inspiration and there's a definite culture of nepotism up there and some of their presenters are on eye-wateringly unjustifiable salaries, but in general I don't think RTE deserves all the flack it gets on here. A state broadcaster has to be a lot to all people, across multiple platforms and that's a tough job that doesn't cost next to nothing. I personally think around 50 cent a day, or whatever it works out as, is okayish value for a pretty good state broadcaster - and not all of it goes straight to RTE either, a proportion goes to independent productions and other commercial operators.

Is it as good as the likes of the BBC? Nowhere near, but it's a far smaller organisation so you can't really compare the two. There's loads of things that could be done to improve the organisation but let's not be too hyperbolic about it - I think on balance it delivers fair enough value. People are entitled to complain, but a lot of the complaints you read online are fairly knee-jerk unthinking stuff. I can understand why people get annoyed reading them.

Though I would say they should have Ray D'arcy peeling spuds in the canteen or something rather than presenting a TV show - the man is incompetent and has the natural warmth and charisma of a wooden spoon.

TheBlock

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Funny to be having this conversation when the Abbey Theatre are causing controversy embarking down the same (cost saving?) road.
It would be one of the criticisms I have of RTE in it's role as a national broadcaster.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/abbey-theatre-uproar-300-actors-and-directors-complain-to-minister-1.3750135?fbclid=IwAR3kf2kxbdfE-PFxWMUYC90BpqyQrPPo4YceuvvK51qBfk6sJfBKUxdcocg

RTÉ is statutorily obliged to spend in excess of €40M in the commissioned sector. If anything the argument is for this spend to be increased rather than retained by RTÉ for in house productions.

The Late Late Show

bodhrandude wrote: »

Having being living in Ireland proper since 1992 the one thing RTE was great at was covering traditional music, but now this is also disappearing from the schedule these days, TG4 taking the crown now for traditional music coverage.

Up until about 2009/10 RTE had the successful Come West Along the Road which I found fascinating and I always liked Nicholas O'Carolan's intelligent witticisms. But then they stopped broadcasting it and I know for a fact that there is still loads of stuff in the traditional archive that hasn't been covered like BBC Northern Ireland's Session of the Seventies, The Half Door (A UTV traditional music series from the 90s. Numerous Pure Drops with different presenters, Mairead ni Mhaonaigh's High Reel, Banish Misfortune, The Raw Bar and loads of Fleadh Cheoil footage from nearly ever year since the early sixties with different presenters. One of my musician mates mentioned that the new series is still ongoing but is now called Siar an Bother for TG4, but I've not seen any new 'old' stuff as yet.

Another problem with RTE is a lot of their programming is very family-centric, there is no programming really reflecting the younger festival going, gig going demographic apart from Other voices, Music from Da Telly, Electric Picnic feature which was stopped last year. Up until 2009/10 RTE stopped featuring left of the field music programmes such as Under Ether and No Disco, the crunch here was that the very last broadcast of No Disco culminated in the reformation of the much loved Planxty, so why the hell did the station stop this programme when it had the power to do this?

RTE 2 needs to get their younger audience back as an alternative to the reality drivel featured on RTE 1.

The problem with all this is more or less because RTE have decided to only focus on them blasted 'talent shows'. Every musical show or item now is a competition. Look at this latest thing last week on Tubridy: he has boyband singer Mike Denver on announcing another competition to find another boyband singer. I blame Louis Walsh for all this mentality and it is been going on since the 1990s and we are stuck in this rut.

Yurt2

Genuine question: how do people get recruited to RTE? Be it front of camera or production roles?

When I was at college I don't recall seeing an RTE stand at recruitment fairs. Is there an objective test one can take like the civil service exam system? What's the magic formula? They don't seem to go out of their way to recruit the best and brightest from the population (or at least aren't terribly visible about it).

5uspect

https://www.rte.ie/about/en/working-with-rte/2012/0425/318481-vacancies/

walshb

Some of the more serious programmes are excellent.

The reality stuff is D absolute pits. Not sure what is the worst, but DWTS is particularly bad..it’s an abomination...

And I suppose with “talent” like Tubridy and D’Arcy what can we expect?

griffinlee

rtes infatuation with property programs is crazy , no wonder why we are in such a crazy bubble


find me a house
desperate houses
room to improve
home of the year
super homes (other bannon program)
super garden

rte should be factual, rte 2 go back to a younger audience

alan partridge aha

Rte is a disgrace, 6 nations gone, oh but wait we have the womens one. Viewership of a few hundred I'd wager.

The Late Late Show

walshb wrote: »

Some of the more serious programmes are excellent.

The reality stuff is D absolute pits. Not sure what is the worst, but DWTS is particularly bad..it’s an abomination...

And I suppose with “talent” like Tubridy and D’Arcy what can we expect?

All the reality stuff is the main problem. I do not know which ones are the very worst but Operation Transformation and all them Louis Walsh competitions stand out for me. The chatshows are just there then to promote these shows and the people in them.

griffinlee wrote: »

rtes infatuation with property programs is crazy , no wonder why we are in such a crazy bubble


find me a house
desperate houses
room to improve
home of the year
super homes (other bannon program)
super garden

rte should be factual, rte 2 go back to a younger audience

These property programmes are boring and overdone. The problem is there is just too much of this stuff on.

lertsnim

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Rte is a disgrace, 6 nations gone, oh but wait we have the womens one. Viewership of a few hundred I'd wager.

And if they outbid TV3 you'd still moan about that.

The Late Late Show

walshb wrote: »

Some of the more serious programmes are excellent.?

And some of them frightening:

https://evoke.ie/2019/03/02/life-style/late-late-dearbhail-mcdonald

This upcoming programme seems to be like something Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale would have on a TV station!!

