Winter is coming for RTE - Dee Forbes hints at a bleak future.

Harry Palmr

https://www.thejournal.ie/rte-reassessing-everything-it-does-amid-unprecedented-financial-situation-4799084-Sep2019/

RTÉ STAFF HAVE been told the broadcaster’s financial situation is unlike anything it has seen before and that everything it does is being reassessed.
In a letter to staff, RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes said that although the decision by the Government to tender for TV licence collection services was welcome, the decision to defer implementation of a revised media charge system “means that the crisis in the funding of public service media will continue”.

No actual details until October (sorry!). It'll be interesting to see where the review focuses - there are plenty of potential strategies of which paying the talent less is actually the one with least effect (beyond making licence payers feel good for a moment).

How wide and deep will any axes fall - chop whole channels/stations? Ditch the orchestras? Tell the dept that saorview infrastructure should be the states business not RTE's? Reduce new in house commissions, pay less for third party commissions? Is there scope for a partnership with a bigger media company?

dubrov

They'll need to give Tubbs and Darcy a 10% pay bump.
They are contractors after all.

What did Dee expect? Salaries are grossly inflated. Paying Marian Finucane over €300,000 per annum for 4 hours of hair salon gossip weekly indicates a loose grip on reality.

political analyst

Yeah, I heard that one before(!)

Rubberchikken

dump turbidy Darcy finucan duffy forbes etc , theyll save a fortune.

rte - yuck.

dubrov

...but BBC and ITV will poach all the talent if RTE don't pay them well

Tilikum17

Deleted User wrote: »

What did Dee expect? Salaries are grossly inflated. Paying Marian Finucane over €300,000 per annum for 4 hours of hair salon gossip weekly indicates a loose grip on reality.

She’s on 7k a week herself.

NIMAN

Rte is like the ESB, a place with absolutely crazy average salaries across the board.

Harry Palmr

and like I said at the top - cutting salaries a bit will make feck all difference in a world where the orchestras consume several million between them ever year.

So rather than bang on about the easy stuff, any ideas?

dubrov

Harry Palmr wrote: »

and like I said at the top - cutting salaries a bit will make feck all difference in a world where the orchestras consume several million between them ever year.

So rather than bang on about the easy stuff, any ideas?

I think you underestimate the positive effect of cutting high profile salaries. The point is that it sends a message to the public that there is no serious effort being made to make cuts so why should the licence fee be increased.

NIMAN

Harry Palmr wrote: »

and like I said at the top - cutting salaries a bit will make feck all difference in a world where the orchestras consume several million between them ever year.

So rather than bang on about the easy stuff, any ideas?

Every little bit helps though. It will all add up.
Are you justifying some of the wages dished out to Rte talent?
In such a small market, they are paid far too much.

The sad thing about that piece is that they gave D'Arcy a €50k pay rise in one year. Then axed the show early.

Did they take the 50k back off him I wonder.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What did Dee expect? Salaries are grossly inflated. Paying Marian Finucane over €300,000 per annum for 4 hours of hair salon gossip weekly indicates a loose grip on reality.

There is any number of decent people who could do that job for 80,000 a year.

dubrov

NIMAN wrote: »

The sad thing about that piece is that they gave D'Arcy a €50k pay rise in one year. Then axed the show early.

Did they take the 50k back off him I wonder.

They recorded a deficit of nearly 20m the same year.
Says it all really.

1874

Harry Palmr wrote: »

and like I said at the top - cutting salaries a bit will make feck all difference in a world where the orchestras consume several million between them ever year.

So rather than bang on about the easy stuff, any ideas?

Id rather pay for 2 Orchestras or even 2 more Orchestras than a handful of over rated Stars
I dont even know why cutting an Orchestra is touted as a threat or a possibility, that Dee Forbes wan is living in another reality, delusional.


At least those people have talent and the outlay pays for a lot more of them, that RTE suggest it might get the axe shows it should not be under their remit, it should be under the remit of Arts/Culture/Heritage, if anything we should have a number of venues nationwide for Music which can be used for classical performances, the Orchestras should do tours of small venues, as Ive seen in parks in the UK, Denmark and then occasional large events.
Im not suggesting they should all be in formal wear.
They shouldnt have to be paid performances, just in the background of other events, wasnt there a bandstand renovated in Bray, do those things ever get used?

