RTÉ One carries both domestic and foreign programming, airing programming from America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and UK. The majority of foreign imports are broadcast on RTÉ's sister station RTÉ Two.
Most of RTÉ's home produced drama and reality shows are broadcast on RTÉ One and the station is seen as the flagship of the RTÉ network, focusing on News, Current Affairs, Lifestyle programming and Drama. The channel's flagship programme is The Late Late Show, aired on Fridays at 22:30 CET.

The station began life in 1961 as Telefís Éireann. It was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, upon the renaming of the Radio Éireann Authority to RTÉ, and became RTE1 upon the launch of RTÉ2 in 1978. Originally the station broadcast in black and white, begining colour transmissions in 1969.
RTÉ One was also the sole Irish TV channel until 1978, when RTÉ2 was created.
Since 1998 RTÉ One has also had to compete with commercial rival TV3, along with UK channels from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. British television has always been popular in Ireland, satellite distribution has only served to increase this, doing away with poor reception and then need for costly MMDS (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service)relaying. Unlike the Irish television services, all BBC and ITV channels are broadcast Free-To-Air on satellite.

There are also a number of commissioned programmes on TV3, including a weekly movie show called Popcorn, and a weekly programme on horse racing called Go Racing. Newly- commissioned shows launched in 2005 include a programme giving property advice (The Property Game), a sports-themed entertainment show (The Offside Show), and a late- night talk-show (The Brendan Courtney Show). Popcorn, which regularly billed itself as "Ireland's favourite movie show" ran for 5 years and over 200 episodes before the axe fell.

TG4 is the most positive and high-profile Government policy for the Irish language for the past fifty years. The project has received the support of all parties and Governments since 1992.
The channel's programmes have achieved national recognition, prestigious prizes and awards at home and abroad and sales overseas. Music, documentary and sports coverage have earned particular praise for TG4. Its regular soap-opera, Ros na Rún has made its mark as has the channel's distinctive news service, Nuacht TG4.
TG4 is acknowledged as one of the most efficient and cost effective television stations in Europe. It provides 16 hours a day of television from an annual current budget of €30m.
The high-skill employment generated by TG4 is of particular importance in the Gaeltacht areas.

The channel's audience has increased significantly over the past two years. Surveys carried out by leading market research companies show that TG4 is satisfying its core Gaeltacht and Irish language audiences as well as the wider national audience.
TG4 employs a young dedicated core staff of 75 people from all parts of Ireland at its Connemara headquarters.
TG4 is a public service broadcaster. It provides live coverage of Dáil Éireann each Wednesday and Thursday mornings as well as live coverage of the proceedings of key Dáil Committees from time to time. The functions and duties of TG4 (Teilifís na Gaeilge) are set out in Section VI of the Broadcasting Act 2001. The new entity has a nine member board and is chaired by Peter Quinn, former GAA President. The channel had originally been established and operated under the statutory umbrella of RTÉ 1996-2007. Post-independence TG4 continues to receive a programme supply of 365 hours of programming annually from RTÉ, at no cost to TG4, as specified in the Broadcasting Act.

The channel launched on Chorus and NTL only. Channel 6 finally launched on Sky in Ireland on 5 February 2007, with the EPG number 223 (since moved to 190). The channel is carried on SES Sirius for distrib Its backers include the Gowan Group, a motor dealership chain, and Barrys, a food and beverages company. Channel 6 is one of the few free-to-view channels on NTL digital (channels which are viewable without a subscription to the digital service/without an authorisation card inserted).

RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. Station 6CK, a Cork relay of 2RN, joined the Dublin station in 1927, and a high-power transmitter at Athlone in County Westmeath opened in 1932.

From the latter date the three stations became known as Radio Athlone, later being renamed Radio Éireann ("Irish Radio") in 1937.
Radio Éireann began FM transmission in 1966, and was renamed RTÉ Radio later that year. When, in 1979, RTÉ established a new rock and pop station under the name of RTÉ Radio 2 (now RTÉ 2fm), the original RTÉ Radio channel was renamed once again and became RTÉ Radio 1.

• Morning Ireland - the station's flagship news programme, on air from 07:00 to 09:00.
• The Tubridy Show - talk-based entertainment with Ryan Tubridy following the news at 09:00.
• Today with Pat Kenny - a lively current affairs magazine, broadcast between 10:00 and 12:00.
• Liveline with Joe Duffy - phone-in discussion from 13:45 until 15:00.
• Drivetime - rolling news and talk (sport, popular culture, music and arts) between 17:00 and 20:00.

As Radio na Gaeltachta Expanded broadcast hours FM3's service hours changed to 19:30 till 01:00. Eventually it stayed on air until breakfast time when RnaG came back on. In 1999, RTÉ put in place an additional national FM transmitter network, and it was decided to separate FM3 from Radio na Gaeltachta, and expand its remit to include other types of minority music. This was partly on the model of Classic FM in the UK. The resulting station was Lyric FM (since rebranded to: RTÉ lyric fm), launched in May 1999. It also moved from Dublin to Limerick as part of a policy of regionalisation.