The Newsroom

TV3 News - Ireland

A thread about TV3 News. (September 2014)

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SD
SuperDave
So how can TV3 redeem itself?
FL
flaziola
Maybe a Channel 4 style approach to News coverage may work, get someone like Pat Kenny to present an hour long analysis program and then have short evening bulletins at the weekend.
CH
chinamug
So how can TV3 redeem itself?


A start would be to restore the News bulletin at 11pm and make it 5 nights a week instead of 4. I would also introduce a bulletin between 6 and 11pm. However the timing of that would have to be up to TV3. Their current audience between 7 and 9 are going to leave almost entirely once the 5th of January comes around so it might be an idea to put it somewhere in there. This isn't news for news sake either. News is a ratings winner in Ireland. If you look at the programmes that they make themselves their 5.30 bulletin is often the most watched.
RD
rdd Founding member
News is a ratings winner in Ireland. If you look at the programmes that they make themselves their 5.30 bulletin is often the most watched.


That's some achievement given most people aren't home from work at that stage and the ratings that Six One and the Nine O'Clock News on RTE One get.
CH
chinamug
I'd agree. However, most TV3 programmes they make themselves don't have more than 100,000 viewers. There is usually 1 or 2 home produced programmes that would get 140,000 or 150,000 a week but the rest are well below the 100,000 mark. So TV3 News coming in at between 100-140k means usually a top 3 spot when it comes to home produced programmes. Over the summer when there was little new Irish productions it appeared to be the Number one or two Irish show almost every week.

Even when SKY News did the Irish Bulletin at 10pm it was reaching 135,000 on average and that was with only about 60% of households being able to access it at the time (2006)

News does cost money to produce and in a different market it might not make sense but In Ireland it does. UTV Ireland is a commercial enterprise and thinks that 90 minutes of Irish News will be a ratings winner, and they're probably right.
CI
cityprod
So how can TV3 redeem itself?


Return of the TV3 Nightly News would be a good start. Even a short summary of news would be better than nothing. It doesn't have to be long, a couple of minutes would be a start. If they could do short weekend bulletins, lunchtime and evening at the weekend, that would be helpful too. I don't think a single short news update is ever a good option, especially considering that BBC1 and ITV do 3 bulletins each Saturday and Sunday.
SD
SuperDave
Having watched the new RTE2 Newsfeed - would something similar or maybe slightly longer (3 minutes) be the answer? Running just before 7, 9 and 11, 7 nights a week - they'd be relatively cheap to produce and give 3 a primetime news presence. The final edition would be a good lead into Tonight.
CH
chinamug
Having watched the new RTE2 Newsfeed - would something similar or maybe slightly longer (3 minutes) be the answer? Running just before 7, 9 and 11, 7 nights a week - they'd be relatively cheap to produce and give 3 a primetime news presence. The final edition would be a good lead into Tonight.


That isn't a bad idea as long as it wasn't the same 3 minutes over and over again. If you notice on BBC3's 60 seconds it's always different. However, I think you've actually revealed their plans for 2015 with that post. I reakon they will start some sort of headline service (across both TV3 and 3e) next year if they want to cut back news again. That way it can look like there are more news programmes but with a lot less staff. They can easily buy news in from another source instead of generating it themselves.

The reason that they might want to cut back News next year is that they will have two huge News providers on either side of them (remember that UTV have news operations in several parts of the republic already with their Radio Stations) So they will probably think they can't compete. The BAI have given in anytime they've asked to cut back in the past so I presume they'll do it again. The thing is that there will be a lot of room in the Irish Market for a hard news service between 7 and 9 from January when UTV are in Soap mode and RTE are showing lifestyle/soaps/Nationwide.
SD
SuperDave
Absolutely agree about not repeating the same stories - each edition would need to be fresh and include breaking news.

I read somewhere that 3 were planning an early evening current affairs show - I guess this would replace one of the soaps.

Perhaps The 7.30 would be a good title, to give it some tie-in with their existing news programmes?
CH
chinamug
Absolutely agree about not repeating the same stories - each edition would need to be fresh and include breaking news.

I read somewhere that 3 were planning an early evening current affairs show - I guess this would replace one of the soaps.

Perhaps The 7.30 would be a good title, to give it some tie-in with their existing news programmes?


As far as I'm aware it's going to be a version of Nationwide. Which will be very light features based. The problem I see here is that all that audience are already served by RTE 1 and UTV at that time. If we put quality of shows to one side for the moment, Scheduling on TV3 has been a problem for years. The wrong shows on at the wrong time. A prime example of this is Sunday Nights when they choose to show the Xtra Factor instead of Downton Abbey. Last year Downton Abbey was watched in the Republic by more people on UTV and other ITV regions than TV3, because TV3 were showing it 4 days later.
BR
Brekkie

Thanks - an hour at 10pm then and presumably 30 minutes at 6pm. Will they show the ITV News at 6.30?

Current Affairs or news does seem a sensible way to somewhat replace the soaps - probably far easier than trying to replace like with like. Will TV3 retain the Champions League/Europa League from next season?
SD
SuperDave
Agreed. Scheduling and promotion will be key to 3's success (or otherwise). It's a shame that the new current affairs show will just be a clone of Nationwide and not add anything new to the TV landscape at that time.

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