The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

Yeah, Cbeebies is one of the few British channels that doesn't broadcast in Ireland, right? As long as that's the case, RTE Jr should be safe.

It’s available on cable and FTA satellite, but not on the Sky EPG (ditto for CBBC).

With Rte junior launched I thought all the kids programming on 2 would disappear

Hmm, I've mentioned it already

TRTÉ on RTÉ 2 and the RTEjr channel cater two different audiences, the first one for older children (I disagree though with their choice to reduce 16:30), and the second one is for preschoolers

You don't see CBBC and Cbeebies merging for the same reason

More to the point, as I mentioned they tried to get rid of the RTEjr block (not TRTE, which doesn’t have its own channel, well not a real one anyway) but were refused Ministerial consent even though it would have increased viewer choice (as they’d have programmed replacement programming).

Been reading a lot on the problems facing RTE, and boy it is bad. It seems Dee Forbes will be announcing the biggest cuts the broadcaster has seen in many years this October, and the staff at Montrose are awaiting their fate.

RTE seems to be very bloated for a small national broadcaster. In the Irish Times article they mention the possibility of selling the RTE Television Centre complex in Montrose and moving somewhere cheaper. An Irish version of what the BBC and ITV have been doing, selling off their television sites and downsizing.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/rt%C3%A9-needs-a-revenue-boost-but-its-woes-are-all-of-its-own-making-1.4012756

https://www.thesun.ie/tvandshowbiz/tv/4522253/rte-staff-fear-cuts-dee-forbes/

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A promo for Sports Tonight which launches on Virgin Media One tomorrow.
It looks like it’s going to come from the Virgin Media News Hub, and of the endboard is telling us anything it’s going to have the same graphics as Virgin Media News.

Just a heads up - it seems we are going to see the return of the iconic Late Late Show theme tune (in its proper arrangement) along with the flying owl in the opening titles of the show tomorrow night!

The last time the original version of the theme was scene and heard was in May 1999 at Gay Byrne's last edition. It seems Tubridy and his production team are bringing it back - and rightly so.

Here is the article with the hint of its return tomorrow - https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2019/0912/1075543-the-late-late-show-line-up-is-revealed/

What does people think?

The original version of the theme tune was played in full at the start of last Friday's edition, minus the iconic voiceover.

I saw it, I meant this will be the very first playing of the tune as part of a brand new opening title sequence - I am looking forward to hearing "To Whom It Concerns, It's the Late Late Show, and here is your host Ryan Tubridy" - I doubt that will happen tomorrow.

RTÈ have confirmed the Owl and the original Gay Byrne theme tune are returning tomorrow night.

They are insisting it's the Gay Byrne version I haven't just added that in.

Very good.

That is what RTE told me in an email too. It is the original Gay Byrne theme, I wonder if the To Whom It Concerns.... will be kept?