Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

UTV Ireland

'We were effectively sold a pup': UTV Ireland staff on their 2 years of 'pointless efforts'

Looking back over the past 24 months, former staff say they are proud of what they achieved at the channel.

JUST TWO YEARS after it first launched, UTV Ireland will cease to exist after this weekend.

The channel aired its last live broadcast on Friday evening and it will be replaced from 7am tomorrow morning with a new channel called Be3, following a takeover by Virgin Media.

Staff who joined UTV Ireland were burdened with uncertainty less than a year into the new venture, when ITV purchased the channel. However, it was in July last year that its fate was sealed, when news broke that it would be sold to the company that owns TV3.

Former employees spoke to TheJournal.ie this week about their time working there, describing the initial excitement at being part of the country’s newest TV channel.

“There hadn’t been an opportunity to put a face on a TV channel for 20 years,” one said. “This was a brand new employer with a brand new national news service, so it presented a great opportunity for young journalists who were coming up the ranks. To be part of a team that launches something new, there’s a buzz that you just don’t get in another job.

The team gels so well in a start-up, you make friends for life in that scenario.

“When I applied for the job, I felt that RTÉ had been around forever and didn’t have to innovate because everyone watches the Six One,” a former news staffer said. “And with TV3, they obviously have talented journalists and presenters, but I always thought their news was very basic.

There was a real gap for a Channel 4-style news product, to do something a bit different, a bit of colour but covering stories in a different way. That was how everyone saw it, that’s what they hoped they were applying for and when I saw who was being hired I thought that was the plan.

“And the newsroom was so beautiful – I remember walking in for the first time and thinking it was just amazing.”

RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

‘Constantly battling’

Early on in the life of the channel, however, staff began to notice the cracks. Several spoke of decisions being made in the Belfast headquarters that showed a “disconnect” between the team there and the one in Dublin.

“They weren’t listening to the people on the ground who knew the market and knew what audiences wanted,” one said.

A huge amount of it came down to the programming – people didn’t want to tune into series of Agatha Christie from the early 90s, or old series of Ice Rink on the Estate. There was little consistency in the schedule, the team in Dublin were constantly battling to get changes made to improve the channel and be more reflective of the market.

“When they started putting on documentaries about the Queen, everybody was just wondering why,” a former UTV Ireland worker told TheJournal.ie. “We had so much homegrown content that people don’t even know about.

“One big hit was Daniel and Majella, and that captured a lot of buzz. But there were programmes that I don’t even think people knew were on, like the one about Knock Airport.”

The Daniel and Majella’s B&B Road Trip series generated 270,000 average viewers for UTV Ireland across its six episodes. It also achieved strong social media figures, with 2.7 million Facebook posts about the series and over one million tweets using the series hashtag. The documentary series ‘The Airport up in Knock’ was also popular among viewers, with the channel citing viewing figures of almost 235,000 for the second episode.

“The efforts taken to try and fix issues and problems – focus groups, internal meetings – didn’t make sense, as it seemed the outcomes were all pre-determined,” another commented. “Little or no heed was paid to what the audience, or staff in Dublin were saying about how to correct failings. Those efforts ultimately were just pointless.”

‘Rumours were rife’

In October 2015, ITV confirmed its £100 million takeover of UTV Media’s television channels.

That same month, Chris Donoghue had quit his role as co-anchor of the Ireland Live news programme and just two months later broadcaster Pat Kenny, who had been the biggest name at the launch, also parted ways with the channel.

“I think the staff were really in limbo during the space of time between the two takeovers,” one former employee said.

“There wasn’t a lot filtering down about what was happening, rumours were rife. It was very distracting and it was difficult to stay focused and motivated, as there was a huge amount of uncertainty.”

“When the TV3 takeover happened, I assumed straight away that would be the end of our newsroom, because why would they want two?” another said.

People started leaving straight away. The whole internet desk was let go very soon after – they were all on short term contracts. Anyone who was on a short term contract didn’t have it renewed and others took opportunities – they didn’t want to hang around.

Former staff were critical of how the announcement was handled, particularly in relation to redundancies. Announcing the acquisition in December last year, TV3 said UTV Ireland at the time had 61 permanent staff.

It announced 40 “open vacancies”, adding it hoped “many” would be filled by staff left behind at UTV Ireland.

“The proposed changes may result in unavoidable redundancies in UTV Ireland but where possible, staff will be offered redeployment opportunities within TV3,” it said in its statement.

“What they refrained from saying was that there were actually an extra 35 freelance and contract staff who had no options at all and also that the 40 positions were available to not only the people in UTV Ireland who were being made redundant and had to apply for their own positions, but also to the staff in TV3 and the Virgin Media group,” one former staffer explained.

This week, there was just a small team left in the newsroom and studio to keep things running and put out the final live shows.

“I’ll be honest with you it’s been pretty grim, there’s been a morale deficit,” one member of the team said, ahead of their final live broadcast on Friday.

Most of the people left behind haven’t been offered jobs, but we still have to put out the show for the rest of this week. Nobody is very keen on being there with just a few days left. What I’ll say is the atmosphere has been different, but everybody is still doing the job and doing it well.

“You also have to remember UTV Media PLC was a listed company – what was their end goal? Did they really want to set up a successful channel in the Republic or make the television division an attractive asset for potential buyers?” one former employee questioned.

“The one thing that really annoys me is that there were such good people working in that building and they were effectively sold a pup.”

“We are still proud of what we managed to do. We won best news production at the IFTAs this year and I think that was deserved, and that was only in our second year,” said another.

“It’s a testament to the talented people we have and the work that everyone has put in and that doesn’t go away.”

Read: UTV Ireland will broadcast live for the last time this evening>

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
36 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alphanautica
    Favourite alphanautica
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 8:27 AM

    If collectively an enterprise lacks commercial merit it tends to go out of business.

    The curse of the private sector.

    190
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rose Sexy
    Favourite Rose Sexy
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:46 AM

    Will virgin give us utv back.

    95
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james
    Favourite james
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 9:41 AM

    Bad very bad ,crap station

    149
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 9:56 AM

    “We are still proud of what we managed to do.”

    No offence, but you did nothing.

    134
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Arien
    Favourite Arien
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 8:15 AM

    No different to any other redundancy situation or merger. Thousands have experienced this, suck it up.

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan b..
    Favourite Alan b..
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 8:28 AM

    People at UTV thought us Irish were silly little creatures who would swallow up their sad excuse of TV did they think we were stupid

    197
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TehJurolan
    Favourite TehJurolan
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 12:12 PM

    Calling it UTV Ireland was the first joke decision – a station that showed 95% British content – most of which was chav sh*te.

    111
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colin O Leary
    Favourite Colin O Leary
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:47 AM

    Terrible comments by some, kicking people when they are down, best of luck in the future whoever lost a job

    103
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Devlin
    Favourite Paul Devlin
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:19 AM

    Anyone who thought UTV Ireland would produce a Channel 4 News style show was either a bit deluded or had never viewed UTV news. One is a proper news show the other is largely about sick kids/puppies that are being ‘brave, rugby and sucking up to old soldiers and the British monarch. Hardly the stuff an ambitious young hack should aspire to

    97
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara McCorley
    Favourite Ciara McCorley
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 11:22 AM

    The announcer between programs said “UTV island”…. Couldn’t even say Ireland! That’s bugged me from the beginning!

    71
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dónal O'Flynn
    Favourite Dónal O'Flynn
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 4:44 PM

    @Ciara McCorley: Perhaps it was intentional? Ulster (Television!) says yes?

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ted hagan
    Favourite ted hagan
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:25 PM

    @Ciara McCorley:
    Yea Peter Robinson of the DUP also seemed to find it difficult to say Ireland.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Les Behan
    Favourite Les Behan
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:06 AM

    ““This was a brand new employer with a brand new national news service, so it presented a great opportunity for young journalists who were coming up the ranks. To be part of a team that launches something new, there’s a buzz that you just don’t get in another job.”

    Yeah that’s why they then hired Pat Kenny! The dogs on the street knew this was going to fail the minute it was announced.

    67
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael McGuinness
    Favourite Michael McGuinness
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:42 AM

    Rubbish station, showed repeatit UTV, ITV. Don’t think new channel 3Be, be any better.

