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GAA on TV

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Replying To Canuck:  "Is it the devil you know and familiarity breeds contempt ? I can tell you one think rte talk hosts are the best in the world. Try listen to American host talking over their guests. Not listening to the answer because they are reading the next scripted question or listening in their ear piece to the producer.
RTE may not be perfect but if it was gone in the morning people would be screaming how it is missed and how good it was compared to the new privately owned network. We really are a fickle people."
Same in the UK where people just love to have a go at the BBC no matter what they do and then the rightwing pile on with the made up gay/black/women or whatever agenda stuff despite private news clearly more open to having special agendas

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 19/09/2020 09:56:58    2293001

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Replying To supersub15:  "When I posted the thread "RTE," in hind sight the thread probably should have read "RTE / GAA". The two state / semi state bodies work well together and are part of our culture, RTE are part of our modern day culture and the GAA are part of our historic culture, in fact I would go as far as saying they would work very well together in business. The GAA was very much part of making the launch of RTE in 1961 a major success, from there on RTE was very much part of bringing all things GAA into the homes of most people in the country successful and without bios, RTE and the GAA have made legends out of a lot of our people and their counties, fact, the people mostly responsibly for this were Michael O'Hehir and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in particular, add to that Mícheál "Maidhc" Ó Sé, Gay Byrne, Roll it there "Collette", Jerry Ryan, Mary McAleese, Marion Finucane, (RIP) etc, etc, etc .RTE made mega stars out of some of their talk hosts / presenters, seemingly though at the expense of others.

I wouldn't be in favour of comparing our RTE with that of other international broadcasters, they have their ways and we have ours, ours are far from perfect, but I'd prefer ours.

The GAA are far from perfect either that's why I sort of fight with them all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If RTE were gone in the morning the GAA would go into serious decline, if the GAA were to disappear tomorrow, then RTE would go into melt down the next day.

I never left the GAA, rather it left me when they introduced the Back Door system, the Sky deal, the multi card system, the black card, and their attitude towards the weaker counties.

The problem with RTE is they appear to do everything right except knowing how to use the talent at their disposal, and when to dot the I's and cross the T's when it matters most, it gets them into all sorts of trouble."
Whilst I'd largely agree that RTE and the GAA have been good for each other I disagree the GAA would go into decline if RTE disappeared. RTE have little impact in the community spirit of the GAA, the volunteers, the club and in fact since 1961 have paid very little attention to the ethos of the GAA. They have only ever been interested in the elite side of the GAA; the side they can make advertising etc from.

I won't deny RTE as the only real media organisation helped market the GAA and brought into our homes through radio and television from the 60's to 90's. However this is 2020, the world of instant news, social media, numerous media organisations. RTE have an arrogance about them as the national broadcaster they have a right to GAA coverage - they were the main opposition to the Sky deal; I recall they blocked TG4 getting more coverage for years until the GAA became strong and give TG4 the minor All Ireland; RTE's motives have always been about making the GAA think there is nobody else that can provide their coverage.

I disagree with their narrative; there is now competition and like every walk of life they should embrace the competition and provide a modern product.

Whilst you might not agree with some Sky, TG4, Newstalk to name a few entering the market shows how bad the current RTE product is. If you ask some people to choose their best GAA programming RTE products would be well down the list. They have a sense of entitlement whilst producing "safe, highly scripted, boring programming that they believe people have no choice but to watch.

However without going over earlier debates the path Brolly has taken since leaving RTE shines a torch on the numerous media outlets providing GAA programming in modern, up to date new media platforms. This at the same time as TG4 continue to champion the real GAA; something they've always done.

The GAA have outgrown the current RTE; RTE wouldn't survive without the GAA but the GAA would manage without RTE; there is a number of better managed products the GAA would tap into and moving away from the sense of entitlement at RTE might actually help the GAA.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 19/09/2020 10:02:04    2293002

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Replying To arock:  "
Replying To supersub15:  "When I posted the thread "RTE," in hind sight the thread probably should have read "RTE / GAA". The two state / semi state bodies work well together and are part of our culture, RTE are part of our modern day culture and the GAA are part of our historic culture, in fact I would go as far as saying they would work very well together in business. The GAA was very much part of making the launch of RTE in 1961 a major success, from there on RTE was very much part of bringing all things GAA into the homes of most people in the country successful and without bios, RTE and the GAA have made legends out of a lot of our people and their counties, fact, the people mostly responsibly for this were Michael O'Hehir and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in particular, add to that Mícheál "Maidhc" Ó Sé, Gay Byrne, Roll it there "Collette", Jerry Ryan, Mary McAleese, Marion Finucane, (RIP) etc, etc, etc .RTE made mega stars out of some of their talk hosts / presenters, seemingly though at the expense of others.

I wouldn't be in favour of comparing our RTE with that of other international broadcasters, they have their ways and we have ours, ours are far from perfect, but I'd prefer ours.

The GAA are far from perfect either that's why I sort of fight with them all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If RTE were gone in the morning the GAA would go into serious decline, if the GAA were to disappear tomorrow, then RTE would go into melt down the next day.

I never left the GAA, rather it left me when they introduced the Back Door system, the Sky deal, the multi card system, the black card, and their attitude towards the weaker counties.

The problem with RTE is they appear to do everything right except knowing how to use the talent at their disposal, and when to dot the I's and cross the T's when it matters most, it gets them into all sorts of trouble."
RTE's problem is not directly related to sport, essentially they are a state sponsored entity, more Sputnik rather than RT. As a result there is an unwritten script, a self censorship that cannot cope with controversy. Hence the dumping of the colourful but off beat Brolly and the introduction of the wooden Cantwell and the end of controversy. RTE's brief flirtation with controversy was at a time of huge growth in the games and its popularity. RTE I agree its survival is probably intertwined with the GAA, but covid 19 has changed the landscape this is a major reset. In 1918 Irish Whiskey was a mega World Brand, WWI, war of Independence and prohibition reset the playing field to zero. Scotch replaced Irish and ot has taken 90 years to create a level playing field again. The GAA needs to embrace TG4 that is where the future for the local game is. RTE is sterile and it is finished as a major promoter of GAA. Just look and listen to its pathetic news coverage, Pravda would be proud of it."
As much as I like TG4, it would make no commercial or promotional sense whatsoever for the GAA to wed itself completely to TG4.
TG4 is a niche channel. It's viewing figures are tiny in relation to the size of the national pool. I dont know what the exact figures are but if they reach 5% of the national audience for a run of the mill programme they are doing well. Maybe for GAA games it might double , treble or quadruple even....you are still talking about very low figures in a national context. I dont think that would change much if TG4 became the main free to air provider of GAA games. And you are also losing the possibility of promoting the sports beyond their traditional base. Leaving aside our large cohort of inveterate Irish born Anglophiles (or "West Brits" if you prefer!) who might only watch a GAA match a couple of times a year if they do at all, what is the likelihood of, say, a Polish person living here sitting down to watch a game that's not of their culture in a language that they dont understand?

RTE is on its knees. When they have to start selling paintings off the walls to keep the place running it tells you how dire their financial circumstances are --'and they had to do that before the pandemic struck. Its situation one would expect is even more perilous now and their has to be a real doubt about its future viability. But if RTE go to the wall it will be bad news for the GAA as it will be one less major customer and given the competition from other sports the private media channels will cherry pick the GAA games they'll want to show and GAA fans will have to put their hands in their pockets to pay for live streaming of games that the bigger networks will have no interest in showing. Be careful what you wish for.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1902 - 19/09/2020 12:23:10    2293016

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Replying To PoolSturgeon:  "
Replying To arock:  "[quote=supersub15:  "When I posted the thread "RTE," in hind sight the thread probably should have read "RTE / GAA". The two state / semi state bodies work well together and are part of our culture, RTE are part of our modern day culture and the GAA are part of our historic culture, in fact I would go as far as saying they would work very well together in business. The GAA was very much part of making the launch of RTE in 1961 a major success, from there on RTE was very much part of bringing all things GAA into the homes of most people in the country successful and without bios, RTE and the GAA have made legends out of a lot of our people and their counties, fact, the people mostly responsibly for this were Michael O'Hehir and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in particular, add to that Mícheál "Maidhc" Ó Sé, Gay Byrne, Roll it there "Collette", Jerry Ryan, Mary McAleese, Marion Finucane, (RIP) etc, etc, etc .RTE made mega stars out of some of their talk hosts / presenters, seemingly though at the expense of others.