FrancieBrady

The Late Late Show wrote: »

And some of them frightening:

https://evoke.ie/2019/03/02/life-style/late-late-dearbhail-mcdonald

This upcoming programme seems to be like something Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale would have on a TV station!!

'Women should be seen and not heard'? How 1950's of you. :rolleyes:

alan partridge aha

lertsnim wrote: »

And if they outbid TV3 you'd still moan about that.

Hardly, the could dropkick Darcy and Tubs off the tv.

The Late Late Show

FrancieBrady wrote: »

'Women should be seen and not heard'? How 1950's of you. :rolleyes:

I am anti-Gilead not pro-Gilead. My views are more Margaret Atwood than Mike Pence.

Nikki Sixx

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejournal.ie/rte-annual-report-4697146-Jun2019/%3famp=1

Poor R.T.E. need more license fee money. Maybe if they made better quality t.v. people would actually watch their stations? I know it’s a chestnut, but cut the wages of your top 10 highest paid presenters. Don’t blame everything on t.v. license dodgers. Take some responsibility yourselves. You sold a load of land in D4 and made millions, there must be a lot of bad decisions made within the organization, that it can’t break even.

The Late Late Show

Television has never been worse. Unless you are a sports fanatic or a soap nut, TV is atrocious. A lot of people give out about RTE but all channels are the same. Flicking through the channels most nights, you get either Coronation Street or some other similar British soap or else some sport. As bad as TV can be in the winter, the summer is much worse. With the exception of The Handmaid's Tale, there is nothing I'd be interested in watching at the moment on TV.

Typical fare across all channels on a week night is comprised of the likes of Coronation Street, Masterchef, Rachel Allen, Glor Tire, Opry san Iuir, Love Island and Emmerdale. Then, they make new shows like Incredible Homes and Wingman to suit the cronies RTE idolise rather than the public. A wonderful time to have a TV! But as said, RTE are not the only ones showing and making this sort of drivel.

There has been a massive drop in the numbers of people watching traditional TV channels and there is little wonder with the drivel they are showing. I don't think people will be fighting over the control of the remote control over a choice to see Wingman or The All Ireland Talent Show!!

It is clear this whole TV licence thing needs to be overhauled. The people are paying this and RTE then squander it on over-inflated salaries of their 'stars' and on drivel shows aimed to faciliate these 'stars' (The Frontline made to suit Pat Kenny, Room to Improve to suit Dermot Bannon, Wingman to suit Baz Ashmawy, etc.). People could own a TV, not have a TV aerial or satellite dish and be 100% watching DVDs, Netflix, Hulu, Now TV, etc. and STILL have to pay RTE's tax!! Makes no sense at all.

Buy an Android box..just let it go.. you'll be happier..

gmisk

The Late Late Show wrote: »

Television has never been worse. Unless you are a sports fanatic or a soap nut, TV is atrocious. A lot of people give out about RTE but all channels are the same. Flicking through the channels most nights, you get either Coronation Street or some other similar British soap or else some sport. As bad as TV can be in the winter, the summer is much worse. With the exception of The Handmaid's Tale, there is nothing I'd be interested in watching at the moment on TV.

Typical fare across all channels on a week night is comprised of the likes of Coronation Street, Masterchef, Rachel Allen, Glor Tire, Opry san Iuir, Love Island and Emmerdale. Then, they make new shows like Incredible Homes and Wingman to suit the cronies RTE idolise rather than the public. A wonderful time to have a TV! But as said, RTE are not the only ones showing and making this sort of drivel.

There has been a massive drop in the numbers of people watching traditional TV channels and there is little wonder with the drivel they are showing. I don't think people will be fighting over the control of the remote control over a choice to see Wingman or The All Ireland Talent Show!!

It is clear this whole TV licence thing needs to be overhauled. The people are paying this and RTE then squander it on over-inflated salaries of their 'stars' and on drivel shows aimed to faciliate these 'stars' (The Frontline made to suit Pat Kenny, Room to Improve to suit Dermot Bannon, Wingman to suit Baz Ashmawy, etc.). People could own a TV, not have a TV aerial or satellite dish and be 100% watching DVDs, Netflix, Hulu, Now TV, etc. and STILL have to pay RTE's tax!! Makes no sense at all.

In fairness RE some of those.
The all Ireland talent show was cancelled in 2011.
Room to improve gets massive ratings and is a great watch IMO.

The Irish channels make a reasonable amount of content given the budget they have, the quality does vary wildly.

As the other poster said get an Android streaming box.

The Late Late Show

gmisk wrote: »

In fairness RE some of those.
The all Ireland talent show was cancelled in 2011.
Room to improve gets massive ratings and is a great watch IMO.

The Irish channels make a reasonable amount of content given the budget they have, the quality does vary wildly.

As the other poster said get an Android streaming box.

I meant to say Ireland's Got Talent but it is the same thing different name anyway. This was on Sundays to compete with Dancing With The Stars which replaced The Voice of Ireland which replaced The All Ireland Talent Show which replaced You're a Star which replaced Popstars. All the same thing, different names.

I do not understand why some people genuinely like Room To Improve. I cannot take to it at all. But at least it is not Dragon's Den aka Search For A President!

brian_t

This is just a repeat of the "Hate for RTE" thread that you started in January.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=109043348

The Late Late Show

OmegaGene wrote: »

Get a fire stick or nvidia shield, stick a few apps on it and forget about terrestrial tv like most people did years ago
There’s nothing on so don’t bother checking lol
Turkish netflix is cheap and there are a few things on there worth watching

Have all these but still own a TV set which is new. Am seriously thinking of selling it. If you use an Android box and not a TV, are you exempt from the TV tax licence? I can get the programmes I like such as The Handmaid's Tale or Better Call Saul and avoid paying RTE as well would be great.