Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

I don't know why you regard the closure of the Saorview radio stations as a good thing, it's not, like the +1s it's exactly the sort of symbolic "reform" RTE should not be doing, an elimination of useful services that saves next to no money.

RTE have no need now to make the real changes behind the scenes that need to be made, since Catherine Martin gave them a huge wodge of our cash, they can carry on just as before.

Can you believe the total arrogance behind this shít, this little twerp will be back on RTE rubbing our noses in it before we know where we are.

They actually expect people to pay €3.95 for this diarrhoea!

Where's our €150k, Ryan?

Tubridy isn't responsible for RTE's problems.

Yes and no. I agree who is going to say no to the wages that he was on, at the end of the day it is up to RTÉ to negotiate prices and if they agree to to crazy pay then who is ever going to say no.

However, RTÉ kept saying that they had reduced the cost of the top earners when they had not, and Tubs did agree to his 150k from Renault. I don't necessarily believe he didn't know, or that he didn't know that they under reported his wage in the 3 previous years to that.

However, Tubs and Kenny all knew RTÉ was under financial pressure and as Claire Byrne pointed out "They know their worth" not the worth of the service they broadcast on, or the market they are in.

Kenny at the end of his time at RTÉ took nice exit fee for completion of a 5 year contract, remember the public were lead to believe that these were largely yearly negotiations and for that reason and commercial ones RTÉ could not publish the figures the following year, rather they insisted on a years delay.

Everyone involved at RTÉ is responsible for not saying anything about this crazy situation. Remember this thread pre-dates any of the controversy. If we knew, they knew.

34,000 homes are being built this year, 40,000 next year…a huge amount of these will be paying the tv license... so there's their constantly increasing revenue... I believe SF want to increase taxes on those over 140,000 in the private sector, it would be a negative but for rte, the public and civil sector, in most areas, maybe other than health, I'd actually support it, because they are overpaid...

Also depending on the cost of a new studio and relocation, let them get somewhere in west Dublin and the surplus money from selling montrose, can go back to the tax payer...

Pat "****" Kenny on tubs podcast!

And that is the sorry sad pathetic state of Irish Radio at the moment.

As I finish some cooking for Christmas (Turkey carved and ready to eat, currently working on soup and val-au-vent) I think how's Dee? we know at this point both Dee and Jimbo are possibly getting ready for Christmas Dinner as normal and they will be happy out.

Meantime next Month Kevin BeFrobes will be given €18.75 million as part of the first monthly tranche of money heading to RTÉ, is is along with est €12.5m in commercial income. (€31.25m)

So other than the normal service are we going to see anything different in the New Year? or just more Dancing with the Canteen.

Also Happy Christmas everyone hope you all have a good time. Talk to you in the New Year.

Was Tubridy actually paid for this?

From Irish money , whether RTE or GOV?

Why is Eoghan even getting free marketing, and where is the money from book sales going, must be a charity I guess.

All of this is disgraceful again if the public and footing any costs....

Any Tubridy still owes the tax payer 100s of thousands that he said himself he would pay back!!

Tubridy actually needs to be banned from receiving public money, at the very least, until he has repaid his ill-gotten gains, for zero work.

Tubs rarely does anything for free I'd guess.

Fully agree. It’s simply astonishing that this woman can just avoid any form of questioning on this whole debacle, something that she was so central/complicit in. This is something that has to be pushed in 2025. There needs to be answers and some accountability here.

I agree but I think you will find Ms Forbes knows where all the skeletons are and a lot of politicians would be dragged through the mud here so I cant see anyone going after her. Remember one rule for us and our betters as they can do what they want - classic Charlie Haughty/Bertie Ahern Ireland which is still alive and breeding in 2025

surely dee has been spotted out and about over Christmas?she doesnt strike me as someone that would be shy away from free champagne and canape festive soiree…

So I have no issue with RTÉ making TV or Radio. I think that is where they should invest their money. Afterall its in their name. And obviously I mean online content as well, though I think they should be platform neutral.

Why a former winner of You're A Star wants to defend RTÉ is strange

https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/mickey-joe-harte-defends-rte-34415113

Mickey said Dancing With The Stars deserves a place on the TV schedule every year as the show gives employment to so many people.

