RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

I have a funny feeling that the Director Of HR is on the way out, she would have seen that BO'K had left on a staff left under a voluntary restructuring programme. And they would have all know because she'd have told them.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_tourism_culture_arts_sport_and_media/2023-07-05/2/#spk_967

There was a rather Stalinist attitude to anyone who did not agree with the SF/Workers Party (Ned Stapleton cumman) view of events in NI. McAleese comment about it previously. That a broadcaster could be politically in this manner was a disgrace to RTE's reputation as a public service broadcaster. They were troubled times but a lot of decent RTE journalists tried to do a good job reporting the news in an unbiased manner. The GFA in 1998 was almost a second collapse of the Soviet Union to these SF/WP people. In some respects, with its nepotism and nomenklatura, it has much in common with the old Soviet Union.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatura

The question now is not can RTE be saved but rather should it continue to exist in its present format. The public seems to be against Tubridy being allowed to continue his radio show on RTE. The risk is that the advertising will flee RTE. And it may affect other presenters and programmes. Tubridy and the overpaid "talent" are very much a symptom of a dysfunctional RTE that is no longer fit for purpose.

Regards...jmcc

Throughout all of this, there's been very little mention of what the public want, including from Bakhurst. He was going to talk to people in RTE, colleagues, etc, but I'm not sure he mentioned what the public want. RTE is just a big bubble who don't really care what the licence payers or public want. RTE have always felt they know better than the general public.

Possibly but a lot of the viewers who watch RTE would not be Youtube users and that's the problem for RTE. They are appealing to older demographics and younger demographics are switching to alternatives like Netflix, Prime and even Youtube. The interesting thing about Youtube is that it requires the user to select and watch. It is not just on in the background like so much of RTE's programming. There's also an advertising loop that is not present with RTE. It is possible for an advertiser on Youtube to know if an advert was clicked and if it converted to sale. That loop isn't present with RTE and it is something that has changed advertising in the print newspaper business. Would Tubridy get the same number of viewers on Youtube? No.

Regards...jmcc

It's just cosplay...some people never grow out of wanting the image of their heroes....a lot of the time without emulating the substance....

Deep down, it's insecurity ..... to use a phrase that makes me a bit vomity...its a sign of what a budget psychotherapist would label a not fully self actualized person 🤠

It is a photo that does make one feel a bit retchy though in fairness

Perhaps but Bakhurst's problem is that there are two RTEs: the workers and the "talent". There has been quite a split between the two since the story broke. The unseen aspect of this is not the public but rather what the politicians will do to save their seats. RTE needs a bailout and faced with bailing out the present management or saving their seats in the next election, politicians will probably opt to save their seats. RTE has always operated in a bubble and it has skewed the Dublin media market to such an extent that other broadcasters are not really competing with each other as much with a licence fee funded competitor.

Regards...jmcc

This is the ctux of the contact stall. RT can't demand the equivalent amount of money for radio, as the LLS advertising he allegedly generates forms a huge part of his previous negotiation for the big bucks. NK repeated that indirectly in so many ways on Tuesday.

Now, with Ryan on a 5x53 minute (mid listening audience rating) radio show that same negotiating base isn't there. I would say that NK may have limited negotiating grounds based on this, & then started to add alternative TV projects for Ryan, that was not TLLS, but something bigger & better, like the Late LateLive Show that was rejected.

I'd say RT stalled contract negotiations because he refused RTE's reduced offer, as Patrick K is now the new poster, who takes that crown.

He deluded himself that his radio worth, is commercially viable to RTE.

On another note, I'm really hacked off that EVERYONE in the Oireachtas missed capitalising that the Risk & Audit Committee mentioned Day 1 that they were looking into more concerns about 'consultant invoices' via GT, & did not get an interim update b4 the meeting with NK & RT.

Have being following this along, the one thing that sticks out all the time is TALENT and all the talk about it in Rte, if Sky open a Transfer show for this the talent with a window of 6 weeks to buy this great amount of talent up for sale, of course RT and misery Joe, and the bog Ray and don’t forget the 2 fm super jocks and Photo shoot Lottie, and Paul fair city would be all transferred within the first day for big bucks,

Ray home to Kildare fm for 200 a week, Marty to Croke park museum, Paul to east Enders new gangster, Joe to blaskit fm to take over from Peig, Lottie To dealz ambassador, RT and Kelly to American red neck tv, What talent have Rte really got only money grabbing family ties from the tax payers.

Sure, follow the money.

But I had posted regarding the question of whether or not it was intentional tax avoidance. As in, did they do it to avoid paying VAT, or did they do it for other reasons and not paying VAT was just a side effect or consequence of that.

I don't know if intention even matters with regards to VAT laws, but if somebody is charged with intentional tax avoidance it would be plausible to say, "It cost us more than the VAT to do it this way, which demonstrates that we did it for other reasons".

Does O'Leary get away scot free now?

I 100% knew she was telling lies and hiding the truth. It was plain to see. The mental health card was completely false. Her role would make her a lot tougher than that. She is retiring now so I guess she is laughing at us all. She didn't even bother telling the PAC that she wasn't attending.

Same with weather and sport. RTÉ ONE still has weather reports during the morning because of sponsors, while 2FM has sports on during the night in case they get sponsorship. But neither have their normal news bulletins any more.

Yeah, very disappointing from PK. I'm an avid listener to his show because he's informed, well prepared and never seems to have an agenda beyond getting to the crux of whatever topic. But he is very obviously in Tub's corner here.

I suppose there is another way you could look at it. Pat is notoriously litigious himself and I'm sure were he in Tubridy's shoes he'd be nailing RTE to the wall over failure to honour contracts, reputational damage and whatever else. So he's probably more speaking from his own perspective than purely batting for an old RTE buddy.

What need you, being come to sense,

But fumble in a greasy till

And add the halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone;

Romantic RTE is dead and gone. It's with O'Leary in the grave...

Don’t forget the security