I wouldn't be in favour of comparing our RTE with that of other international broadcasters, they have their ways and we have ours, ours are far from perfect, but I'd prefer ours.

The GAA are far from perfect either that's why I sort of fight with them all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If RTE were gone in the morning the GAA would go into serious decline, if the GAA were to disappear tomorrow, then RTE would go into melt down the next day.

I never left the GAA, rather it left me when they introduced the Back Door system, the Sky deal, the multi card system, the black card, and their attitude towards the weaker counties.

The problem with RTE is they appear to do everything right except knowing how to use the talent at their disposal, and when to dot the I's and cross the T's when it matters most, it gets them into all sorts of trouble."
RTE's problem is not directly related to sport, essentially they are a state sponsored entity, more Sputnik rather than RT. As a result there is an unwritten script, a self censorship that cannot cope with controversy. Hence the dumping of the colourful but off beat Brolly and the introduction of the wooden Cantwell and the end of controversy. RTE's brief flirtation with controversy was at a time of huge growth in the games and its popularity. RTE I agree its survival is probably intertwined with the GAA, but covid 19 has changed the landscape this is a major reset. In 1918 Irish Whiskey was a mega World Brand, WWI, war of Independence and prohibition reset the playing field to zero. Scotch replaced Irish and ot has taken 90 years to create a level playing field again. The GAA needs to embrace TG4 that is where the future for the local game is. RTE is sterile and it is finished as a major promoter of GAA. Just look and listen to its pathetic news coverage, Pravda would be proud of it."
As much as I like TG4, it would make no commercial or promotional sense whatsoever for the GAA to wed itself completely to TG4.
TG4 is a niche channel. It's viewing figures are tiny in relation to the size of the national pool. I dont know what the exact figures are but if they reach 5% of the national audience for a run of the mill programme they are doing well. Maybe for GAA games it might double , treble or quadruple even....you are still talking about very low figures in a national context. I dont think that would change much if TG4 became the main free to air provider of GAA games. And you are also losing the possibility of promoting the sports beyond their traditional base. Leaving aside our large cohort of inveterate Irish born Anglophiles (or "West Brits" if you prefer!) who might only watch a GAA match a couple of times a year if they do at all, what is the likelihood of, say, a Polish person living here sitting down to watch a game that's not of their culture in a language that they dont understand?

RTE is on its knees. When they have to start selling paintings off the walls to keep the place running it tells you how dire their financial circumstances are --'and they had to do that before the pandemic struck. Its situation one would expect is even more perilous now and their has to be a real doubt about its future viability. But if RTE go to the wall it will be bad news for the GAA as it will be one less major customer and given the competition from other sports the private media channels will cherry pick the GAA games they'll want to show and GAA fans will have to put their hands in their pockets to pay for live streaming of games that the bigger networks will have no interest in showing. Be careful what you wish for."]There would be a difference in a "commercial TV company" and a "Pay per view" company. Whilst I agree with large parts of your post I don't agree the GAA would go totally pay per view if RTE went to the wall. The GAA will flirt with pay per view like they do now but the vast majority of their GAA championship will always be free to air. The GAA championships on prime time commercial television/radio would be a very lucative product for the GAA and the media company.

The GAA would significantly increase the value of their media rights and the whole product would be modernised resulting in an attractive, well watched product allowing huge advertising revenues.

Whilst not exclusive access TG4 is more a GAA channel than RTE are and they'd be ready to increase their coverage over the whole year; in the current climate of product/value of media rights the GAA would benefit from moving away from RTE. I don't think RTE do much for the GAA currently which is seen by the negativety towards the quality of the championships.

