RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

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inajock

A bit like the traffic warden who wouldn't legally take a pay rise of 14% and headed off to the WRC and got told to wise up. Bad employers lurking in the grass in every sphere of society. The do not disturb, how dare you interfere in my private life defense is banjoed. I'm having a fab time but its rude to ask millionaires how they made it. If you haven't copped it by now you never will. Im Talented baby

Iecrawfc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963179#Comment_120963179

What kind of farcical employment contracts do RTE give out? I'd love to be able to say to my company if they were in a financial hole, 'Sorry, due to my personal, legal situation I can't take a 10% reduction' not even 'I'll leave for another company' just a flat out refusal without RTE being able to do anything!

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963158#Comment_120963158

So after refusing to take a pay cut he got a 24% raise the following year? RTÉ eh? You couldn’t make it up.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963179#Comment_120963179

Some people did and were rather vocal about it.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961871#Comment_120961871

Whatever happened to Ms. Burnhill?

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963188#Comment_120963188

He is so institutionalised. Sure he knows nothing outside of RTE and that is why he is desperate. He believes that he is privileged and that like celebrity/presenter royalty he was born to be in and at the top of an institution such as RTE. Tubridy wouldn't have a balls notion of even how to attempt to exist professionally outside the bubble of that organisation. Due to the continued falloff in licence fee revenue not only has the payment scandal shone a negative spotlight on him but the institution that has cradled him all of his working life has been called into question and ridiculed because of behaviour displayed by his managers, his agent and himself.

He can call out RTE management as much as he wants but as a high profile public figure, he really only has himself to blame.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963174#Comment_120963174

If we want change then the people need to pull back all financial support by not paying their licence fee to that disgusting waste of money.

This won't change anything fundamental. The government will just implement a bailout to cover the shortfall and soon afterward introduce the long-promised new funding model for RTE.

inajock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963324#Comment_120963324

Wont happen. Retirees getting made redundant a year or two out x 6 or 10 times salary per year served. Lotto wins. Rte love the national lottery dead air filler and a big bonus player to the family.

fplfan12345

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963324#Comment_120963324

Well if it’s a democracy then the politicians should take their guide from the voters.

They can let the, arguably irrelevant, organisation (rte) fold and spend the tax payers money in a more productive way.

Iecrawfc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963347#Comment_120963347

Absolutely, the people are speaking as evidenced by the drop in license fee renewals, as a TD would you want your party basically riding roughshod over that by replacing it with the same tax payers money from another source? A sure fire way to get that anger that RTE are getting focussed on you too...sure the government will try to maintain the status quo but at some stage it may become untenable to do that...

NeinNeinNein

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953996#Comment_120953996

Rumour has it that the Where's Wally? series of books was a major influence.

cute geoge

The fact is ,if he came out at the start with his hands held up ,paid back the 150k renault money he probably would be back in radio 1 slot as we speak

IMO his actions since the pac inquiry started has disgusted more people then the actual crime it self !!!

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960924#Comment_120960924

And what kind of a wedge does the lad trouser…….most importantly?

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961566#Comment_120961566

My late father loved a political biography or similar and got Tubridy's JFK book on the 1963 visit. I had a browse through it and read a couple of chapters. Absolute bilge. It's like something written by a TY student on a work placement at a local newspaper. Simplistic, tedious paddywhack waffle that never goes much further than a minute by minute account of the visit to Ireland and endlessly waxing lyrical about how adored JFK was. It was so transparently aimed at the fawning Irish/American reader, it would make your toes curl.

I just thought to myself, in no reality would a man with this level of writing ability get a book published on this subject unless his name was Ryan Tubridy and he presented a chat show on the national broadcaster. Then I thought about the no doubt enviable tax breaks he availed off for writing it. As you said about "The Irish are coming" every nixer he takes on, appears to be nothing more than a self publicizing and self aggrandizing operation.

omeara1113

If tubs is out of contact with rte is he still getting paid when off air

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963880#Comment_120963880

All part of the “brand” and NKM playbook. Many of the NKM stable have book deals, most if not all of those books wouldn’t get published were it not for the name.

There was an author/book section on the NKM website but that site changes so frequently these days it may not be there anymore.

Kathryn Thomas runs fitness boot camps (and they’re not cheap) off the back of Operation Transformation - which some would say is a real conflict of interest and should not be allowed by the state broadcaster but as we all know their regulation is vague, and their enforcement is laughable.

This is Operation Transformation btw which was bizarrely at one stage sponsored by the taxpayer via the Govt., and has almost exclusively featured NKM hosts and experts - past and present.

NK himself even gets a credit on the show.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/noel-kelly-operation-transformation-idea-30444646.amp

As usual, many questions need to be asked and answered on the above, but the final line is illuminating:

RTE said it would be willing to disclose the contractual elements which underpins this, but this could not be disclosed without the agreement of NK Management.

I think I know the answer to that request.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963405#Comment_120963405

Yes but it hard to find Wally, wally doesn't hide in plain sight, trust me Wally is raking it in on those books alone :)

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963990#Comment_120963990

he definitely still was getting paid at the beginning of all this, so i wouldnt be surprised if he still is.....

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964143#Comment_120964143

I would imagine given the incompetence we’ve seem to date that he is getting paid at the moment, even though the Deputy DG said he was out of contract.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963167#Comment_120963167

Gig tickets would hardly be equal in value to the amount of advertising?? He's on in 3Arena for one night. Capacity of 3Arena is 8000 - ticket prices range from €60-€100 roughly - let's say Whitehall is really popular (I doubt it though) and they take in €500K in ticket sales.

How many tickets would Aiken Promotions be giving RTE for giveaways and staff? 200 sounds like a lot of giveaway prizes but that might be worth €12K.

Advertising costs on RTE Radio 1 are complicated but spot rates would range from €100 to €2500 according to time of day https://mediasales.rte.ie/planning/audio/radio/radio-costs/spot-rates/

Let's suppose an average one of these Jack Whitehall/ Aiken Promotions ads is €800, the €12K ticket value above would only cover 15 ads!

At the rate they've been running the ad, I'd reckon could easily be 150 at this stage - that's a guess. But could be worth about 2000 tickets!!!

So it don't add up - what else would Aiken Promotions be bartering for this advert campaign?

It's time people started looking more forensically into the commercial operations at RTE and just how it works.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964156#Comment_120964156

i wouldn't exactly call it incompetence, but more so maintaining the status quo, we re stuck in a perpetual state of protecting certain entities within our publicly funded institutions, the same is going on in the hse, and the sad truth is, this may never actually change, not unless we keep pushing for radical change, theres no incompetence going on here, this is a deliberate protection of 'the talent'....

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963347#Comment_120963347

The established parties are clearly fully supportive of, if not RTE as an institution, then public service broadcasting as it is traditionally understood. It's up to the electorate, if they want serious change, to switch their vote to parties in tune with their vision of broadcasting policy.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964157#Comment_120964157

Well a few things on your assumptions:

1. RTÉ aren’t exactly known for extracting value on like for like in deals, so I’d imagine they’re being screwed as a starting point. I’d imagine Aiken getting far more back in advertising € than they’re giving out in tickets.
2. No-one pays rate. No-one. Ads are sold in bulk and heavily discounted, so the actual value v rate card are miles apart. That said I’d still imagine Aiken coming out miles better than RTÉ - of course.
3. RTE have (almost) more tickets than Ticketmaster. I’ve previously posted in other threads that if you worked in RTÉ you could have a great social life without ever having to pay for anything ticket wise. Tickets are used for staff, given to ad agencies, and clients*. There’s always an abundance of tickets in RTÉ.**
4. it’s also the dark days of summer, less advertising, so fill the space with something before the back to school rush.

*I have on occasion benefited from this myself, not very often but I’m being completely transparent here.

** this was one of the more illuminating revelations in the GO’L testimony. They have such two way relationships with promoters I wondered why they were paying for tickets - then I realised these weren’t GA (General Admission) tickets, they were VIP or Package tickets, the best seats in the house so to speak - no mingling with the riff raff. And of course spending the cash at the top end encourages more freebies at the bottom.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964157#Comment_120964157

It won't be Whitehall tickets (or only a few will be), it'll be for more popular Aiken gigs throughout the year. Also possibly VIP packages for those.

The ads will be in the cheapest, unsold slots.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963198#Comment_120963198

Barter accounts are used when you need to involve a third party.

The flip flop firm didn't want advertising on RTE, they wanted something else that that the barter company was able to get for them.

For a direct exchange you do not involve a third party because why on earth would you?

Only organisations that can't sell enough ad spots even have barter accounts; the media organisations I've worked for did not - but they did do direct swaps. Direct swaps ("contra" in industry terms) is used all the time and things like the flipflops and client entertainment are just distractions for the core issue of the "unusual" invoicing arrangements and the non-existent paycut. Distractions someone trying to return to RTE would be delighted with!

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120964184#Comment_120964184

I’d agree with a lot of what you said but I wouldn’t underestimate the level of incompetence in there too.

tobefrank321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120963990#Comment_120963990

I will have to check this, but I could have swore Bakhurst said at one stage, possibly to the PAC, that Tubridy was out of contract and not being paid. And a statement from RTE a month ago said his invoices were not paid. But now they say he is paid. What a complete shambles. This does nothing for RTE's image, when one part of the organisation says he is not paid, and another says he is.

tobefrank321

You'd wonder how many Leave days a year some of the RTE staffers are entitled to, given the organisation appears to almost shut down over the summer.

ButtersSuki

I'm currently reading a recently released book by a US Sports Agent named Mark Termini entitled "Words To Negotiate By". He's responsible for some of the most seismic (and polarizing) shifts in contract negotiations and salary shifts in the NBA. In it, he talks about how he's a "Tell Agent, not an Ask Agent"; in other words, he tells the organization what he's getting, he doesn't ask for it....or he and his client will walk.

It seems that's how NK dealt with RTE. The difference being that all of the other teams in the NBA wanted LeBron James; NK's crew had no other options but RTE paid top dollar anyway.