The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

Why have they axed This Morning and Loose Women from their schedules? It must have been very cheap for them to simulcast it, so why dump it?

I have just read the article - https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/xpose-axed-as-virgin-media-tv-announce-schedule-shake-up-952835.html

Virgin Media Ireland are really trying to outdo RTE in the amount of home produced weekday programming, especially news.

Virgin Media One are very keen to boost Ireland AM, especially since RTE One offer no alternative Irish breakfast show.

This could be a chance for RTE One to bring the Morning Ireland webcam broadcast to RTE One. As an alternative to the new four hour Ireland AM from October.

Four hours does seem to be a lot, I mean even Good Morning Britain only airs 2.5 hours a day in the UK.

Virgin Media Ireland have the right idea.

It is vital for all TV channels to experiment and that's what they're doing.

UTV Ireland is what they must strive not to be.

You would have to assume it's a money-saving issue. This Morning has made regular appearances in the Virgin Media One top twenty over the last few months. You can't say that for almost all of their studio-based programmes which seem to have very few viewers. The exceptions are their evening News bulletins and Tonight which do reasonably well.

Xposé being axed isn't a surprise since it was relegated to a weekly slot. Good to see the Six O'Clock Show revert to having a 5 day run.

Elaine is no replacement for This Morning. It's a low budget tick box yawn fest.

The rebranding of Weekend AM to Ireland AM will give the programme consistency, even if the presenters are different.

No it hasn't .

They don't want to .

It's pricing and criteria for saorview is overseen by Comreg precisely for that reason .

The independent radio stations don't even want to go on DAB .

Anton Savage is presenting Ireland AM this morning with Ciara and Karen. The coupling of the three is actually quite alright.

I assume that if viewers in Ireland want to continue to watch This Morning and Loose Women there are options. I think Freesat would be the best option, or tune the ITV channels in on Irish Sky boxes.

For those with Eir TV, Vodafone TV and Virgin Media Ireland - oh dear, maybe try finding it online.

Oh they got rid of this morning? That's a mistake.

No way can VM1 produce something similar to a well established brand such as this morning.

I can see that decision being reversed.

That would show common sense, something which the management doesn't seem to have. Not only are they dropping a show that is easily the most popular on any Irish TV station before 1 pm, they're also dropping a publicity machine for all their other offerings. There will be no more tie ins with Virgin Media One's biggest shows such as Britain's got Talent and I'm a Celebrity.

This is all an ego trip for the Virgin Media Ireland management, who have seen RTE's problems, with the closure next year of RTE Cork and the sale of more land at RTE Montrose estate.

The management looked at this, and felt they could strike a blow, by offering more home produced programming. Yes, they are providing a lot more home produced shows, but none of these shows will do anything for their ratings, and I am sure by Christmas, daytime viewing figures would have dwindled. RTE One might even beat them with their own programmes.

Come January 2020, I would guest we will see the reinstatement of This Morning at least.

My proposal for a new look to their schedule would be to increase Ireland AM, but from the other end of the show, instead of starting at 7.00am, they should start at 6.00am.

6.00am - Ireland AM
9.30am - Elaine
10.30am - This Morning
12.30pm - News at 12.30
1.00pm - Live at One
2.00pm - Tipping Point
3.00pm - The Chase
4.00pm - Usual 4pm filler such as Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs
4.30pm - Judge Judy

This would mean they can increase their home produced hours, but still keep This Morning on VM1.