That negative viewpoint starts from boring, dull, scripted GAA programming on RTE. Sky are informative, accurate and positive in their message producing interesting, lively shows allowing a positive feeling about the whole product. If Sky is a hint of what could be produced by a commercalised free to air company then the future could be good. In saying all of this RTE have in the past produced great programming which added a lot of buzz and benefit to the GAA; but that type of programming appears to be gone.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 19/09/2020 13:15:20    2293020

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Replying To Galway4ever:  "RTÉ has and continues to do a serious disservice to the Irish people, while it is now a bastion of liberal woke ideology it's not too long ago it sided with whom ever was in power and was a particular tool of the Catholic Church.
It would be in the interest of the Irish people that the station either gets closed down or and least lose it state funding"
Would love RTE to close down if they refuse to undergo major reforms (which I would prefer over them closing them), but God help us all if that means Virgin Media becomes the new national broadcaster!

Maybe we should be careful what we wish for...

eoghan6688 (Galway) - Posts: 154 - 19/09/2020 13:49:38    2293024

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Rte has its golden years when there was little or no competition. They are now a small fish with some average talent and no real creative individuals steering the ship.
They are paying way too much money to what they call their star presenters. Mind you if you want pompous and arrogant try listening to Dr Kelly on one of the independent talk stations.

catch22 (USA) - Posts: 2148 - 19/09/2020 14:08:39    2293028

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Replying To PoolSturgeon:  "
Replying To arock:  "[quote=supersub15:  "When I posted the thread "RTE," in hind sight the thread probably should have read "RTE / GAA". The two state / semi state bodies work well together and are part of our culture, RTE are part of our modern day culture and the GAA are part of our historic culture, in fact I would go as far as saying they would work very well together in business. The GAA was very much part of making the launch of RTE in 1961 a major success, from there on RTE was very much part of bringing all things GAA into the homes of most people in the country successful and without bios, RTE and the GAA have made legends out of a lot of our people and their counties, fact, the people mostly responsibly for this were Michael O'Hehir and Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in particular, add to that Mícheál "Maidhc" Ó Sé, Gay Byrne, Roll it there "Collette", Jerry Ryan, Mary McAleese, Marion Finucane, (RIP) etc, etc, etc .RTE made mega stars out of some of their talk hosts / presenters, seemingly though at the expense of others.

I wouldn't be in favour of comparing our RTE with that of other international broadcasters, they have their ways and we have ours, ours are far from perfect, but I'd prefer ours.

The GAA are far from perfect either that's why I sort of fight with them all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If RTE were gone in the morning the GAA would go into serious decline, if the GAA were to disappear tomorrow, then RTE would go into melt down the next day.

I never left the GAA, rather it left me when they introduced the Back Door system, the Sky deal, the multi card system, the black card, and their attitude towards the weaker counties.

The problem with RTE is they appear to do everything right except knowing how to use the talent at their disposal, and when to dot the I's and cross the T's when it matters most, it gets them into all sorts of trouble."
RTE's problem is not directly related to sport, essentially they are a state sponsored entity, more Sputnik rather than RT. As a result there is an unwritten script, a self censorship that cannot cope with controversy. Hence the dumping of the colourful but off beat Brolly and the introduction of the wooden Cantwell and the end of controversy. RTE's brief flirtation with controversy was at a time of huge growth in the games and its popularity. RTE I agree its survival is probably intertwined with the GAA, but covid 19 has changed the landscape this is a major reset. In 1918 Irish Whiskey was a mega World Brand, WWI, war of Independence and prohibition reset the playing field to zero. Scotch replaced Irish and ot has taken 90 years to create a level playing field again. The GAA needs to embrace TG4 that is where the future for the local game is. RTE is sterile and it is finished as a major promoter of GAA. Just look and listen to its pathetic news coverage, Pravda would be proud of it."
As much as I like TG4, it would make no commercial or promotional sense whatsoever for the GAA to wed itself completely to TG4.
TG4 is a niche channel. It's viewing figures are tiny in relation to the size of the national pool. I dont know what the exact figures are but if they reach 5% of the national audience for a run of the mill programme they are doing well. Maybe for GAA games it might double , treble or quadruple even....you are still talking about very low figures in a national context. I dont think that would change much if TG4 became the main free to air provider of GAA games. And you are also losing the possibility of promoting the sports beyond their traditional base. Leaving aside our large cohort of inveterate Irish born Anglophiles (or "West Brits" if you prefer!) who might only watch a GAA match a couple of times a year if they do at all, what is the likelihood of, say, a Polish person living here sitting down to watch a game that's not of their culture in a language that they dont understand?

RTE is on its knees. When they have to start selling paintings off the walls to keep the place running it tells you how dire their financial circumstances are --'and they had to do that before the pandemic struck. Its situation one would expect is even more perilous now and their has to be a real doubt about its future viability. But if RTE go to the wall it will be bad news for the GAA as it will be one less major customer and given the competition from other sports the private media channels will cherry pick the GAA games they'll want to show and GAA fans will have to put their hands in their pockets to pay for live streaming of games that the bigger networks will have no interest in showing. Be careful what you wish for."]Fair points. But the streaming services can improve what are sometimes patchy service and people subscribing know that club and county teams depend on the revenue to survive. So it's in the streaming services interest in giving a good product. Subscribers can decide what games to watch, they can chose to subscribe or not to bother that week or that month. But they're usually happy to do so because they get a live game to view and some cash goes to club or county. I don't think RTE are worried about the quality of their service attracting new customers.

TV licence holders, whose tax is already subsidising RTE television, don't have a choice but to pay the licence fee, or multimedia fee as it's being called now. Many are already paying for broadband and/or TV where the government are already coining in tax from companies like Vodafone, Eir and Virgin Media. More tax in to government there and some of that handed to RTE. The huge bulk of the licence fee goes to RTE. We have no choice there, unlike some with streaming services. RTE also takes in advertising revenue and gets revenue from selling programmes to other broadcasters. So, licence fees, subsidies, advertising and sales and the debt increases. I think the government need to sell it off if there are takers and a buyer will break it up into those parts that are profitable. No licence fee for us to pay, they might use some tax for some public service broadcasting via RTE's new owner's facilities. That's potentially €160 per year for some GAA fans to stream club and county games and give them some well needed cash. A few pundits might miss the Sunday game cash, nice suits and media exposure but I don't see the grassroots of GAA miss RTE one bit.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 19/09/2020 14:10:51    2293029

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RTE is not perfect but what is ?. Like any organization it may need some refurbishing. If sport presentation is it, okay. However be careful of what you ask for and especially privatization. Looking around the world far right is gone over board like the church did. Privatize everything, make the rich richer, white supremacy, keep the deprived where they are, exploit people for personnel gain etc. etc. However there are many rich people also who contribute to the over all well being of society. It is gombeen politicians that are driving this agenda supported by people who think that these leaders have their back when in fact they will take yours as well when the time comes. A few controlling the many. Remember those million that were out highing Hitler and video to prove it. Unfortunately the majority of people who are in the middle will turn to the radical left to survive.
What has this got to do with rte? I am just surprised that so many on here want to bury it or give it to some new private ownership that no-one knows nothing about. When we first got those tube televisions and rte came on the air, everyone taught they had died and gone to heaven. There can be control over independent state t.v. If anyone thinks that private t.v. can not and is not already bought by people with an agenda take a look around the world.
A health balance between state owned (the people) and private is the safest way for us.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 19/09/2020 18:36:17    2293058

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Replying To Canuck:  "RTE is not perfect but what is ?. Like any organization it may need some refurbishing. If sport presentation is it, okay. However be careful of what you ask for and especially privatization. Looking around the world far right is gone over board like the church did. Privatize everything, make the rich richer, white supremacy, keep the deprived where they are, exploit people for personnel gain etc. etc. However there are many rich people also who contribute to the over all well being of society. It is gombeen politicians that are driving this agenda supported by people who think that these leaders have their back when in fact they will take yours as well when the time comes. A few controlling the many. Remember those million that were out highing Hitler and video to prove it. Unfortunately the majority of people who are in the middle will turn to the radical left to survive.
What has this got to do with rte? I am just surprised that so many on here want to bury it or give it to some new private ownership that no-one knows nothing about. When we first got those tube televisions and rte came on the air, everyone taught they had died and gone to heaven. There can be control over independent state t.v. If anyone thinks that private t.v. can not and is not already bought by people with an agenda take a look around the world.
A health balance between state owned (the people) and private is the safest way for us."
The government have their agenda in keeping RTE state-owned,handy propaganda when it's needed. If they were still the only show in broadcast town we'd be less aware of that. They already have to outsource most of their output on television to independent production companies because it's no longer feasible for them to do so, despite the handouts they're getting. There's plenty of faults with other media and broadcasting companies that we can access and subscribe to here. But at least they can give different opinions to RTE at times. And we have a choice to subscribe to them or not, unlike with the licence fee tax.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 19/09/2020 19:06:02    2293061

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RTE /GAA are becoming catch phrases, they are both under financial pressure with a feasible unknown future, some of it self-inflicted and some because of coved -19. RTÉ's assets are "fully stretched" in terms of collateral against loans and "its capacity to borrow more is therefore limited." 95 / 100 used, their limit is 100.

What is now a mini nightmare was once a dream in 1960 /61, the history books say the world was revolutionised in every sense of the word in the 60;s, politics, music etc, etc. our near neighbours up the road had UTV, BBC 1, BBC 2 and all of that, Uncle Sam and our near neighbours were putting indirect pressure on us to equal that, and so we did, with a state owned Radio / TV network. Two or three serious recessions later, a couple of suspect management decisions, and the hammer blow of Covid- 19 began to take its toll. I resent being part of something that is totally Irish being a failure, as of now RTE is not a failure however it is limping along rather painfully, it is depending on financial aid to supplement the TV license fee, the TV license is another form of tax, so too is our car tax, our vat, our electricity charges, our USC tax, our credit card tax, our property tax, It would cost mega millions to close RTE down between redundancies and pension settlements, so I don't think that will happen, what might happen is our government might take it over in its entirety, short to medium term 'till a suitable buyer is sourced. I can see either Virgin Media or sky Ireland showing an interest.

The GAA are in a similar boat to that of RTE, its said by early spring 2021 the GAA will have amassed a loss of approximately 70 / 75 million Euros over 12 months, that doesn't include other losses incurred around the country like the short fall of 35 / 50 million Euros on behalf of P.U.C. The GAA have come through difficult times over the past 100 plus years and they will come through this difficult time. Its inevitable that changes will take place after covid -19, such as club membership fees will rise, match admission prices will rise, programme prices will rise, a possible reduction in expenses etc, etc. personally I wouldn't mind some of that within reason, if we saw something positive in return, I would like to see a genuine understanding of the weaker counties issues, something like two thirds of the counties of Ireland are the so called weaker counties, it's endless.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 20/09/2020 11:16:30    2293149

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It has been stated that rte presenters and administrators are over paid and that is probably true. However so are soccer players, baseball players, hockey players, professional sports people and organizations. We the public are the ones who set the their enumeration and pay by our insatiable desire for these products. I myself pay a lot of money to stream games that I can not go to. The ones I go to believe me cost a lot more to get there. This is my choice. So if you do not like paying a licence give up your t.v. and some of the other non essentials to life. Like if you do not like the cost of a pint. There is a solution. That may be the quickest way to put rte out of business if that is your desire. Other wise pay up and I won't say shut up but find other ways to bring change. That is if the majority wants change, not a few of us ranting users. I guess we will always be some what biased because of our love for the games.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 20/09/2020 14:40:17    2293183

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Replying To Canuck:  "It has been stated that rte presenters and administrators are over paid and that is probably true. However so are soccer players, baseball players, hockey players, professional sports people and organizations. We the public are the ones who set the their enumeration and pay by our insatiable desire for these products. I myself pay a lot of money to stream games that I can not go to. The ones I go to believe me cost a lot more to get there. This is my choice. So if you do not like paying a licence give up your t.v. and some of the other non essentials to life. Like if you do not like the cost of a pint. There is a solution. That may be the quickest way to put rte out of business if that is your desire. Other wise pay up and I won't say shut up but find other ways to bring change. That is if the majority wants change, not a few of us ranting users. I guess we will always be some what biased because of our love for the games."
I see your point Canuck, but in this instance it could be argued that a TV/device that connects to the internet is an essential item to life so people can easily stay up to date with news channels and gain other important information (using other outlets like newspapers or radio is more difficult to gain information), so RTE can afford currently to do as they please while still raking in the "device to watch TV programmes license" cash I'm afraid

eoghan6688 (Galway) - Posts: 154 - 20/09/2020 16:06:34    2293202

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I have no issue or problem with the TV license I was just making the point that it was another form of taxation that we all have to pay, in fact I think its quite cheap mine works out at something like 24 cents per channel, it won't come cheaper than that.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 20/09/2020 16:15:05    2293204

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Replying To supersub15:  "I have no issue or problem with the TV license I was just making the point that it was another form of taxation that we all have to pay, in fact I think its quite cheap mine works out at something like 24 cents per channel, it won't come cheaper than that."
I hear you supersub15 this so called democracy is questionable enough. My neighbour always says we go out every four years and vote in a dictatorship. I have to pay water charges even though I have a well. When questioning told the water runs through my property. Should I not be getting paid for that. Got warned if I kept pursuing it a compulsory order would force me to take the water or have my house condemned. This is government and don't be fooled by private enterprise either. To get the t.v. channels I want forced to purchase channels i don't want in languages I can't understand. The decisions made to allow these rules are bought and paid for. Democracy has been hi-jacked and bullying is now the order of the day. That is why it is failing around the world. People will say what is the alternative. That is like telling someone who's home is get washed away with a flood that it would be worse if it burned. Taxing so easy to do and is now an abuse. You except that a certain amount is needed to enjoy the life styles we have but it is not a fair system with the wealthy literally paying nothing at all. Coming from a family member who works for revenue. Getting back to rte. It needs to be reined in making sure that the monies provided by its customers is distributed properly and not just another of those gravy trains that seem to run all over the place now a days.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 20/09/2020 18:34:32    2293227

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Replying To supersub15:  "I have no issue or problem with the TV license I was just making the point that it was another form of taxation that we all have to pay, in fact I think its quite cheap mine works out at something like 24 cents per channel, it won't come cheaper than that."
I'd rather have the 24c supersub15 :-)

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 20/09/2020 18:49:01    2293229

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Replying To eoghan6688:  "I see your point Canuck, but in this instance it could be argued that a TV/device that connects to the internet is an essential item to life so people can easily stay up to date with news channels and gain other important information (using other outlets like newspapers or radio is more difficult to gain information), so RTE can afford currently to do as they please while still raking in the "device to watch TV programmes license" cash I'm afraid"
I don't know about that. The are a few essentials like food, water and health care. A lot of other things are conveniences. Like you know we used dock leaves before toilet paper.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 20/09/2020 20:21:54    2293252

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Replying To Canuck:  "I don't know about that. The are a few essentials like food, water and health care. A lot of other things are conveniences. Like you know we used dock leaves before toilet paper."
On the subject of food, if we didn't eat as much or waste as much we would have enough food, if we didn't waste water and repaired our leaks we would have enough of that too, if we drank less and exercised more we may be that bit healthier, god help those that didn't live near a dock leaf.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 20/09/2020 21:30:40    2293287

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Reasonable debate here but lets not throw out the baby with the bath water. Its a bit smelly but could be replaced with some fresh. I too would question the value for money making a t.v. host a millionaire as opposed to raising the income of the health care worker who looks after us. A lot of lip service about how good they are during covid but the next time they look for a 2% pay rise they will be called sons-a-bitc--- again.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 21/09/2020 00:31:01    2293322

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There's serious talent on local radio and in local newspapers that could make the transition to RTE newsrooms etc without any great difficulty. The public is getting brow beaten about how RTE are in financial trouble. That isn't our problem. In 2016 the top ten presenters took home three million euro altogether. Can you imagine how many young journalists and presenters that would employ...at a fairly generous 50k salary a year it would employ 60 people!!
There are a lot of people gone to seed in that organisation, the justification for paying someone 400k to listen to phone calls for an hour each day is an insult to hard pressed tax payers.Then you see the Executive Board of RTE-------. I'll leave it at that.

republicofcloone (Leitrim) - Posts: 375 - 21/09/2020 09:08:08    2293340

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RTÉ Radio One is still good. Documentaries on One are very good, a great podcast for it too. Might be my age, but I turn Newstalk off now more than I leave it on since they started talking about what you're talking about and Off the Ball started doing crappy quizzes and plugging their app. They're probably getting plenty of advertising revenue going that route but Radio One has proper journalists and presenters that let very knowledgeable contributors speak and not middle class callers looking to rant.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 21/09/2020 10:43:23    2293354

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