RTE Watch !

[C. Flower]

Turned on RTE xtra this morning and it was Deutche Welle, broadcast from Bonn.

[PaddyJoe]

Where's the RTE Six One news stream gone? 4 paralympics streams plus racing from Leopardstown?
No news

[C. Flower]

Where's the RTE Six One news stream gone? 4 paralympics streams plus racing from Leopardstown?
No news

They didn't even finish streaming their "Future of TV" conference...

Too many eggs in the basket ?

The conference, in UCC's neo Gothic history department, was more about the past, and hanging on to it, than the future.

Hugh Linehan said the unsayable, that much of RTE programming just isn't that good.

There are nuggets and some strengths - I'm often impressed by camerawork and graphics, for example, but the whole thing is a product created to mesmerise us into accepting the cosy cartels and hierarchies, and social prejudices that go with them.

Thank god for TG4.

[C. Flower]

RTE News now is re-showing the TV50 conference today. Interesting chat about RTE's funding, the effect of RTE's position on the private market

The Panels and audience seem to be so establishment-minded that any really objective view of the content, control and ownership of media is beyond their scope.

[C. Flower]

D G of RTE just mentioned "Bachelors' Walk" as an example of RTE's cutting edge drama. Wasn't that 10 years ago?

[Dr. FIVE]

RTE News now is re-showing the TV50 conference today. Interesting chat about RTE's funding, the effect of RTE's position on the private market

The Panels and audience seem to be so establishment-minded that any really objective view of the content, control and ownership of media is beyond their scope.

yes indeed. Lots of worrying about the the tech and not ....the news.
Also lots of focus on future funding without talking about how well current revenue is spent.

[C. Flower]

yes indeed. Lots of worrying about the the tech and not ....the news.
Also lots of focus on future funding without talking about how well current revenue is spent.

On the nail. I think RTE, like the BBC on which it is modelled, is a creature of the Governing classes. For RTE, this means low-brow, middle class and pro-cash and croneyist.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...v-2886786.html

For its part, RTE is alarmed by the drain on its resources as the station is forced by government to fund a growing proportion of TG4's budget.
Last year, at any given peak time, an average of 20 out of every 50 viewers were tuned into RTE One or RTE Two. Just one in 50 was watching TG4.
Yet with only one-20th of RTE's audience, TG4 receives around a quarter of all money spent from public sources on Irish broadcasting. It gets a direct exchequer grant from the Government, a "free" hour per day from RTE that costs that station around €9m annually, and now a direct chunk of the licence fee worth almost €10m, among other public money.
RTE is worried that the Government may continue to divert more and more of the TV licence fee to TG4 as it cuts its annual grant to the Galway station. RTE fears that politicians do not understand the high costs of making the kinds of TV programmes that people actually watch.

I suspect that if we don't use it, we'll lose it.

RTE does have a lot on its plate this year though - shift to digital, budget cuts, new channels, etc.

Useful run down here from the Department.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Corporate+Un...oadcasting.htm

[Dr. FIVE]

Yet TG4 constantly runs rings around RTE in home made and brought in programming

[DCon]

Yet TG4 constantly runs rings around RTE in home made and brought in programming

I'd suggest TG4 isn't run with the same civil service mentality

[Dr. FIVE]

yip, and a direct consequence is TG4 shine best when they treat subjects through the eye of ordinary people. Some of the history stuff is brilliant. It can be so local, a focus on one person or event but you can glean real insight into the times. Alot of the documentaries they buy in would be considered fairly off message for RTE One too imo.

[Dr. FIVE]

All the sessions from UCC are up now

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0908/tv-...tte.html#video

[DCon]

RTE shutting the UK office. O'Connell leaving to pursue other opportunities

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-3226222.html

[DCon]

Enda being interviewed on RTE Radio 1.

No signs of congestion.

Asked what is better now than when FG came to power, he wafflesa bout the prior administration (leaderless), the banks (?) and such on.

He says our reputation in America is much better and American businessmen like the pledge to not reduce our Corpo tax.

Says the FG/LAB focus is to get people back to work and his own political ambition is to have Ireland as the best small country in the World to do business in.

Says Croke park "not his deal". Croke Park has to do more and be implemented in full. Every Minister is looking at their department budgets and will be looking for further evidence of Croke Park success to avoid frontline cuts.

Says he does not "intend to trigger the emergency collapse of Croke Park"

[Dr. FIVE]

Primetime doing not one, but two programs on Croke Park this week.

[riposte]

Prime Time . Croke Park Agreement.... Cosultants.