NIMAN

Yeah, its time they stopped performing as Jenny Greene's private band too.

bfa1509

I bet they'll cut the television broadcast and move everything online. Probably get more ad revenue that way and they could also exploit free lance fame whors looking to expand their twitter fan base.

salmocab

Why owners of televisions pay for two orchestras is beyond me. I’ve no issue with them but if the state want to fund them then fund them. Too many channels, and wages out of whack with reality. Forcing people to pay for American sitcoms is a joke.

political analyst

salmocab wrote: »

Why owners of televisions pay for two orchestras is beyond me. I’ve no issue with them but if the state want to fund them then fund them. Too many channels, and wages out of whack with reality. Forcing people to pay for American sitcoms is a joke.

As far as I know, American imports are paid for with commercial revenue, not the licence fee.

salmocab

political analyst wrote: »

As far as I know, American imports are paid for with commercial revenue, not the licence fee.

I’m sure they claim that but ultimately it all goes into and out of the same pot.

1874

salmocab wrote: »

Why owners of televisions pay for two orchestras is beyond me. I’ve no issue with them but if the state want to fund them then fund them. Too many channels, and wages out of whack with reality. Forcing people to pay for American sitcoms is a joke.

Id be happy to see the Orchestras perform and have it on tv or online in performances to audiences, there doesnt seem to be a means to access that kind of thing easily, say as hearing Joe or Marian or that long streak of gaunt misery or baldy spout their nonsense

dhaughton99

Shut down RTE 2 and 2FM. The only reason for them is to give Miriam’s kids a job for life.

lawred2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What did Dee expect? Salaries are grossly inflated. Paying Marian Finucane over €300,000 per annum for 4 hours of hair salon gossip weekly indicates a loose grip on reality.

Weekly?

More like 22 weeks a year

icdg

OK, as usual when a story about possible cutbacks about RTE appears in the media, we have a lot of posts on this thread taking swipes at various named individuals who are not here to defend themselves.

Cutbacks at RTE are a legitimate topic for discussion. Taking pot shots at individuals is not.

I’ll allow the thread to continue on the basis that things are discussed, not people.

mikeym

Salaries need to be cut for certain individuals who I wont name.

Scrap 2fm theres plenty of regional radio stations that are doing a better job than 2fm.

The live sport has got hammered over the years e.g. Champions League, Premier League Highlights, Six Nations. Maybe they need to bring them back?

Catching people that own a mobile phone to pay the new revamped charge wont be popular.

SPDUB

mikeym wrote: »

The live sport has got hammered over the years e.g. Champions League, Premier League Highlights, Six Nations. Maybe they need to bring them back?

That's one thing that needs to be cut even more if you want to save serious money . If the GAA wants large sums of money let Sky pay it .

hullaballoo

The problem in RTÉ is an unsustainable cost base that yes, is led by salaries but as Harry Palmr points out, axing the headliners would be small gains vs a huge budget.

It's the organisational bloating that is the real problem. Too many people on the payroll on too much money. Hundreds of admin staff filing their nails and on the same money as the one lad in the graphics dept busting his gut.

Like the HSE, it's chock full of useless people more than happy to steal a living while their colleagues in other depts work themselves to the bone.

It needs serious and I mean serious rationalisation in that regard before any further changes are made to the existing taxation.

KB22

icdg wrote: »

OK, as usual when a story about possible cutbacks about RTE appears in the media, we have a lot of posts on this thread taking swipes at various named individuals who are not here to defend themselves.

Cutbacks at RTE are a legitimate topic for discussion. Taking pot shots at individuals is not.

I’ll allow the thread to continue on the basis that things are discussed, not people.

I think the media people mentioned, are well able to answer for themselves .I doubt they would as so many of them are very "sensitive" regarding salary. Very gracious of the moderator :- " I'll allow the thread to continue" etc. Reminiscent of MUSSOLINI, ADOLF,MUGABE,TRUMP,BORIS ? Ah well back of the class for me again.

STB.

SPDUB wrote: »

That's one thing that needs to be cut even more if you want to save serious money . If the GAA wants large sums of money let Sky pay it .

RTE shouldn't have to compete with a foreign subscription only company for games in the first instance. The job of the GAA is to promote the sport and get as many people watching it. That's means free to air. The GAA lost the run of themselves but that is a different discussion altogether.


Either way the GAA well pays for itself. Its 35k for a 30 second advert during the big GAA games. And no wonder, they get the biggest audience share of all programmes, by miles. 1.1million watched the All Ireland Football final a few weeks back. The same will watch the replay.

STB.

hullaballoo wrote: »

It's the organisational bloating that is the real problem. Too many people on the payroll on too much money. Hundreds of admin staff filing their nails and on the same money as the one lad in the graphics dept busting his gut.

