RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

The analogue systems used in the 1990s were hacked. The UK's subscription DDT service was hacked. Satellite digital TV services were also hacked because of a theory that identified a flaw in all systems that was published in 1991. This led to the rise of the first generation of dodgy boxes which received the keys necessary to decrypt the programmes via the Internet. You don't seem to understand that even if a digital service is encrypted that it has to be decrypted at the audience side. That takes technology and a subscription management system. RTE has neither.

Well yes, everything can be hacked. But even when Card Sharing became common (still very niche) sky along with most European providers still grew it's legitimate customer base.

Modern illegitimate ITPV is streets ahead of CS, but hey we still have subscription TV.

Just because something can be hacked doesn't mean the end or an excuse not to start sub based TV.

While the subscription managment side of things might be outsourced, the costs of the CA technology for such a small market, especially for those that do not use online services and are not cable TV subscribers would be substantial. 

Why?

You don't have to reinvent you, you license it.

Investing in brand new far more expensive tech didn't seem much of a barrier when switching to DVB-T.

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Anyway you seem hung up on the very minor detail of how to encrypt or decrypt a signal. We have the technology.

The reality is the future is quality which is sub based and and largely on demand.

Nationwide on 3 times a week as they show us a goat testicle farm has probably run it's course.

The Tubridy payments scandal exposed RTE as a highly dysfunctional company. It simply does not have the expertise, technology, infrastructure (subscription management services) and the money to properly build a non-niche Pay TV service that operates over the air (Saorview), via cable TV, via satellite TV (you probably only thought of it being carried by Sky on the Astra satellites but forgot SaorSat) and online.

Sounds like RTE middle management throwing in the towel again.

The "we can't" attitude is one of the reasons Mr Tubridy was on nearly a cool million a year.

Cowardice and archaic thinking and lack of vision is why we will still be having this discussion in 5 years time.

It seems to me that the talent who are contractors will sidestep the 250k salary restriction which will only apply to rte staff. Plus ca change in RTE!

The only plan seems to be to close services with no audience (the lesser performing digital streaming channels and the plus one tv services) . Why not kill off fair city and save a decent amount of money? The orchestras and lyric fm/2fm should also be closed and/or spun off elsewhere.

RTE already have their Gaa Go pay per view app. It is supposed to be crap, but is a starting point which could be expanded and integrated into the player.

jmcc (who I suspect has written several books on the subject 😉) is correct on the costs using a hardware/CAM cards etc.

GAA Go is okay actually.

It is the literal definition of basic. But that is fine.

I bought an MPEG-4 capable TV when we switched to digital, cost me the guts of a grand. Absolutely nothing wrong with the TV it replaced, I don't think a receiver with a reader would be prohibit ably expensive.

Either way sub based RTE going forward would be outside the public service remit, you could make it entirely internet based.

Also I am not suggesting we have in place by next Tuesday.

But the way forward seems to be status quo we are already 25 miles behind in this marathon. Won't work.

Just listening to the rte news piece about this plan.

It's all buzz words and clichés.

You could nearly bet your house on very little of it ever being implemented.

Was thinking the same. I'm sure I've heard it all before. RTE's biggest issue is lack of governance. It's a free spender without consequence. I didn't hear anything in the plan about how to address this. Who is to say they will actually follow any of the plan at all. Not trust worthy and it has been proved many times in the PAC.

I don't understand how they would save money by scrapping these channels. There is no new content on them.

I doubt the content will suffer at all Sarah

Jane Suiter once again bringing up the dreadful media in America every time RTE is discussed.

A gigantic country with no comparison with us whatsoever.

Seriously is there actually any chance this woman will ever be questioned on her part in all of this?

It is incredible that someone like this can just brazen it out without a care in the world.

How is such a lack of accountability allowed?

I just hope Dee Forbes is compelled at some stage to explain her actions but the longer she brazens it out the more likely it is that she will slip out of the limelight…….but continue to reap the rich rewards that her public role provided. Crazy situation.

I would like to see the costing for cutting thos channels. Exactly how much it will save.

It sounds impressive on paper, but it will be a drop in the ocean to what savings are really needed.

It's all a bit 'Smoke & Mirrors' afaiac - A few ideas that sound good (at face value) thrown out and the Govt caves in immediately with - 'Yeah, sounds great lads, here's the bail out' - RTE have no real intention of changing and the Govt have no real intention of making them change

€250k max eh? Wow! - BOC will be gutted and may consider reducing his hours worked annually to 150 in protest...and refuse to do the 160 p/a hours...that everyone else does in 4 weeks

RTE never really got to grips with the fact that they're not preaching/broadcasting to Peadar and Attracta (sitting in the kitchen beside the range) anymore

Investment in technology including leveraging AI - but no mention of how or why.

Additional investment in regional offices such as Galway and Cork, but not selling Donnybrook. Well, if they aren't selling Donnybrook, what are the regional offices going to be doing? Galway was in the news yesterday due to the effects of the storm, which thankfully is a rare occurrence. Not a whole lot of news happens in Galway, and galway city is just over a 2.5 hour drive from Dublin. Any other "company" with this kind of money issue, their first move would be to sell off the small regional offices and consolidate into the HQ.

didn't Tubs make an awful mess for himself..

idiot

I don't think RTE has reflected what an absolute joke this plan is.

There will be no redundancies for ages and ages, if at all.

No hard coverage of this plan from RTE which is loss making and a burden on the state. This bailout money could be spent elsewhere.