[TVenthusiasm]

Seems the show will get a new look in September

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[Rdd]

Ryan Tubridy, well they aren’t quite saying that he’s left RTE per se, but he’s not coming back “at this time” which may basically amount to the same thing.

www.rte.ie 

No plans for Tubridy to return to RTÉ presenting - DG
Ryan Tubridy will not return to his presenting role in RTÉ at this time, accordi…
  Source: www.rte.ie

[chinamug]

This appears to be Kevin Bakhurst putting down a marker for the other talent as much as dealing with Tubridy. The good old days appear to be over.

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Certainly had no problem leaving him go as audiences aren't going to go down on RTE Radio 1 (they might go up!) and the Late Late has a new presenter.

[Rdd]

Well apparently a deal was virtually done, until the report (largely favourable to Tubridy) was released on Wednesday, but his statements in reaction have resulted in a “breakdown in trust”.

On the Nine O’Clock News last night, Bakhurst did certainly lay down a marker that talent costs have got to come down. One media piece I read yesterday pointed out that no major name has gone from RTE to the commercial sector in years, certainly on the radio side - Pat Kenny’s been with Newstalk a decade, while on Today FM, Ian Dempsey left RTE as long ago as the 1990s. The question was asked if RTE really do have a retention problem that requires them to pay salaries of this size and the answer seems to be no.

[chinamug]

Well apparently a deal was virtually done, until the report (largely favourable to Tubridy) was released on Wednesday, but his statements in reaction have resulted in a “breakdown in trust”.

On the Nine O’Clock News last night, Bakhurst did certainly lay down a marker that talent costs have got to come down. One media piece I read yesterday pointed out that no major name has gone from RTE to the commercial sector in years, certainly on the radio side - Pat Kenny’s been with Newstalk a decade, while on Today FM, Ian Dempsey left RTE as long ago as the 1990s. The question was asked if RTE really do have a retention problem that requires them to pay salaries of this size and the answer seems to be no.

There's no need for the big salaries in RTE. Pat was probably the last one that could command the same money in the commercial Sector when he jumped, but all the rest of them (with the exception of possibly Joe Duffy) bring little extra to the table commercially. Tubridy might have done well if he left a few years ago, but RTE have trashed him and his reputation. Some of it might be deserved but it does feel like he's been thrown under the bus. He's got a good agent however, so I expect him to get something either in Ireland or the UK.

[Rdd]

They will not be able to afford them now. The flight in license fee income, lack of will to enforce payment, and advertising income not covering up the shortage (and VMTV will jump up and down about that point if the reins are loosened) means they are almost certainly now heading for direct Exchequer funding. That will come at a price in terms of RTE’s independence.

[chinamug]

Direct exchequer funding is a good idea, as long as safeguards are put in. It's another matter if that happens. They'll have to see out contracts already agreed. Joe Duffy's is up in 2025 I think and he'll probably retire at that stage. The rest will have to be paid market value as contracts are renewed but in most cases that's well below what they're getting now.

[JMT1985]

Why doesn't the Irish government not do what they do in the US with regards to PBS funding - government funding for public broadcasting is given to an independent body, who then divide the money out to public broadcasting companies.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the US example, set up in 1967, where federal government money comes to them, and they are the ones, an independent body, who dishes out the money to public broadcasting entities such as PBS.

Why not an Irish version? Where Irish public money is provided to it, and then this independent body dishes out the money to RTE and other media companies for public broadcasting?

This ensures that the Irish government does not directly fund RTE, and so can not become a problem for the independence of RTE.

[JMT1985]

Seems the show will get a new look in September

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There was always going to be a new look when a new host takes over, happened with Pat Kenny in 1999 and Ryan Tubridy in 2009 - no shock surprises here.

[Rdd]

Why doesn't the Irish government not do what they do in the US with regards to PBS funding - government funding for public broadcasting is given to an independent body, who then divide the money out to public broadcasting companies.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the US example, set up in 1967, where federal government money comes to them, and they are the ones, an independent body, who dishes out the money to public broadcasting entities such as PBS.

Why not an Irish version? Where Irish public money is provided to it, and then this independent body dishes out the money to RTE and other media companies for public broadcasting?

This ensures that the Irish government does not directly fund RTE, and so can not become a problem for the independence of RTE.

I’m not sure the chronically underfunded PBS is the model to follow, nobody wants to go down the route of countless pledge drives and telethons just to get publicly funded programming.

What might happen down the road is a model similar to New Zealand On Air - the Media Commission’s Sound and Vision scheme is a virtual copy of it but with only 10% of license fee funding allocated. Again though the price in NZ was a fully commercial TVNZ and I’m not sure this is what we want from RTE either.

In the short term, there’ll likely be a stopgap solution, where the current funding model remains, but the shortfall in the license fee is made up by direct funding from the Exchequer, with strings attached. After that who knows? Once the immediate crisis is in the past we’ll be back to no impetus for reform, and RTE could remain as is for many years to come.