It needs serious and I mean serious rationalisation in that regard before any further changes are made to the existing taxation.

Last time I checked they were seeking to shed 250 jobs through voluntary redundancies and retirements. They stuck 30 mill of the money they made from selling some of the Donnybrook land for this purpose. I wonder how many they have managed to shed.

Pa ElGrande

Transfer the orchestras to the department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht that's almost €10 million freed up.

Why isn't 2FM profitable? Heads should be rolling if it's not bringing in a surplus.

Lyric FM can be sold as a going concern. maybe Classic FM in the UK might be interested.

RTE need to switch to a subscription model for their internet services and go chase the Irish diaspora (untapped market)

Appoint an examiner to the organisation before it is too late.

Realistically their resources are spread too thin, they need to rationalise and concentrate on what they are good at (whatever that is I don't really consume their services unless I run across them by visiting a neighbours house.) With the exception of the news and weather the public has changed the way it consumes most media to on demand, filling up the airwaves with repeats or other filler is just wasting resources.

Suckit

Get rid of everybody in there who only got in through connections and are extremely unqualified, or just sh*t as as presenter/host.
That should free up 99% of their cash.

Pa ElGrande

Instead of repeats show cat videos if it works on youtube then why not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUAyRRkI6k

political analyst

salmocab wrote: »

I’m sure they claim that but ultimately it all goes into and out of the same pot.

Any evidence to contradict what they claim?

icdg

KB22, straight 48 hour ban for discussing moderation on thread. Regard has been had to the tone of the post when deciding to give a straight ban instead of a warning

Tefral

NIMAN wrote: »

Rte is like the ESB, a place with absolutely crazy average salaries across the board.

Except the esb has paid 1.4bn dividend to the government in the last 10 years

NIMAN

Tefral wrote: »

Except the esb pays a multi hundred million euro dividend to the government every year.

.. and also the ESB do a decent enough job.
But they do have very high wages.

The Satanist

K I've read through the replies, taken all suggestions on board, and I've decided that the best thing to do is to increase the licence fee.
Warm regards,
RTE.

ps this report cost u 200k

fritzelly

RTE are pretty much no different than VM except VM don't force a tax on us for it.
Lots of imported shows, lots of repeated shows (actually I don't think VM show repeats as much as RTE), lots of "keep it in the family" reality shows

RTE is not fit for purpose as a national broadcaster. Bar the odd program which probably represents a tiny fraction of their spending budget they do nothing that cannot be consumed elsewhere.
Their target audience is 60+ years old and that cohort of viewers is diminishing every year.

A portion of the TV licence should be given to VM with the remit of national programming - you would probably get far higher quality shows for a fraction of what RTE would spend
RTE have lost the run of themselves and being publicly reprimanded for not buying a licence (legitimately) by someone on over 6k a week is a bit reprehensible.

I really hope this comes to a head as RTE have had an uncontested run for far too many years

Aceandstuff

fritzelly wrote: »

RTE are pretty much no different than VM except VM don't force a tax on us for it.
Lots of imported shows, lots of repeated shows (actually I don't think VM show repeats as much as RTE), lots of "keep it in the family" reality shows

RTE is not fit for purpose as a national broadcaster. Bar the odd program which probably represents a tiny fraction of their spending budget they do nothing that cannot be consumed elsewhere.
Their target audience is 60+ years old and that cohort of viewers is diminishing every year.

A portion of the TV licence should be given to VM with the remit of national programming - you would probably get far higher quality shows for a fraction of what RTE would spend
RTE have lost the run of themselves and being publicly reprimanded for not buying a licence (legitimately) by someone on over 6k a week is a bit reprehensible.

I really hope this comes to a head as RTE have had an uncontested run for far too many years

[DRUNK RANT]
I barely consume any media funded by the license fee, and I resent the new charges being introduced for any and all screens in a household. Why not just tax me for having eyeballs? I already pay a subscription fee to Sky (for my mother) to watch RTE, and there's no way I could access RTE through Saorview where I live, so why should I have to pay for RTE again? Even their news programmes are rubbish, but their intended audience are the over 65s who don't use the internet for news already, and are happy to watch biased, watered down, government-approved half-truths after the Angelus every day.
[/DRUNK RANT]

funkyouup

Aceandstuff wrote: »

