Quinn backs Late Late

The Quinn group owned by businessman Sean Quinn is to sponsor The Late Late Show when it returns to RTE 1 Television at 9.30pm on Friday, September 4, with new host Ryan Tubridy. Now entering its 47th season, the Late Late is billed as the world’s longest-running chat show.
In a statement today, Gerry McGuinness, sponsorship manager, RTE Television, said the Quinn stings deal will run for two years. There was no mention how much the deal is worth or whether the contract fee that was agreed is more or less what the show’s two previous sponsors, Renault and Halifax, paid RTE. The show averaged an audience of 663,000 last season. Tubridy is expected to put his own stamp on the chat show with an emphasis on lighthearted content and populist current affairs.
Writing in the Sunday Independent (August 16th), columnist Colm Kenny said the decision by RTE to sign up the Quinn group could have repercussions in that there may be problems in establishing editorial fairness.
Speaking on the Marian Finucane Show with Rachael English on RTE Radio 1 (August 16th), writer Gerry Stembridge questioned the policy of programme sponsorships. While he could appreciate shows like holiday programmes having commercial ties, there was “added controversy” to sponsors like Quinn.
Airtricity is sponsoring the Miriam O’Callaghan series of interviews on RTE Radio 1 at 9.10am on Saturdays. The eight-week series, which has featured chats with relatives and close friends such as U2 manager Paul McGuinness and Gate director Michael Colgan, runs until mid-September.