Should RTE get the Licence Fee increase

[Euan Roberts]

Do anyone think RTE should get a increase in the licence fee?

I personally believe they should. With many good home-produced programmes such as Bachlors Walk, Fair City ( Okay it's a Soap) but nevertheless it's home-produced and has a pretty credible following in terms of audience appeal.

Their looking for 150 Euro pa. I think their justified provided they can continue producing high-quality Drama, Comedy, you name it.

Euan Roberts

[Arnold]

Any extra money that RTE get should be set against cost savings in the organisation and some very definite mission statements from the various channels declaring what they are actually going to do with our (and it is ours) money.

Given the current state of broadcast technology very little is needed to run a station TV or Radio other than the creative people. Look at the tiny spaces Today FM and TV Three operate out of and how few staff they get by on.

If RTE want more money I think they should be able to keep their infrastructure that tight and spend the extra on Irish generated programs, decent sport and political coverage and of course a quality news service. I know these cost money and I don't mind that, I just object to the money being frittered away.

On the plus side, as the previous post said, there is some good home produced stuff coming through. I think particularly of TG4 who have both Ros na Rún, easily the friggin' best friggin' soap on the friggin' TV. (watch it, you'll understand) and Rí Rá, easily the fu**in' best fu**in' comedy show on fu**in Irish fu**in TV. Where else would you get Peig Sayers as a Hollywood gossip columist and Scully the bilingual Irish soccer knobhead asking Mick McCarthy if seeing as the Germans look good on paper they'll be able to play on grass!

I won't talk about RTE radio as I'm liable to kill something if I mention 2FM. Cominatcha' (very slowly, you know, 'cause we're all getting on a bit now and we don't like that loud modern music that the young people listen to)

[Mike]

"many good home-produced programmes" you mean Telly Bingo, The Lyrics board, Winning streak etc ?

RTE claim to be a public service broadcaster and yet insult the intelligence of the Irish public with pathetic soaps, trashy imported sitcoms, moronic chatshows featuring overpaid prats interviewing D list celebrities and brain dead gameshows.
Where are the investigative documentaries, satirical comedy (no the p1$$poor "Bull Island" doesnt count), Sketch shows, Quality drama and decent political reportage of a true public service broadcaster ?

RTE1 = "Amateur night on UTV" RTE2 = "The stuff Sky One threw out" niether are worthy of a cent of public money
The only thing approaching a public service broadcaster in the Republic is actually TG4 (Provided one doesnt mind viewing with the teletext subtitiles on and the sound off) which actualy manages to put out the odd morsel of quality programming on a tiny fraction of RTE's budget.

Perhaps its time to close down RTE altogether and contract it out to a new "BBC Southern Ireland" region. The Anglophobic g0b$h1t€$ of the Irish political establishment would never allow it although it was seriously contemplated on at least three occasions in the past (1926,1961 and 1977)

Personally the first time in my life I bought a TV licence was when I moved to Northern Ireland. I dont mind paying for a quality service but I refuse to pay a glorified poll tax/protection racket for channels that I hardly ever watch. I was caught once but they spelt my name wrong on the court summons.

[Euan Roberts]

Mike,

That magic word MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. RTE need lots of it like you need money to survive. How can a station be successful if they don't have the financial resources behind or the government for that matter?

Your right in saying that some of their shows are of a poor quality and standard, but they i'm sure would love to be able to produce great Documentaries, Satirical Comedies, Dramas, better News and Sports Coverage, you name it. You have a valid point, but try and understand the the staff such as Produces, Editors, Technicans are all frustrated by their lack of government funding to allow them make all those wonderful and high-quality programmes as you rightly suggest.

However, I think RTE, are in some ways badly managed by their managment structures and practices. Yes, there is no excuse for this. Are they still going to be this way if they are granted their 150 Euro licence fee pa per householder, i hope not.

In additon, their whole style and presentation in terms of news needs to be changed. Some of their presenters are fine, but others are equally past their sell by date. In relation, to TV news, the viewer needs to see a greater concentration of personalilty from each presenter, so they can connect with them and the good-quality news content.

Just look at American news, okay some of it goes overboard, but they, RTE, do have something to work on. In other words, their news and current affairs items should be less wooden, less rigid, more flexible, more investigative as you suggested, and have a highly- talented charming but intelligent presenter that knows what he she is talking about.

Finally, the viewer is the important link to all this, RTE should further develop their viewer feedback line, to give the TV audience a greater say in how RTE should be runned as opposed to leaving it all for the RTE management. Not a good idea!

Euan Roberts

[Mike]

Given that RTE news is supposed to be "Balanced and Impartial" how come coverage of the case AGAINST a licence fee increace on RTE is as about as rare as a Sunday Independent article "in praise of our libel laws"