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The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

Irish TV legend passes away (October 2012)

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TV
TVLand

Credit given where it is due, it is just a shame they could not put the same effort into their online news, which is appalling.

If there was any demand for an online news service from them then they would be providing it. But there isn't so they're not.

It would be nice to have written pieces online, in the same way RTE News, BBC News, ITV News etc provide. Surely it would not be hard for them to provide a properly updated news website, after their boasting about how great their news service is.

XPOSÉ produce entertainment news articles online, that’s about it.
GO
gottago

Credit given where it is due, it is just a shame they could not put the same effort into their online news, which is appalling.

If there was any demand for an online news service from them then they would be providing it. But there isn't so they're not.

It would be nice to have written pieces online, in the same way RTE News, BBC News, ITV News etc provide. Surely it would not be hard for them to provide a properly updated news website, after their boasting about how great their news service is.

It would cost money that they don't have. It really is as simple as that. I highly doubt there's any demand whatsoever for an online news service from them. Same reason 5News scrapped their online service way back when.
MR
mr_vivian
I thought RTE News Now was to be scrapped ages ago was surprised to see it was still running a year later
JK
JKDerry
I thought RTE News Now was to be scrapped ages ago was surprised to see it was still running a year later

It clung on but judging the comments from Dee Forbes this weekend it looks like it is on death row. The channel simply does not work, there is no need for it.


RTE News Now had potential, and possibly a little bit of RTE arrogance at trying to copy the BBC in having a news channel, but an Irish news channel is not needed in 2019.

I have heard the idea that has been floating around that the live webcam stream of RTE Radio 1 Morning Ireland which currently airs on News Now will transfer to RTE One in October. Just a rumour from someone at the Donnybrook site, but it could be a token gesture of RTE to provide news at breakfast time on RTE One.
RD
rdd Founding member
I thought RTE News Now was to be scrapped ages ago was surprised to see it was still running a year later


They can’t just close channels, they need Ministerial permission. I’m not aware they’ve even formally applied to do it. Last time they tried to do something similar (to remove the RTEjr block from RTÉ Two) they were met with a big “no” even though it was a perfectly logical thing to do.

Incidentally RTÉ News Now gets some occasional use for sports; they broadcast the All Ireland finals in Irish using it. Last year at one point RTÉ broadcast a GAA game on RTÉ News Now while RTE One was showing the Irish Open Golf and RTÉ Two was showing the World Cup.
Last edited by rdd on 8 September 2019 11:29pm
JK
JKDerry
rdd posted:
I thought RTE News Now was to be scrapped ages ago was surprised to see it was still running a year later


They can’t just close channels, they need Ministerial permission. I’m not aware they’ve even formally applied to do it. Last time they tried to do something similar (to remove the RTEjr block from RTÉ Two) they were met with a big “no” even though it was a perfectly logical thing to do.

Incidentally RTÉ News Now gets some occasional use for sports; they broadcast the All Ireland finals in Irish using it. Last year at one point RTÉ broadcast a GAA game on RTÉ News Now while RTE One was showing the Irish Open Golf and RTÉ Two was showing the World Cup.

A news channel broadcasting sport? That would be as if Sky News aired the premier league matches, totally wrong. A news channel is for news.


I don't see why they have to ask the Irish government to close one of their channels, especially one which has terrible ratings and is draining money. Does RTE have to ask the government permission for everything they do?
CA
Cando

I don't see why they have to ask the Irish government to close one of their channels, especially one which has terrible ratings and is draining money.

Source?? Or are you back to your old ways of presenting speculation as fact. The budget is tiny btw
Last edited by Cando on 9 September 2019 12:57am
CA
Cando

I have heard the idea that has been floating around that the live webcam stream of RTE Radio 1 Morning Ireland which currently airs on News Now will transfer to RTE One in October. Just a rumour from someone at the Donnybrook site, but it could be a token gesture of RTE to provide news at breakfast time on RTE One.

Was the idea floating in your own brain by any chance? You're the only person in the world that cares that RTE doesn't have a breakfast tv show
TVLand, London Lite and chinamug gave kudos
CI
cityprod
Cando posted:

I have heard the idea that has been floating around that the live webcam stream of RTE Radio 1 Morning Ireland which currently airs on News Now will transfer to RTE One in October. Just a rumour from someone at the Donnybrook site, but it could be a token gesture of RTE to provide news at breakfast time on RTE One.

Was the idea floating in your own brain by any chance? You're the only person in the world that cares that RTE doesn't have a breakfast tv show


No he isn't, there are others, but the available audience is tiny, and at the moment dominated by Ireland AM. I also don't think there's no need for RTE News Now at this time, but I do think that RTE Jr is perhaps on borrowed time right now, especially as RTE2 is dominated in daytime by children's programmes as well. Maybe RTE Jr becomes part of RTE2, but I can't see it survivng as a seperate channel under current economic conditions. RTE News Now at this point is pretty much just a simulcast of various RTE News programmes that are on the other channels.
KU
Kunst
RTÉ2 shows children's programmes for an older audience (TRTÉ), while RTÉjr caters a completely different preschooler's audience, so this wouldn't work

Also, I believe the preschooler market is an easy target, so that RTÉ Jr. "should" rate rather well; closing it down would be probably a disappointing move for many parents too, especially since RTÉ Jr. doesn't carry advertising

In an ideal world we'd also have an "RTÉ 3" cultural channel (similar to channels like ORF III, Kunskapskanalen for the smaller countries; and, BBC Four, France 5 for the bigger ones), timesharing with RTÉ Jr., since there's very little for that on the main RTÉ channels, especially obviously RTÉ 2

I say ideal world because I realise Ireland is even slightly smaller market than Austria and Sweden, it's more akin to Denmark, but actually even "worse" than that, since many British channels do that job for Ireland
Last edited by Kunst on 9 September 2019 8:08am
RD
rdd Founding member
rdd posted:
I thought RTE News Now was to be scrapped ages ago was surprised to see it was still running a year later


They can’t just close channels, they need Ministerial permission. I’m not aware they’ve even formally applied to do it. Last time they tried to do something similar (to remove the RTEjr block from RTÉ Two) they were met with a big “no” even though it was a perfectly logical thing to do.

Incidentally RTÉ News Now gets some occasional use for sports; they broadcast the All Ireland finals in Irish using it. Last year at one point RTÉ broadcast a GAA game on RTÉ News Now while RTE One was showing the Irish Open Golf and RTÉ Two was showing the World Cup.

A news channel broadcasting sport? That would be as if Sky News aired the premier league matches, totally wrong. A news channel is for news.


I don't see why they have to ask the Irish government to close one of their channels, especially one which has terrible ratings and is draining money.


The short answer is that the law (s103(2) Broadcasting Act 2009) requires it to, although that doesn’t explain the underlying rationale as to why that provision exists, which I’m not sure of. What I would say though is that it’s important to remember where RTÉ came from - it was originally part of the P&T and so the civil service. It became an independent statutory corporation in 1960, but it is still subject to State regulation.

Incidentally I am not sure why RTÉ News Now should be such a financial drain, practically everything on it is commissioned and produced for RTÉ One or RTÉ Two and would be even if it was closed tomorrow. Indeed originally it was effectively part of the RTÉ.ie website and got very little promotion; it only became a TV channel some time later. I can only think that the real expense attached to the channel is the transmission costs associated with the Saorview carriage, though that again is really RTÉ paying itself (or its wholly owned subsidiary 2rn in this case).

The Sports on a news channel point is well made - I do seem to recall Sky showing live sports occasionally on Sky Sports News many eons ago, though that’s probably not really the same thing. But where else can RTÉ put it? They won’t do red button (possibly because VM’s Horizon platform doesn’t support it) and their attempts to stream live over the internet only have proved woeful whenever any sort of instant demand surge hits the site.

And Sports is ultimately the reason that RTÉ needs at least two channels. Without it these sort of clashes would happen every second summer; GAA games clash with the Euros and (depending on time zone) most World Cups and Olympics. With a single channel RTÉ would be facing some harsh choices over what to show live.
JK
JKDerry
Cando posted:

I don't see why they have to ask the Irish government to close one of their channels, especially one which has terrible ratings and is draining money.

Source?? Or are you back to your old ways of presenting speculation as fact. The budget is tiny btw

The idea of RTE closing RTE News Now goes back to 2017 - https://www.independent.ie/business/media/rte-to-axe-tv-news-channel-as-services-hit-by-financial-woes-36393796.html

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