[DRUNK RANT]
I barely consume any media funded by the license fee, and I resent the new charges being introduced for any and all screens in a household. Why not just tax me for having eyeballs? I already pay a subscription fee to Sky (for my mother) to watch RTE, and there's no way I could access RTE through Saorview where I live, so why should I have to pay for RTE again? Even their news programmes are rubbish, but their intended audience are the over 65s who don't use the internet for news already, and are happy to watch biased, watered down, government-approved half-truths after the Angelus every day.
[/DRUNK RANT]

Impressive summation for a drunken rant to be fair.

fritzelly

Just to add
Saorview - what a waste of potential, controlled by RTE!
Yeah great we have RTE in HD, VM in crap-o-vision
Going on years and all the promises of next gen digitial TV but we still just have the same old stuff
Should have been fully taken over as a state enterprise once it was realised it was never gonna be anything other than a bandwagon for RTE
Could have arranged licensing for many other stations to go on it but nooooo Rte may lose more advertising (as if that isn't already happening)

What is the point of a state of the art digital system when you only have a few channels using it?
Another example of RTE controlling media in Ireland.

sdanseo

Deleted User wrote: »

What did Dee expect? Salaries are grossly inflated. Paying Marian Finucane over €300,000 per annum for 4 hours of hair salon gossip weekly indicates a loose grip on reality.

The salaries aren't the only thing. It's a closed shop of delusional upper middle class nepotists who genuinely think they're putting out A-grade content while single handedly keeping the country entertained.

The whole thing is a farce and should be disbanded in aid of private networks with the BAI enforcing a code of conduct re. impartiality to prevent an Irish reiteration of the O'Reilly Factor, and a PSO style subsidy for areas worthy of such assistance.

Marian's pontifications, and such like, are not that.

Blueshoe

Contractors on a tax dodge and we are paying their wages through the license.
Refuse to pay? Go to jail

North Korea style

NIMAN

fritzelly wrote: »

RTE are pretty much no different than VM except VM don't force a tax on us for it.
Lots of imported shows, lots of repeated shows (actually I don't think VM show repeats as much as RTE), lots of "keep it in the family" reality shows

RTE is not fit for purpose as a national broadcaster. Bar the odd program which probably represents a tiny fraction of their spending budget they do nothing that cannot be consumed elsewhere.
Their target audience is 60+ years old and that cohort of viewers is diminishing every year.

A portion of the TV licence should be given to VM with the remit of national programming - you would probably get far higher quality shows for a fraction of what RTE would spend
RTE have lost the run of themselves and being publicly reprimanded for not buying a licence (legitimately) by someone on over 6k a week is a bit reprehensible.

I really hope this comes to a head as RTE have had an uncontested run for far too many years

So you are praising Virgin Media? Seriously?

From what I can see it basically shows what is on the ITV channels, which most Irish people can get anyway.
The odd self-made program too, but not necessarily better quality than what RTE are making.

sdanseo

NIMAN wrote: »

So you are praising Virgin Media? Seriously?

From what I can see it basically shows what is on the ITV channels, which most Irish people can get anyway.
The odd self-made program too, but not necessarily better quality than what RTE are making.

€160 a year cheaper though.

fritzelly

NIMAN wrote: »

So you are praising Virgin Media? Seriously?

From what I can see it basically shows what is on the ITV channels, which most Irish people can get anyway.
The odd self-made program too, but not necessarily better quality than what RTE are making.

What exactly do rte show? Imported programs or irish versions of UK programs repeated to the point the tape is worn out but we're paying for that crap. Reeling in the years has been repeated so much its beyond being funny now, a program shown at semi peak time

sdanseo

fritzelly wrote: »

What exactly do rte show? Imported programs or irish versions of UK programs repeated to the point the tape is worn out but we're paying for that crap. Reeling in the years has been repeated so much its beyond being funny now, a program shown at semi peak time

How dare you forget about our Lord and Saviour Dermot Bannon. Excommunication for you.

NIMAN

RTE need one of those guys you see in films, Clooney played one.

Doesn't know anyone in RTe, outsider. Comes in and asks everyone what they do..

Then culls hundreds of them!

Anyone know if RTE employee's still number approx 1800?

fritzelly

About a 1000 registered employees, plus the "contracted"

VM around a 100 full time

Lantus

Should be subscription service derived through consent.

Let's ditch this wicked fee imposed under threat of fine and imprisonment....

I'd probably pay 5 to7 EU a month for core rte channels and programming.

sdanseo

NIMAN wrote: »

RTE need one of those guys you see in films, Clooney played one.

Doesn't know anyone in RTe, outsider. Comes in and asks everyone what they do..

Then culls hundreds of them!

Anyone know if RTE employee's still number approx 1800?

Sounds like Drew Harris :pac: