Latest news is that from Monday, RTÉ News on Two will be cut to ten minutes and air 22:50-23:00 with the 11th Hour following from 23:00 - 23:30. Ironically this will give News on Two its first regular timeslot for years. At present it seems this will only be for election time.
What viewers is Vincent Browne getting? I can see no other reason for RTE starting this late night programme, given all of the news programmes on RTE. Overkill on RTE.
RTE will also broadcast campaign daily, not sure on the time yet, but it's usually presented by Bryan Dobson and shown at 12 midday.
The 11th Hour only appears to air Monday-Wednesday.
On Thursday, there's a full length News on 2 scheduled for 23:00-23:30 on RTÉ Two. Over on RTÉ One, there's a second helping of Prime Time (the Late Debate) scheduled for 22:45-23:45 which probably accounts for there being no 11th Hour.
Campaign Daily doesn't make an appearance until Friday (despite the fact that the dissolution is widely flagged to take place on Tuesday) and is scheduled for RTÉ One 12:00 - 12:45.
On Saturday, there's an (almost) full length Six One scheduled and the not-at-nine-o-clock News will also be full length, running from 20:50-21:20.
Over on TV3, Vincent Browne gets an additional 30mins Monday-Thursday as previously noted and an addition (hour long) Friday show from 23:00 - midnight although I'm not sure who will be watching this. Meanwhile TV3 appear as of yet to have no plans to run any additional Saturday and Sunday bulettins - they only run short summaries at weekends. They're running big adverts in national newspapers about their coverage which is fairly rich of them considering that this is the third general election since they launched, and with the previous two all they did was extend their main evening news (before they axed the weekend bulettins) to one hour on the Saturday of the count.
Have RTE issued a press release on their Election coverage, I want to know where Charlie Bird is!!! Will John Bowman be making a return, will Miriam O'Callaghan interview the leaders..? So many questions!
The 11th Hour only appears to air Monday-Wednesday.
On Thursday, there's a full length News on 2 scheduled for 23:00-23:30 on RTÉ Two. Over on RTÉ One, there's a second helping of Prime Time (the Late Debate) scheduled for 22:45-23:45 which probably accounts for there being no 11th Hour.
Campaign Daily doesn't make an appearance until Friday (despite the fact that the dissolution is widely flagged to take place on Tuesday) and is scheduled for RTÉ One 12:00 - 12:45.
On Saturday, there's an (almost) full length Six One scheduled and the not-at-nine-o-clock News will also be full length, running from 20:50-21:20.
Over on TV3, Vincent Browne gets an additional 30mins Monday-Thursday as previously noted and an addition (hour long) Friday show from 23:00 - midnight although I'm not sure who will be watching this. Meanwhile TV3 appear as of yet to have no plans to run any additional Saturday and Sunday bulettins - they only run short summaries at weekends. They're running big adverts in national newspapers about their coverage which is fairly rich of them considering that this is the third general election since they launched, and with the previous two all they did was extend their main evening news (before they axed the weekend bulettins) to one hour on the Saturday of the count.
Thanks for all that. RTE are also showing a Wednesday version of Prime Time too I believe this week.
Count day for the election will take place on a Saturday, so I wonder what TV3 will do then. They certainly haven't got the resources to have reporters in every constituencies with cameras. Will they use graphics for example.
Must say I wasn't impressed with the 11th hour. Nice use of the news set, the browns really stood out. But it's logo is too retro and content too light and comical. The extended Vincent B. until 00:30 still gets my vote.
So who noticed the return of 'Storyfix' to The Eleventh Hour... Well not exactly, but a similar style of feature even going as far as having the same music!
Must say I wasn't impressed with the 11th hour. Nice use of the news set, the browns really stood out. But it's logo is too retro and content too light and comical. The extended Vincent B. until 00:30 still gets my vote.
Vincent Browne is a bit of a marathon though to watch at this stage. It really depends on the quality of his guests. On the other hand the first Eleventh Hour had Eamon Dunphy, Fintan O'Toole, and Elaine Byrne in a debate which was just kicking off when we had to go to Eleanor Tiernan's dreadfully unfunny skit.
I'm wondering what last nights version with Daire O'Brien, who is more well known for fronting RTÉ's (and previously Setanta's) Magners League coverage was like. The two are taking alternating nights.
They must have done something right, as they've managed to coax an extra fifteen minutes for the programme from Monday onwards. This has partially been achieved by cutting News on 2 down even more to a five minute slot. This makes the full length News on 2 on a Thursday a bit anomalous, though I'd presume that if the Eleventh Hour becomes a permanent fixture post-election it will air on Thursdays and News on 2 will go completely. Though if that happens I will miss the late night sports updates which since the demise of TV3 News Tonight was the only sports bulletin on Irish TV after Six One.
Daire was an excellent presenter I felt. Natural, engaged, dry wit and assuming of a certain knowledge on the part of the viewer. Keelin by contrast is shrill and irritating. A good presenter, but she needs to calm down.
Anyone else noticing a poor picture quality output from the news studio during this programme? Not sure what's going on, but it's most unsatisfactory. Also a number of out of focus shots on occasion, while camera responsiveness to subject movement leaves a lot to be desired. The lighting is also poor and needs refinement. Same for TWIP for that matter. They don't seem to have mastered the art of the relatively new studio lighting for non-news use.
The set design is quite clever given the constraints of the news set. The caramel/amber backdrop theme is pleasant (if predicatable!), but the clip-on faux walnut desk top is far too bulky in scale. I don't know why they went with those two deep groves that divide its surface into three parts - they only accentuate its cumbersome appearance. The fresh green pull-around curtain skirting is very effective however, though I'm not quite sure what's going on with the bizarre random sheets of perspex in front of some of it.
One concern is the relatively heavy duty modifications needed for this programme on a daily basis, and their impact on the news set. It's very easy to accumulate scuffs and chipped edges with such alterations.
As for content, it will take a little time for it to find its feet. Glad it's not replicating Vinny in format anyway. Tonight's comedy was the first funny clip, so it's improving. Slowly.
RTE One broke into scheduled programming at around 11.10am for coverage of this morning's plane crash in Cork.
Aengus MacGrianna had done the morning update from the CSO studio at 10.55am with the initial reports, but now its Richard Crowley who is anchoring the breaking news from the main studio - Crowley presumably due to present 'Campaign Daily' at 12pm.
Elsewhere, BBC News and Sky News have been all over this since around 10.50am. Always unusual that the UK broadcasters quote 'RTE reports' while RTE itself continues with Shortland Street!