I do think it is, and by all accounts, I think it's something that they recoup (the money) through sponsorship and advertising so I think it's something that probably evens itself out.

If so RTÉ should show it breakeven, I imagine it may well do, but like Fair City if its breaking even why not have a similar series on each week of the year not just for 10 or so weeks? And perhaps a second soap, after all your argument set out below is well made, but RTÉ don't make any more than one of these types of shows each year and you end up sounding like Dee Forbes defending Toy Show the Musical.

We need these kinds of shows. I know there's not that many of these shows. Actually, there's probably only one show. There's probably only maybe one company, or, you know, a few companies in this country that could do that, and they bring in expertise, and it creates a huge amount… there's 150 people employed on this show.

That filters down into, you know, I know what it is like as a musician with gigs and stuff.

“These things are important to keep going in between the big films and all the things that happen in Ireland, you know, if you don't have companies like, you know, RTE and so forth, you know, to nurture that thing.

“And if you don’t do a show like this how do you get Irish people the experience, you know, besides them having to leave the country. So I'm very positive about it.

“When you see it in action, and when you see the amount of employment that it creates and the amount of skills that it gives to people coming up.

“I work with some of the people in euros, and now they were maybe production runners, 21 years ago, and now they are executive producers.

“So that process of people coming through would not have happened if it was not for the funding of RTE and those programs and all these things so on the TV license and all that.

“So it is hugely important to give people experience, besides that, if we keep chipping away at the industry and sort of just do stuff that we think is cooler and not funding it properly, or giving these big productions where you learn, these guys learn very high tech, very high skilled things on the show that they wouldn't learn on other shows.

“And it's as simple as that. They can bring that anywhere in the world. And it also attracts people in. Film people who come out here and make films, or whatever it is, they ‘We've got a good industry. There's a great source, there's a great ball pool of expertise there in Ireland.”

What the former You're A Star winner seems to forget is that RTÉ waste money and their is the issue of nepotism which has even taken over in the Irish TV and Film Independent sector (Just read the end credits to DWTS, the name Bass appears a number of times).

Or look at the RTÉ annual report,

Just imagine the great man o' change spend 34k on cars and expenses, that's a wage that's €5.6k per month.

But I suppose each year RTÉ make one TV show that employees a few people in the same company for the last 20 years.

As they say Sin a Bhfuil.

Just think about it the amount of time you'd have to put into claiming €5k in expenses each month. If I were Kevin BeForbe's PA I might just say "**** Off, I put up with 7 **** years of that bitch not going through that again, do your own **** expences"

Out shoppin

On RTE radio and TV, the licence fee warning adverts are on heavy rotation.

Kevin is not on 120k per year, those figures are for 5/6 months.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rte-director-general-kevin-bakhurst-made-an-error-on-air-when-he-under-reported-pay-package-by-31500/a102893713.html

Mr Bakhurst receives a basic salary of €250,000, a car allowance of €25,000 and a pension contribution that is 25pc of his salary. This pension contribution amounts to €62,500.

It is crazy that he is getting that off the public purse, guaranteed by the taxpayer.

The Prime Minister of Spain - the head of the government there - only gets €90,000 per year.

Prime Minister of Spain - Wikipedia

In late 2023, Kevin Beforbes, launched an PR campaign where he did numerous interviews with different publications. Indeed the same publications (along with Mat Cooper and Gavin Reilly) complained prior to those interviews that Kevin had closed the door to any interviews with them. In the end they were mainly puff pieces, which was exactly what he wanted, in 2024 he did few interviews (save for Cardiff and something Killarney in November) again much of the same type of slíbhín (sleveen) type chat. Little of substance.

As we begin 2025 it now seems to be the case that RTÉ are either asking their "stars" to defend them or they have done out of their own accord.

We now have Cormac Ó hEadhra saying ‘Everybody in RTÉ found it extremely difficult. There was controversy every day, and it rolled on like that for 10 months – but if there is a silver lining, RTÉ is much more lean"

Much more lean, I suggest Cormac take a look at my previous posts to see how much more lean Kevin Beforbes is as DG, lean is not a word I would use.

https://www.independent.ie/life/cormac-o-headhra-everybody-in-rte-found-it-extremely-difficult-there-was-controversy-every-day-and-it-rolled-on-like-that-for-10-months-but-if-there-is-a-silver-lining-rte-is-much-more-lean/a1119245473.html

IMO if you are promoting a show, refuse to answer questions about RTÉ's scandal, your better off in the long run.

She's like one of those girls that would never do PE and always had a sick note. Womin's problems perhaps, we really need to talk more about the menopause, it can cause you to underwrite payments to presenters unilaterally.

Meanwhile Jimbo has had his prostate removed, or was that his balls!

The problem with RTÉ is that it will believe its own PR.

https://about.rte.ie/2025/01/10/record-breaking-2024-for-rte/

RTÉ Player has record breaking 142 million streams, up 42% year-on-year

This is true but 142m stream is nothing to write home about. 390K stream a day, or per hour 16K, this is RTÉ ONE +1 audience levels at best.

RTÉ delivers 42 of the Top 50 of 2024’s most-watched shows on TV, with Sport, RTÉ News, and Eurovision among Top 20 programmes

Sport is makes up 24 of the top shows, all of which were on RTÉ2, remember Dee Frobes and Co want to drop sport from RTÉ2 and move it over to RTÉ ONE. And what of that sport Euros and Olypmic Games a big year for RTÉ2, a channel devoid of anything other than sport for people to watch, which audience levels without sport get between 4 and 6 %.

Also these sports are what RTÉ in their annual report will say are "special events" and if we didn't have to produce them we would have made a profit.

Steve Carson, Director of Video, RTÉ, said: “RTÉ constantly strives to provide audiences with a unique and compelling mix of content that they deserve from their public service media organisation. We are delighted to see audiences engaging with RTÉ content in such high numbers on television and on RTÉ Player across a wide range of genres, from trusted News & Current Affairs, Irish Drama, Entertainment and Documentaries, as well as national events and major sporting moments.

We invested in both the functionality and availability of RTÉ Player and it has paid off with an enhanced user experience and expanded catalogue clearly delivering for audiences. RTÉ is committed to continuing to deliver relevant, engaging content for Irish audiences that sets us apart from global media companies and streamers. We will continue to provide that for Irish audiences in collaboration with the independent sector in 2025 and beyond.”

First Director of Video sounds like Direct to Video and is a title of a by gone age, Director of Visual / Director of Visual Content might be a better title.

Well done I suppose it will help to get you out of the mess you created from 2013 to 2023.

Just to note that I forgot RTÉ had added the latest series of the Young Offenders to the player just before Christmas so this would bring the average down to 60,870, putting it in 8th position.

There is one viewer out there that watches 6,163 ads in rotation before they get to watch Shortland Street.

At this point RTÉ should be split up and public service broadcasting saved.

The broadcaster has not be run well across the board, this is just not what we all see and hear everyday via their output, but also in relation to general governance of the company, maintenance of the Montrose and other sites run by RTÉ, along with their employment practices.

The current DG has also said to upgrade RTÉ's buildings would cost 300m, and pointed to leaking roofs and so on.

Also for those contractors in RTÉ how did you get to be contractors for 20+ years even 5+ years is a strange situation, there had to be some incentive not to be a member of staff.

When asked if Mr Bakhurst’s statements suggest that RTÉ considers that the need to remain solvent outweighs the legal rights of employees seeking restitution, the spokesperson said “we do not accept the premise contained” in the query.

Explain why you don't accept the premise of the query.

He is admitting RTE's management wronged the staff. Weakening RTE stance if/when court causes are brought against them. Going bankrupt is not a valid defense in court.

I have seen self employed people reaching retirement age. Earning good money but never taking out a pension or other investments. They suddenly reach an age were there friends have started to retire, go to their accountants and are told is a bit late now to build up a decent pension. You had no interest in a pension when talked about it 20, 15, 10, 5 years ago. Tears and mental breakdown involved. But in RTE's cause workers have a get out of jail card. Sue them for Bogus Self Employment.