Completely wrong decision. It should get €500 million in direct state funding, comparable to other countries our size.
Good, it should not be directly funded through government taxation, that’s recipe for interference and dismantling. Keep it independent (and have a more specific set charter for its aims if we’re not happy with its remit).
Importantly, change the name to *domestic media contribution*, calling it a tv licence doesn’t make sense anymore and causes a lot of the hate. Link it to property registration.
The anti-RTE argument echoes so much of the Murdoch anti-BBC or anti-NHS narrative, don’t be manipulated by the vultures of big corporations. We’d be so much worse off without state broadcasters. We can’t trust national media to the free market. It needs to exist and be supported for many reasons, like serving the niches that Netflix and Virgin Media will never meet.
I would rather pay was in line with the rest of the public services.
The problem with RTE is they want private sector pay but want public sector protections. They shouldn’t have both
>”Over 80% of people pay their licence and no one is going to cut off that source of funding,” a senior Government source said on Sunday night.
I pay the TV licence fee and have done for years. It’s one of the reasons I think that our country is fundamentally broken. The lack of insight by this “senior Government source” is symptomatic of this endlessly rotating FFFG government that doesn’t know right from wrong, or its arse from its elbow.
They can reject scrapping it sure. I don’t pay it anyway.
An post the rats smh
We should refuse to pay like what was done with the water charges.
I wouldn’t mind if they showed more than 1 league of Ireland match a month. So many people would to own a television without RTE if it meant avoiding the TV license
The 15% non payers has not changed in decades. They’ve tried nothing.
RTE have shown they will not change their ways or save money, or produce more modern content people want to watch, so what other options are there?
If its a charge you have to pay, lets call it a broadcast tax. Allow deduction at source, meaning it could be taken as a tax deductible, meaning it would be the same amount of money in the long run, but cost the tax payer slightly less, meaning more people could potentially afford to pay.
I don’t have a problem with the concept of paying for public service broadcasting using a licence fee. The problem I have with RTE though is that they do not offer value for money and that is why I choose not to have a television and pay the licence.
Let’s be honest, their output is pretty mediocre for a supposed state broadcaster. Far too many lifestyle shows, the Late Late is a shadow of its former self, no decent comedy shows and Fair City is basically an am-dram version of EastEnders. And their bizarre obsession with Vogue Williams. Granted there is some good stuff, I think the news output is pretty decent and they do some cracking documentaries such as Scannal, and I’d also add that their children’s output it’s pretty decent as well. That being said the good stuff they do is completely overwhelmed by the amount of mediocre stuff they put out.
RTE I think has two major problems. Firstly, I think the way the organisation is run needs a massive overhaul to make it more efficient. I recently got to know someone who works on the audio side of things at RTE and he has mentioned how how senior creatives (producers, directors etc) never fear for their jobs under any circumstances. If you were working for the BBC or ITV as a director on one of their soaps and you were felt to be lacking in creative vision than you would be shown the door pretty quickly. It would appear that RTE senior management does not put pressure on their creatives to actually innovate and keep with the times.
Seconldy, because English is is our defacto primary language we exist in the same media landscape as the UK and US. We can watch pretty much any UK TV channel via cable and satellite, and we have access to a huge chunk of US media via streaming services. Realistically, can RTE compete with that even with enhanced funding? I don’t think so, instead I think they should refocus their energies on doing something different.
I think RTE should change from being a public service broadcaster to more of a national media development agency. An organisation whose primary responsibility is to seek out new talent and providr them with facilities to make the stuff they want and then to help them my get it out there. We certainly have a lot of talent in Ireland, a lot of people who who could create compelling content, but don’t have the first notion how to do it professionally. For example there are loads of Irish based youtube channels that put out compelling interesting content. What if this national media development agency came along and helped them improve their production values and helped them to spread their content on a much wider scale, thus increasing ad revenues and and helping to develop the media sector in Ireland?
If RTE was to be forced to to stop going to the same old people for new ideas and instead had to secret new talent by default, then I think we would have much better organisation.
Funnily enough I reject the advice to pay the TV licence.
In Australia they don’t have a TV licence, could always just do that
And I will continue to reject advice to buy a TV licence.
“*What, scrap money? Ah would ya geway outta dat*” – Irish government.
Have never, will never pay it. Anybody who does is contributing to RTE nepotism and cronyism, as well as their hyperinflated wages and just awful content made for boomers.
Why should we pay more for TVs we already bought and paid tax on? Even if we’re not gonna connect them to to the satellite for channels.
No that would require progressive thinking, something the centre right is incapable of
If you ever sit down and ask yourself why we can’t have nice things in this country. Why things don’t seem to work the way they do in other countries? It’s things like this that are the reason. Half a million a year for Ryan Cocaine Tubridy and you wonder why we are where we are.
Paying for a state broadcaster is something I am in favour of, and have personally benefitted from. I was able to create programmes with BAI funding directly paid for by the licence fee and many others benefit in the same way, it’s not just money for Tubridy (who is wildly overpaid).
The TV licence though should be scrapped because it’s a tax on the poor, same with any flat tax. If it’s nothing to a wealthy person but a lot to a poor person it’s just another way to maintain inequality. Our taxes should cover it, if they were used at all well.
The absolute fucking state of RTÉ. Its always been a hape of shite.
Interesting line in the article
“It stresses the importance of a pluralist media environment across print, radio, and digital for an open democracy and suggests that direct State funding be introduced for newspapers and local media.”
State funding for newspapers and local media I’d say because they aren’t getting near as many ads running these days.
The maths doesn’t add up here at all.
In the 2016 census it says there are over 200 million occupied households in Ireland. If 85% are paying their license that would be €272 million euro generated and that was 6 years ago.
So if RTE are only getting €200 million a year then Only 62% of households are paying. I would guess that would be at least 65% now as very few people under 40 I know pay for a TV licence.
Kinda disappointing from the Examiner
“People who like free money, to continue taking free money” Fixed the title for you.
The dirt rte must have on FFG has to be extremely spicey
It’s the only explanation that isn’t pr speak
They shouldn’t scrap it but they should put out a box that you can only access RTE if you paid the lience then people like me who haven’t watched RTE in 10 years but still use a tv wouldn’t need to pay.
Amid the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis, all of you saying “I don’t mind to pay” is exactly the attitude you are all being exploited. LOL
Absolutely ridiculous, I do not watch RTÉ or listen to any Irish radio. Why should I have to pay for TV that I don’t watch…at all. I only have a TV for netflix or prime…i don’t have any channels set up whatsoever. The TV licence fee is ridiculous.
The catch is, without the licence fee they wouldn’t be independent.
The licence fee means their employers are the license payers. Their “loyalty” is split between them, the government and their advertisers.
If we got rid of the licence fee, then they’d be beholden to the government (if they’re funded by tax money) and their advertisers (if they’re funded by advertising money). It wouldn’t be difficult for the government or any company with enough money, to shut down any investigation or criticism.
It’s a silly archaic stopgap, but it works.
Just look at the UK tabloids. The 20p the customer pays for the paper goes to the newsagent. The paper itself is paid for by advertisers and the government. Just look at how skewed their content is. We don’t want that.
The New Year’s Eve special reminded me why I don’t pay it
I don’t watch rte why should I pay for a licence
TV licence? Whats that?
I’ve never seen something get taken so seriously as the TV licence in any other country. Why does the government have to be so hell bent on making it such a big thing you HAVE to pay for OR ELSE IT’S THE GALLOWS!
Obviously it’s not as dramatic as that, but they come across that way.
Drop the license fee or drop advertisement revenue. RTÉ is the only bastardised state broadcaster in the world. To claim money from both while claiming to be a public service broadcaster is ridiculous.
The TV licence is free
if we are forced to pay a tv license then we shouldn’t have adds
36 comments
Completely wrong decision. It should get €500 million in direct state funding, comparable to other countries our size.
Good, it should not be directly funded through government taxation, that’s recipe for interference and dismantling. Keep it independent (and have a more specific set charter for its aims if we’re not happy with its remit).
Importantly, change the name to *domestic media contribution*, calling it a tv licence doesn’t make sense anymore and causes a lot of the hate. Link it to property registration.
The anti-RTE argument echoes so much of the Murdoch anti-BBC or anti-NHS narrative, don’t be manipulated by the vultures of big corporations. We’d be so much worse off without state broadcasters. We can’t trust national media to the free market. It needs to exist and be supported for many reasons, like serving the niches that Netflix and Virgin Media will never meet.
I would rather pay was in line with the rest of the public services.
The problem with RTE is they want private sector pay but want public sector protections. They shouldn’t have both
>”Over 80% of people pay their licence and no one is going to cut off that source of funding,” a senior Government source said on Sunday night.
I pay the TV licence fee and have done for years. It’s one of the reasons I think that our country is fundamentally broken. The lack of insight by this “senior Government source” is symptomatic of this endlessly rotating FFFG government that doesn’t know right from wrong, or its arse from its elbow.
They can reject scrapping it sure. I don’t pay it anyway.
An post the rats smh
We should refuse to pay like what was done with the water charges.
I wouldn’t mind if they showed more than 1 league of Ireland match a month. So many people would to own a television without RTE if it meant avoiding the TV license
The 15% non payers has not changed in decades. They’ve tried nothing.
RTE have shown they will not change their ways or save money, or produce more modern content people want to watch, so what other options are there?
If its a charge you have to pay, lets call it a broadcast tax. Allow deduction at source, meaning it could be taken as a tax deductible, meaning it would be the same amount of money in the long run, but cost the tax payer slightly less, meaning more people could potentially afford to pay.
I don’t have a problem with the concept of paying for public service broadcasting using a licence fee. The problem I have with RTE though is that they do not offer value for money and that is why I choose not to have a television and pay the licence.
Let’s be honest, their output is pretty mediocre for a supposed state broadcaster. Far too many lifestyle shows, the Late Late is a shadow of its former self, no decent comedy shows and Fair City is basically an am-dram version of EastEnders. And their bizarre obsession with Vogue Williams. Granted there is some good stuff, I think the news output is pretty decent and they do some cracking documentaries such as Scannal, and I’d also add that their children’s output it’s pretty decent as well. That being said the good stuff they do is completely overwhelmed by the amount of mediocre stuff they put out.
RTE I think has two major problems. Firstly, I think the way the organisation is run needs a massive overhaul to make it more efficient. I recently got to know someone who works on the audio side of things at RTE and he has mentioned how how senior creatives (producers, directors etc) never fear for their jobs under any circumstances. If you were working for the BBC or ITV as a director on one of their soaps and you were felt to be lacking in creative vision than you would be shown the door pretty quickly. It would appear that RTE senior management does not put pressure on their creatives to actually innovate and keep with the times.
Seconldy, because English is is our defacto primary language we exist in the same media landscape as the UK and US. We can watch pretty much any UK TV channel via cable and satellite, and we have access to a huge chunk of US media via streaming services. Realistically, can RTE compete with that even with enhanced funding? I don’t think so, instead I think they should refocus their energies on doing something different.
I think RTE should change from being a public service broadcaster to more of a national media development agency. An organisation whose primary responsibility is to seek out new talent and providr them with facilities to make the stuff they want and then to help them my get it out there. We certainly have a lot of talent in Ireland, a lot of people who who could create compelling content, but don’t have the first notion how to do it professionally. For example there are loads of Irish based youtube channels that put out compelling interesting content. What if this national media development agency came along and helped them improve their production values and helped them to spread their content on a much wider scale, thus increasing ad revenues and and helping to develop the media sector in Ireland?
If RTE was to be forced to to stop going to the same old people for new ideas and instead had to secret new talent by default, then I think we would have much better organisation.
Funnily enough I reject the advice to pay the TV licence.
In Australia they don’t have a TV licence, could always just do that
And I will continue to reject advice to buy a TV licence.
“*What, scrap money? Ah would ya geway outta dat*” – Irish government.
Have never, will never pay it. Anybody who does is contributing to RTE nepotism and cronyism, as well as their hyperinflated wages and just awful content made for boomers.
Why should we pay more for TVs we already bought and paid tax on? Even if we’re not gonna connect them to to the satellite for channels.
No that would require progressive thinking, something the centre right is incapable of
If you ever sit down and ask yourself why we can’t have nice things in this country. Why things don’t seem to work the way they do in other countries? It’s things like this that are the reason. Half a million a year for Ryan Cocaine Tubridy and you wonder why we are where we are.
Paying for a state broadcaster is something I am in favour of, and have personally benefitted from. I was able to create programmes with BAI funding directly paid for by the licence fee and many others benefit in the same way, it’s not just money for Tubridy (who is wildly overpaid).
The TV licence though should be scrapped because it’s a tax on the poor, same with any flat tax. If it’s nothing to a wealthy person but a lot to a poor person it’s just another way to maintain inequality. Our taxes should cover it, if they were used at all well.
The absolute fucking state of RTÉ. Its always been a hape of shite.
Interesting line in the article
“It stresses the importance of a pluralist media environment across print, radio, and digital for an open democracy and suggests that direct State funding be introduced for newspapers and local media.”
State funding for newspapers and local media I’d say because they aren’t getting near as many ads running these days.
The maths doesn’t add up here at all.
In the 2016 census it says there are over 200 million occupied households in Ireland. If 85% are paying their license that would be €272 million euro generated and that was 6 years ago.
So if RTE are only getting €200 million a year then Only 62% of households are paying. I would guess that would be at least 65% now as very few people under 40 I know pay for a TV licence.
Kinda disappointing from the Examiner
“People who like free money, to continue taking free money” Fixed the title for you.
The dirt rte must have on FFG has to be extremely spicey
It’s the only explanation that isn’t pr speak
They shouldn’t scrap it but they should put out a box that you can only access RTE if you paid the lience then people like me who haven’t watched RTE in 10 years but still use a tv wouldn’t need to pay.
Amid the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis, all of you saying “I don’t mind to pay” is exactly the attitude you are all being exploited. LOL
Absolutely ridiculous, I do not watch RTÉ or listen to any Irish radio. Why should I have to pay for TV that I don’t watch…at all. I only have a TV for netflix or prime…i don’t have any channels set up whatsoever. The TV licence fee is ridiculous.
The catch is, without the licence fee they wouldn’t be independent.
The licence fee means their employers are the license payers. Their “loyalty” is split between them, the government and their advertisers.
If we got rid of the licence fee, then they’d be beholden to the government (if they’re funded by tax money) and their advertisers (if they’re funded by advertising money). It wouldn’t be difficult for the government or any company with enough money, to shut down any investigation or criticism.
It’s a silly archaic stopgap, but it works.
Just look at the UK tabloids. The 20p the customer pays for the paper goes to the newsagent. The paper itself is paid for by advertisers and the government. Just look at how skewed their content is. We don’t want that.
The New Year’s Eve special reminded me why I don’t pay it
I don’t watch rte why should I pay for a licence
TV licence? Whats that?
I’ve never seen something get taken so seriously as the TV licence in any other country. Why does the government have to be so hell bent on making it such a big thing you HAVE to pay for OR ELSE IT’S THE GALLOWS!
Obviously it’s not as dramatic as that, but they come across that way.
Drop the license fee or drop advertisement revenue. RTÉ is the only bastardised state broadcaster in the world. To claim money from both while claiming to be a public service broadcaster is ridiculous.
The TV licence is free
if we are forced to pay a tv license then we shouldn’t have adds
Well I for one am shocked! Shooketh I tell you!