RTE .... The best they can do right now !!

[A face]

Right lads .... another hike in the price !! ... and what are we getting for it ?

What programs are RTE showing that you think we shouldn't be paying for .... first up are all them soaps, Eastenders and Corrie .... pure muck and should be banned post-haste, along with some of those American soaps ... pure shíte, drivel of the highest order ....... what else is on the list ??

[pineapple stu]

Agree entirely - RTÉ has gone to pot in recent years. Desperate Housewives and Desperate Surgery start next week, as if more proof was needed. Course, they're making a big deal of this too... Premiership repeats as well, don't forget! A ridiculous amount is bought in. TV3 is actually worse, if that's possible! Almost always watch BBC, to be honest.

[dahamsta]

I'm not a soap fan but I'd take them over reality tv any day of the week. The people that make that stuff should be taken outside and shot; the people that watch it should be forced to wear Dunce hats for a month. It's entertainment for the lowest common denominator.

adam

[CollegeTillIDie]

Right lads .... another hike in the price !! ... and what are we getting for it ?

What programs are RTE showing that you think we shouldn't be paying for .... first up are all them soaps, Eastenders and Corrie .... pure muck and should be banned post-haste, along with some of those American soaps ... pure shíte, drivel of the highest order ....... what else is on the list ??

While I agree RTE are crap for the record TV3 show Corrie but all soaps are a pile of pooh except for Ros na Rún of course :p

[M@ttitude]

Why are the Soaps even on Rte and TV3 when there already on BBC1 and UTV, I know there are still about 20 people in the country who haven't got the cable yet but why do we have to fork out for it, all they do is take shows that are already been shown by the brits, until they start coming up with some good original shows, hiking the price will not be justified... :mad:

[fosterdollar]

Havent heard about a price hike. What's the jack with it?

[Macy]

Havent heard about a price hike. What's the jack with it?
€3 on the licence. RTE are rubbish - they have just enough decent/psb stuff for one channel. Since I got my FTV card, I rarely watch anything on RTE/TV3.

[carrickharp]

Sure they need the money to pay those “talented” stars ie: Derek “spanner” Mooney, Plank Kenny, Gerry “know all” Ryan, Gay “f-off and retire” Byrne, Ryan “I'm so brilliant" Tuberety to name but a few, bring back Mike Murphy I say :eek: (Murphys Micro Quiz, quallity stuff)

[crc]

RTE do show some crap, particularly the stuff that's imported, but from what I've seen in other countries (Belgium, France, US) I think RTE generally do a good job. They are unfortunate that they are next door to possibly the best broadcaster in the world (BBC).

[Macy]

RTE do show some crap, particularly the stuff that's imported, but from what I've seen in other countries (Belgium, France, US) I think RTE generally do a good job. They are unfortunate that they are next door to possibly the best broadcaster in the world (BBC).
Fair comment about the BBC, but RTE can do so much better. For example compare the caliber of the guests etc on the Late Late when the Dunphy Show was on compared to now?

[pete]

Much as i moan about them in reality i think most people will watch more RTE than other channels. I'm not sure how much public service broadcasting they have left but if want to watch US dramas 'n stuff then RTE usually in before uk stations.

I think the combination of licence revenue & commercial advertising means RTE are in very unfair position with regards the commercial tv stations (tv3, setanta) which probably means tv3 can't even bid for most US programs so RTE gets them on the cheap.

2FM should be sold by RTE as I can't see a single element of public service programming in their entire schedule. Whats the point???

[carrickharp]

But they only got better guests on the Late Late as they had competition from Dumphy.

[Risteard]

I think the combination of licence revenue & commercial advertising means RTE are in very unfair position with regards the commercial tv stations (tv3, setanta) which probably means tv3 can't even bid for most US programs so RTE gets them on the cheap.
You're probably right.
But whats the story with Corrie and the Champions League then?

[patsh]

RTE are driving me mad, I have to say. I would be a strong believer in the Licence fee and the notion of public service broadcasting, but a lot of RTE's output is now dross. I'm particularly disgusted by Bird and Little's attempts at reporting from South East Asia at the moment....:mad:


which probably means tv3 can't even bid for most US programs so RTE gets them on the cheap.
RTE may get programs on the cheap, but the reason why TV3 don't get things cheap is because they are mostly owned by Granada and have huge money behind them.
TV3 have been very successful in trying to portray themselves as a small little tv station fighting against the odds, when they are actually backed by one of the richest broadcast operations in the world.
They can have few rivals for worst, most rubbishy, sh*ttiest TV station in the world.

[Risteard]

Very unfair i think.
As stated they've Champions League and Corrie.
I think the news, sport and ireland am are interesting.
I've good time for their presenters but this could just be because they're relatively new faces compared to rte.

[fosterdollar]

But they only got better guests on the Late Late as they had competition from Dumphy.

That was the point being made though wasn't it? It's true that RTE are well capable of doing things well. If they would only stop aping what is supposedly good tv they would do a lot better. I think it's fair enough that they import some good American/British series cos they generally go for good ones that are widely demanded by Irish audiences; Sopranos, Friends, West Wing, etc. I don't understand the duplication of british soaps though cos it implies that they are not looking at the situation with the viewpoint 'well the audience has all that sh!te on other channels' which, as a public service provider, they should be. The Series The Clinic and Love Is The Drug and shows like The Late Late, Primetime/Q&A and actually their kiddies TV shows are pretty decent efforts and examples of what they are capable of. The biggest problem with RTE is AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN the self-obsessed, back slapping club that exists as its core set of presenters/shot callers. Fcuking Twink getting a special on the LAte LAte over xmas was a joke (major cringe factor when she sang 'I'm still Standing' at the end). Mr. 'amn't i great' Coulter and his arseaboutface attempt to create an Irish Later with Jools Holland show is muck. They also lost quality presenters in Grainne Seoige and Liz Bonnin. ;)

[Macy]

RTE may get programs on the cheap, but the reason why TV3 don't get things cheap is because they are mostly owned by Granada and have huge money behind them.
TV3 have been very successful in trying to portray themselves as a small little tv station fighting against the odds, when they are actually backed by one of the richest broadcast operations in the world.
They can have few rivals for worst, most rubbishy, sh*ttiest TV station in the world.
ITV (i.e. Granada) own shares in TV3, they don't back them as such (and have been concentrating on buying up most of the ITV regions in the UK - only a few they don't own now). And ITV are looking to cut costs at the moment - look at the sky negogiations. I suspect that TV3 get their ITV content at below market price. Personally I think they'd be better going the whole hog and becoming ITV Ireland.

However, to me that's beside the point - RTE get Licence fee money and advertising money and produce in the main shíte, particulary RTE 2 (with a few notable exceptions). TV3, whatever you think of them, don't cost you a penny.

[pineapple stu]

ITV (i.e. Granada) own shares in TV3
Didn't know that, but it explains a lot! :rolleyes:

RTÉ don't do subtitles for 95% of their programmes, which is a disgrace, and the less said about Aertel, the better! Course, at least they have an Aertel, as opposed to TV3 who have an entertainment magazine with little proper info of any sort...

I would imagine TV3 and RTÉ can both get American cast-offs on the cheap? American programmes make their money in the US and are then dumped to other markets at low prices because it's 100% profit as far as they're concerned. Which means home-made programmes are more expensive, which means you're more likely to buy the next American rubbish that's thrown at you...

[pete]

As said above RTE have definitely improved their domestic dramas considerably in recent years. They've also given up trying to make a traditional sitcom which has been good decision.

RTE get most of their sport on the cheap via BBC but its still their flagship area. Good decision to drop F1 as probably costing a lot for minimal viewers & is shown elsewhere anyway. I won't say i haven't watched it but i'd be surprised if those saturday afternoon Premiership matches are paying for themselves. Setanta will become a real competitor to RTE Sport & should be interesting to see how that plays out.

[patsh]

ITV (i.e. Granada) own shares in TV3, they don't back them as such (and have been concentrating on buying up most of the ITV regions in the UK - only a few they don't own now).
Well they own so many of the shares that they more or less own them. TV3 has to make a profit for them, so Granada uses the same formula for TV3 as it does for all it's stations, i.e pump out lowest common denominator dross, which has a very large audience in the UK, so presumably the same here, while trying to rake in as much money as possible. There is a debate here about whether ITV is responding to audience wants, or whether they are simply putting out rubbish and generating the audience.
TV3 have CL and Coronation Street only because Granada have bought them, so they probably cost TV3 very little. Of their own inhouse productions
Ireland Am thingy is moron level stuff
Eircom Weekly is abysmal, no production values whatsoever
Their current affairs content are mostly cheap American "colour" pieces.
The only goodish thing is they have some decent local news coverage.

Anyway, the thread was about RTE, and they have gone seriously downhill over the last few years.

[Macy]

Actually ITV (Granada) don't even have a majority stake in TV3. I don't want to appear to stick up for TV3 too much - it was a disgrace that Agenda was dropped, and the Dunphy Show should never have been scheduled against the Late Late - but bottom line is TV3 aren't costing each house hold €155 a year, so so what if they produce crap?

[Aberdonian Stu]

Tend to agree with Macy on TV3. They're a private enterprise and run a cost-efficient operation which involves piggybacking a lot of ITV material. Ratings show that a lot of people opt for them over ITV as well, a majority in the case of most programmes. As it is ITV material it's generally rubbish.

RTE showing soaps, including Fair City might I add and even TG4 showing CollegetilIdie's beloved Ros na Rún, has always been tenuous with regards to the public service remit. High ratings they may get but they are still loss makers. I personally hate all soaps as they are the lowest form of drama, if you can even call them that, but don't think the axing of Fair City is necessary to satisfy the remit. Four days a week of it is excessive, two days would be more cost effective, freeing up funds for more 'worthy' projects. Admittedly drama out of this country has been bloody awful in recent years, Proof, DDU, Making the Cut, The Big Bow Wow, and Servants, are just some of the appalling creations we've had to endure and to be honest it's been that way for a long time.

There are some areas where Montrose fulfils its remit. Three 60 was a well produced, although overly stylised, programme for the disabled and Mono, which I never saw, was apparently fairly solid.

It's also a difficult act to balance. For example almost all sport is loss making (including the big three of GAA, International Football, and Rugby). But were RTE to cut back it would be abused from all quarters. Anyone who knows me outside of this forum knows I'm mad for most sports so a selfish part of me isn't looking for RTE to reduce its coverage but the more economically sound part says it should in some areas.

They aren't a commercial organisation so in theory many shows should make a loss but all shows that do so should uphold the remit in making such a loss. Those that don't shouldn't be produced or should be done so on a smaller scale.

This mini-diplomatic rant barely touches the surface of the argument and that's the problem in dealing with something as complex as a public service. The question is always where is the greater good?

[pineapple stu]

The question is always where is the greater good?
Sell the telly, save on the licence and read a book instead! :D

[Partizan]

I must say I quite liked Servants for its portrayal of mid 19th century life in a sprawling English country manor estate. I generally like the historical/costume dramas (Sharpes Rifles, Horatio Hornblower) above any of the Corrie/Eastenders/Fair City dross.

TV3 is seriously rubbish and offers absolutley nothing except the News, Weather and eL coverage (what little there is) Face it, without TV3 there woudl be no weekly coverage of the eL by anybody including RTE.

RTE overall are improving but slightly however a major overhaul of its programme structuring and celebreties is needed. New faces have to be brought in to replace the jaded old reliables like Gaybo, Plank, Gerry Ryan and spanner Mooney.

TG4 is a fresh of breath air and their programming on the whole has been excellent. Great documentaries (Fior Sceal), films (Scannain na Staire), the Westerns, fresh faces make it palpable. Their home grown Irish language programmes are extremely enjoyable and overall its a fantastic service for helping viewers like myself improve on their Irish. This station has been given our native tongue a badly needed shot in the arm and brought our native language kicking and screaming from the 19th into the 21st century. I find myself speaking Irish everyday to a native speaker from Kerry, something I would never have done a couple of years ago.

All in all TG4 is the best of our home grown channels. Ros na Run is excellent.
all we need now are the lads in Galway to start showing a bit of peil sacair eL and were fooking elected.

Portlairge Aontaithe all the way.

[pete]

I would only have a probelm with TV3 dross if there was another irish company looking to setup a terrestial station & tv3 were hogging the licence. Since no danger of that doesn't really matter...

[Colm]

New faces have to be brought in to replace the jaded old reliables like Gaybo, Plank, Gerry Ryan and spanner Mooney.


Why? The "jaded old reliables" are the people who bring in the ratings and the odd time a new face is brought in (Ryan Tubridy) people still give out about them. I actually think Gerry Ryan is excellent and Derek Mooney is good at what he does aswell.

Other than that I agree with nearly all the critisism of both RTE and TV3. However as Macy said no viewers are forced to pay for what TV3 show.

I think TV3 news is far more watchable than RTE. TV3 present it in a modern Sky news style format whereas RTE present it in an outdated boring way imo. However, I could just have this view because I like looking at Claire Byrne on TV3! ;)

[M@ttitude]

Whats the story with Telly Bingo? :confused: