The RTE News Thread

I say it again, RTE Player is an on-demand service. RTE News Now is a live stream service. And News is primarily consumed live, not on demand.

But the problem is, RTE News Now has very little live news content from RTE. The One O'Clock News repeated over and over again until the Six One News starts (except for updates at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm) is not what I would think a rolling news channel should be.


I would love to see how RTE News Now reacts to a huge breaking news story. I bet they don't. Did they cover the live Brexit vote from the UK parliament?

I get the feeling not many people know what is actually aired on RTE News Now. Well, just a little example of the current RTE News Now schedule on Tuesday 29th January 2019: I got these details from RTE's own schedules. If I have made a mistake, please do correct me.

7.00am-Morning Ireland, simulcast of the RTE Radio 1 show via their webcam.
9.00am - RTE News Headlines followed by highlights of Morning Ireland.
11.00am - RTE News Bulletin, which is then repeated through the rest of the hour until 12.00pm
12.00pm - RTE News Bulletin, which is then repeated through the rest of the hour until 1.00pm
1.00pm - RTE One O'Clock News live simulcast with RTE 1
1.30pm - RTE One O'clock News, repeated
2.00pm - Leaders Questions simulcast from Oireachtas TV
3.00pm - RTE News Bulletin, which is then repeated through the rest of the hour until 4.00pm
4.00pm - RTE News at 4, ten minute bulletin, repeated until 5.00pm
5.00pm - RTE Nuacht followed by a repeat of the 4.00pm bulletin
5.40pm - RTE Nuacht live simulcast with RTE 1
6.01pm - RTE Six One News live simulcast with RTE 1
7.00pm - Euronews Raw Politics
8.00pm - Repeat of the Six One News
9.00pm - RTE Nine O'Clock News live simulcast with RTE 1
9.35pm - Prime Time simulcast with RTE 1
10.10pm - The Late Debate, RTE Radio 1 debate show
11.00pm - Prime Time, repeat from 9.35pm
11.35pm until 7.00am - Live simulcast with Euro News through the night

So, am I wrong? Look at the schedule, and am I wrong that this channel is not worth the licence fee payers money being wasted on it. What is rolling news on this channel? The amount of dedicated news content for RTE News Now is minute.

Also, I was told by viewers, RTE have the habit of not putting in their schedules the programme name being repeated, and just say "Latest News and Weather", not telling the viewer they are watching a repeat.

Well your bet would be wrong as I have seen them covering various breaking stories by taking various pictures from the scene and/or Euronews

They did cover the Brexit vote .

Any savings from closing it would be minimal anyway ( basically whoever programmes the computer to switch feeds

RTE are not going to save money on transmitting it as that money will still have to be spent under Saorview charging rules paying to transmit a testcard

Dee Forbes has already expressed her intention of closing it. It is on the cards, just a when not if question. It is a channel which can't continue in its current format. Either revamp or close, and I predict it will close by the end of the year, if RTE do not try and reboot it. Dee has said the audience ratings are minute.

Why are you so bothered?

I could ask the same for any one commenting in any of the forums here on TV Forum. If you want to know, I am from an Irish family, I enjoy RTE, and would like to see it do things better.

Not long now before the embargo is over before photos are displayed for the new studio. Less than 30 minutes left.

I was watching the lunchtime bulletin on RTÉ One with Sharon Tobin today. There was no mention of the new look yet.

They could mention the new look on the 4pm summary on RTÉ One & maybe on News2Day on RTÉ2 at 4:25pm.

Will news2day, Leaders Questions, TWIP get a new look with the new studio this week?

Excited to reveal new studio @rtenews. Builds on the themes that have made #RTÉ #Ireland’s number one choice for news. pic.twitter.com/9IqBMqwDrs

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) January 28, 2019

"O'Donnell Abú" big part @rte since 1936. From tonight will herald day's top story in @ronanhardiman's re-orchestration of theme @rtenews. "Proudly the note of the trumpet is sounding"... pic.twitter.com/caJVrj7g71

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) January 28, 2019

The set looks good, looks like a Lightwell backdrop! The titles are...fulfilling RTÉ’s storied tradition of awkward timing and ambiguous meaning.

Here's a video of the new studio.

Our television news bulletins will come from a brand new studio starting with the Six One News this evening. Here’s a sneak peek. pic.twitter.com/SrZq0wfIlS

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 28, 2019

I like the new arrangement of the music. It sounds fresh. The set is nice, looks much bigger, and the use of the screens is lovely... definitely an evolution rather than a revolution, though.

Bit of a shame they didn't introduce a new logo.

Yeah, but I noticed they glossed the logo up a little in the new titles.

It'd be nice if they had different shades of blue in the background, like a light blue for the One o'Clock News and a darker blue background for Nine O'Clock, but I'd imagine they'd all look the same.