[Rdd]

A bit silly, of course, the Government can’t just hand over a cheque of that size to a broadcaster that hasn’t faced a challenge to their license since 1989.

And if we go down that road, we end up with the New Zealand situation, where their TV3 is axing all news provision and TVNZ (presumably where VMTV intend RTE to end up) is axing all but their 6pm news bulletin. The Irish Sound and Vision scheme is of course modelled on the NZ version, but we now know where that leads, and do we really want to arrive at that destination?

[AJB39]

VMTV have written a letter to the Irish Government for €30m of licence fee funding.

The €30m fund will allow VMTV to make public service content for their TV channels.

businessplus.ie 

If Virgin Media want the Irish taxpayer to fund all of their home produced programming then they should be subject to the same scrutiny as RTE will be. They should be audited by the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General and accountable to the Public Accounts Committee. They should also be forced to reveal the salaries of their top talent.

[rick]

They should also be made to put their channels in full HD on Saorview and include them on Saorsat.

[Rdd]

There will be no handing over a cheque. Not without a competitive process. It simply won’t happen and VMTV know it.

What the endgame may be is an outcome similar to New Zealand where 100% of the license fee income (or whatever replaces it) goes to Sound and Vision (which as I say is directly modelled on NZ On Air). But we know where that has led in terms of NZ, and what it would mean for RTE. I don’t think VMTV even really want that - a fully commercial RTE would be worse for them really.

[chinamug]

TV3/Virgin Media have been complaining since the first day they went on air. They never had enough money or some other issue that meant they couldn't compete. They got a lot worse when Granada Sold their shares in the company in 2006, possibly the only company that made money from the station. They do provide some public service content, but about half of what they count as public service is the awful Ireland AM, which has tragic viewing figures most of of the time.

To be fair their News Service is decent since it merged with UTV Ireland. There should be a discussion on how Public Service journalism is funded. But that would also include Radio, Print and Online companies.

If they went HD on Saorview I might have more pity for them, but they only seem to care about viewers inside the pale. (Dublin and the commuter belt around it)

I don't think the endgame is anywhere near New Zealand. The way broadcasting has gone there in the last few years is a warning to all modern small nations how not to regulate your broadcasting industry.

Finally I don't know if Virgin Media realise that they can return the licences if they're finding them so hard to run.

[JAS84]

What would happen if they did that? Would RTE have to temporarily put out a schedule on at least VMOne's transponders until a new operator is chosen? Or would the VMTV channels just close down? The closest example I can think of is when TWW closed down early and a temporary system had to be put in place until Harlech (later HTV) was ready to launch in 1968.

[JMT1985]

Well at least VM bothers to produce Ireland's only breakfast television service - RTE has never bothered, preferring to concentrate their time on Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1.

Ireland AM may not be to everyone's taste in Ireland, but at least it offers choice, to the dreadful RTE 1 morning schedule which consists of Euronews, repeats of their afternoon magazine show Today from the previous day, and when bank holidays occur they wheel out repeats of Only Fools and Horses and Keeping Up Appearances.

At least VM try - it could be very easy for them to axe all of this, and do bare bones news service and the rest imports

[DE88]

TV3/Virgin Media ... do provide some public service content, but about half of what they count as public service is the awful Ireland AM, which has tragic viewing figures most of of the time.

Ireland AM is 25 years old this year - and Alan Hughes has been there right from the off, too.

So it must be doing *something* right...

I bet, too, that there are some people who *much* prefer it to GMB.

[chinamug]

What would happen if they did that? Would RTE have to temporarily put out a schedule on at least VMOne's transponders until a new operator is chosen? Or would the VMTV channels just close down? The closest example I can think of is when TWW closed down early and a temporary system had to be put in place until Harlech (later HTV) was ready to launch in 1968.

If VMTV closed down I'd assume some ITV programmes would turn up on RTE fairly quickly, but nothing new would be broadcast in their place. RTE certainly wouldn't be putting out a schedule. It's unlikely to happen as the licences are worth something.

[chinamug]

Ireland AM is 25 years old this year - and Alan Hughes has been there right from the off, too.

So it must be doing *something* right...

I bet, too, that there are some people who *much* prefer it to GMB.

Breakfast TV isn't really watched in Ireland, It had a window of opportunity but that's gone. Ireland AM is useful to VMTV because they can do hours of output for very little money and then claim it's public service broadcasting. Much of what they put out is also put out online by individuals and Media groups, should they also be getting some cash for their public service broadcasting?

Ireland AM only came on air because TV3 had so little Irish content in it's early days. They more than doubled output with that one show. Plus it was used for filler for hours and hours at the weekends with the best of Ireland AM.

The state of Irish Broadcasting isn't great, the population of the country is going up and up and yet viewing figures for the stations is either at a standstill or going down. I do have some sympathy for Virgin Media as the market has been distorted over the years by RTE and it's Licence Fee.

It would be best to take RTE out of the commercial Market entirely. Let Advertising only on commercial stations. Give out more licences if that's what the market wants.

I'm off outside now to shake my fist and shout at some clouds.