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john g mcgrath
    Favourite john g mcgrath
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 1:07 PM

    Tallaght T V expanding

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Veroníca
    Favourite Veroníca
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 8:41 AM

    Will poor Pat Kenny still have a job or will he have to go back to RTE with his tail between his legs!!! Never do for pat to be outta a job!

    64
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Justin Gillespie
    Favourite Justin Gillespie
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:00 AM

    @Veroníca: Another half wit who doesn’t bother reading the article before coming out with hateful, half witted nonsense.

    103
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pauliebhoy
    Favourite Pauliebhoy
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:07 AM

    And 29 people at this age agreeing too

    14
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pauliebhoy
    Favourite Pauliebhoy
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:08 AM

    *stage

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall O'Keeffe
    Favourite Niall O'Keeffe
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:08 AM

    @Veroníca: “Poor” Pat Kenny? Who works for both TV3 and Newstalk? Somehow, I think he’ll be okay.

    71
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Congress Tart
    Favourite Congress Tart
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 10:26 AM

    @Niall O’Keeffe: Turn on your sarcasm detector, dumbass.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bean Ui Mise
    Favourite Bean Ui Mise
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 11:55 AM

    Why are people knocking PK for working? Plenty people contribute nothing.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Veroníca
    Favourite Veroníca
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 5:14 PM

    I have no doubt he will Niall! He can always retire on his healthy savings!

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alan hopkins
    Favourite alan hopkins
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 11:16 AM

    More repeats by a crap station. Won’t be watching

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute nialls
    Favourite nialls
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 11:21 AM

    Good because it will be difficult to watch from next week

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick James Walsh
    Favourite Patrick James Walsh
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 12:15 PM

    Maybe if UTV Ireland had scheduled programmes that people actually wanted to watch, if might have succeeded, after all they had access to the entire ITV network, it`s as if they didn`t want to succeed, bizzare, go figure.

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Walsh
    Favourite David Walsh
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 12:49 PM

    @Patrick James Walsh: They actually hadn’t access to the entire ITV network though. Both ITV the company and ITV the network had anything to do with UTV Ireland bar licencing some TV shows to them.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Max Johnson Powers
    Favourite Max Johnson Powers
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 5:30 PM

    They had access to content from ITV Studios. That’s how they had the Graham Norton Show.

    7
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Walsh
    Favourite David Walsh
    Report
    Jan 9th 2017, 12:06 AM

    @Max Johnson Powers: No, they had access to show some programmes. That was negotiated between them and the programmes owners.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute cyril.1
    Favourite cyril.1
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 11:46 AM

    Ducking shite station with shite presenters

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Terry Cahill
    Favourite Terry Cahill
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 1:34 PM

    Good riddance to it ! Total failure to deliver ! Also an insult to the deaf community with no subtitles available on prime time shows like Midsummer murders ! Should not even have been allowed to broadcast. Paid no attention to complaints and were virtually uncontactable. And you don’t have to ask the football lovers what they thought of the disappearance of the international soccer matches that they would have seen on the UTV as we had it before. Say nothing about the reappearance of ” The Plank” aka Pat Kenny ! On yer bike … and quick about it ! .

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Irish Cottage Rental
    Favourite Irish Cottage Rental
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 7:39 PM

    One island – two UTVs – was destined to fail. Bring back UTV from Belfast.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason Pigott
    Favourite Jason Pigott
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 4:47 PM

    Sorry to say, but as a viewer utv Ireland was crap, they tried to pull the wool over viewers eyes with so called new shows that we’re constantly repeats even playing Lorraine twice in a day I’m mean seriously just give us back utv and stop all the nonsense

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Buckley
    Favourite Sean Buckley
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 5:01 PM

    All that money wasted.We were happy with UTV in the first place.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Imnotrodten
    Favourite Imnotrodten
    Report
    Jan 8th 2017, 8:27 AM

    Oh no.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Vivion Styles
    Favourite Vivion Styles
    Report
    Jan 9th 2017, 4:37 PM

    Lost foot football and rugby so this UTV can go and f&ck off. I never bothered to even see what was on cause I knew they only show absolute crap. Great tat its gone…

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds