| Irish Television |
| Radio Telefís Éireann |
Radio Telefís Éireann is the Public Service Broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts on television, radio and the Internet.
The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making it one of the oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters in the world.
RTÉ is a statutory body run by an authority appointed by the Government. General management of the organisation is in the hands of the Executive Board headed by the Director-General.
Radio Éireann was one of 23 founding organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.
RTÉ has always had to compete for viewers and listeners with British TV and radio channel, this competition has increased in recent times as digital satellite broadcasts from the UK deliver perfect picture and sound to even the remotest corners of Ireland. |
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| Website: www.rte.ie |
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| RTÉ One (Aertel 1) |
RTÉ One (RTÉ a hAon) is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ Two in 1978. RTÉ is funded partly by the licence fee, the remainder of the funding is provided by commercial advertising, because RTÉ is funded partly by the licence fee it shows considerably fewer advertisements than most other channels available in Ireland. The channels headquarters are at Donnybrook, Dublin.
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RTÉ One is almost universally available on the VHF and UHF bands in the Republic of Ireland (though VHF has mostly been phased out), and it is also available on the most digital television services available in the Republic of Ireland such as Sky Ireland, UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks, and Saorview (Freeview). It is available in most of Northern Ireland via analogue overspill, Sky and Virgin Media.
The channel will be made available to viewers in Northern Ireland on Freeview afeter digital switchover in 2012, reception will also be possible through Saorsat (Freesat), once the service launches. |
| Programming |
RTÉ One airs a variety of programmes each week, both homegrown programming and imported programming. A typical week of programming on RTÉ One would be as follows: On Sunday they would air repeats of old American sitcoms such as The Cosby Show, A Sunday Service is aired every Sunday morning around 11:00. Farming weather is aired, a host of cookery and lifestyle programmes are also shown. RTÉ One's Sunday night primetime line up usually consists of one of RTÉ's flagship talent shows such as The All Ireland Talent Show or Fame.
The long running soap opera Fair City is shown Sunday nights. The weekday schedule consists of repeats of soaps and old sitcoms and/or dramas, every weekday from 16:00 to 18:00, RTÉ One air two daytime chat and lifestyle shows, Four Live hosted by Maura Deranne, and the Daily Show hosted by Dáithí O'Sheá and Claire Byrne. Weekday Primetime usually consists of Soaps such as EastEnders and Fair City and various lifestyle programmes, and current affairs programming airs after 21:00. On Friday night RTÉ One airs their flagship and longest running Chat Show in the world, The Late Late Show. RTÉ One also air a host of films throughout the week including the midweek movie on Wednesday at 21:30 and the big big movie (usually a children's film) Saturdays at 18:30. RTÉ One also air news coverage throughout the week including a 13:00, 18:00, and 21:00 news broadcast every day. |
| History |
The station began life as Telefís Éireann in 1961. The very first show of all to be pre-recorded for the new television service was The School Around the Corner a show created and presented by Paddy Crosbie , produced by James Plunkett . 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 using the 405-line television system in the North and East of the country but also across the country using the preferred European standard 625-line, but began 625-line PAL colour transmissions in 1968.
The first Outside Broadcast made in colour for RTE Television was when Ireland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1971. The UK national broadcaster BBC provided RTÉ with an OB Unit which could broadcast in colour for the event. In 1972, the first studios in RTE's Donnybrook headquarters were equipped for colour, and this was followed by the news studios in 1974, drama studios in 1975 and finally Studio 1 (the largest Studio, hosting shows such as The Late Late Show) in 1976. |
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RTÉ One was also the sole Irish TV channel until 1978, when RTÉ2 (known as Network 2 between 1988 and 2004) was created. The Irish Language station TG4 began in 1996 as TnaG. Since 1998 RTÉ One also competes with TV3.
RTÉ One since it began broadcasting has competed with BBC One and UTV and in 1980s RTÉ began competing with other satellite and cable channels that are widely available across Ireland through cable subscription services due to the high take up of cable TV for UK channels since the 1960s, and the continued roll out of MMDS and satellite during the 1980s and 1990s. |
| Unlike many other national broadcasters, RTÉ One was late to begin broadcasting in the mornings, and 24 hour transmission only began in the early 1990s. From 1961, RTÉ Television would only broadcast from 17:35 until around 23:30 during the Winter months. In 1975 this changed slightly with transmission starting at around 15:30 and concluding around midnight (00:00). In 1988 RTÉ One launched a schedule with a new news bulletin at 13:00. To this day RTÉ One still does not offer a "breakfast television" programme, content to let commercially run TV3 to broadcast Ireland AM since 1999. RTÉ One instead shows repeats of different home produced shows such as The Afternoon Show, and imports such as Are You Being Served?, Neighbours, Dallas etc. Euronews provides RTÉ One viewers with early morning news coverage, with RTÉ One's first news bulletin of the day airing at around 10:00am. However during the Olympics and special breaking news or election coverage, RTÉ One would provide a special bulletin in the morning. |
| RTÉ One +1 |
A timeshift channel for RTÉ One (RTÉ One +1) was launched on 27 May 2011 and shares channel space with RTÉjr. The channel is available on Saorview.
Minister Pat Carey gave the go ahead for RTÉ One +1 for a maximum of 4 years at which point it will be reviewed. He did not give permission for the second phase in the channel as he was advised by the BAI that it may cause problems for commercial service providers such as TV3. |
| Website: www.rte.ie/tv/rteone.html |
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| RTÉ Two (Aertel 2) |
RTÉ Two (RTÉ a Dó) is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview (Freeview), VHF and UHF bands, and is also available via satellite (DVB-S) to Irish subscribers of Sky.
The channel also broadcasts in High Definition through RTÉ Two HD, the HD version launched on May 27, 2011.
The channel will be made available to viewers in Northern Ireland on Freeview afeter digital switchover in 2012, reception will also be possible through Saorsat (Freesat), once the service launches.
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RTÉ Two's main emphasis is on programmes for children and young people together with sports and acquired imported programmes. The channel's children's strand is called RTÉjr/TRTÉ, known from 1986 to 2010 as The Den, runs from 06:00 to 17:30 each weekday, followed by its youth strand, Two Tube (formerly TTV and iD Two) from 17:30 to 19:00. RTÉ News on Two airs each weekday after 22:45. Much of RTÉ's programming for 2 - 6 year olds will move to a separtate channel RTÉjr, while it is expected that TRTÉ will replace RTÉjr's hours on RTÉ Two on Saorview when Analogue signals are replaced by Digital Terrestrial Television DTT in 2012.
The channel also has a number of other strands, including Two Wild, Two Extreme, and RTÉ Sport on Two. Films are also regularly aired on the channel especially European cinema and International cinema.
After 19:00, RTÉ Two airs its primetime lineup. This includes such imported shows as CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Law & Order, The Event etc., and such home-produced shows as Livin' with Lucy, Fade Street, The Model Scouts, The Republic of Telly and Wagon's Den. RTÉ Two also airs premier movies under the name SCREEN TWO and has first run rights to Irish rugby and football. The channel has a reputation for airing many US shows such as before any other networks in Europe. |
| RTÉ Two HD |
RTÉ Two HD launched on Saorview on 27 May 2011. The service broadcasts sporting programming from national to international events, documentaries, movies and US programming in high-definition. Gradually, the channel will begin to air Irish programming in high-definition where available. The channel launches with special HD sporting content between Saturday 28 May and Sunday 29 May 2011. The service will not be made available on UPC Ireland or Sky Ireland. There is only one broadcast version of RTÉ Two as all Saorview STBs and iDTVs have access to RTÉ Two HD regardless of the TV's HD capacity, although during testing Saorview also carried RTÉ Two in SD on channel 7.
The channel simulcasts content from RTÉ Two SD and upscales SD content into HD. All other content on the channel will be made available entirely in HD this includes Gaelic Athletic Association, Champions League, Magners League sporting content, US television series and movies. Additional Irish HD content will air from late 2011 onwards.
Where HD technology is not available RTÉ Two SD continues to broadcast, while on HD services RTÉ Two HD will broadcast free-to-air. |
| Website: www.rte.ie/tv/rtetwo.html |
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| RTÉ Player |
RTÉ player is an on demand video service provided by RTÉ for programmes broadcast on RTÉ Television. RTÉ player is available in two formats; one for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and another format for international audiences. The service provides news, current affairs, entertainment, sport, local and international dramas..
On September 2, 2011 RTÉ announced they will launch a similar platform of its digital radio stations under the name RTÉ Radio Player.
The service allows viewers to watch programmes from 7 to 21 days after they are broadcast. It was launched on April 21, 2009. |
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More than 200 hours of programmes from all categories of RTÉ broadcast schedule are available on RTÉ player, most of which are not available to web users outside the island of Ireland.
In January 2010, news, sport and flagship entertainment programming were released to world-wide audiences. According to RTÉ, it is "one of the first broadcasters in the world to launch a comprehensive international online TV catch-up service."
Popular soap operas are available on a 7 day catch-up basis, while home produced entertainment and children's programming is available for 21 days. All RTÉ News and Current Affairs output and RTÉ Sport shows including The Sunday Game, Monday Night Soccer and OB Sport are available.
In late 2009 RTÉ began putting more and more international programming on RTÉ player. When initially launched RTÉ had already secured rights for online streaming for many British and Australian shows such as EastEnders and Home and Away. They then launched some American programmes with exclusive online showings of Season 1 and 2 of AMC's Mad Men. Other US shows soon followed such as Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Lost and Desperate Housewives and Blue Bloods.
RTÉ Player is also available on Sony's Playsation 3 (PS3) and PSP console. |
| Website: www.rte.ie/player/# |
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| RTÉ International |
RTÉ International is the working title of an international television service, to be created by the national broadcaster of Ireland, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), when economic conditions improve.
The channel is expected to offer programmes from RTÉ One, Two and , including education, drama, comedy, music, news and current affairs. This includes The All Ireland Talent Show, Dragons' Den and The Late Late Show. The Oireachtas (parliament) has passed legislation requiring that RTÉ supply international service to suit the needs of Irish citizens living abroad, along with other new digital RTÉ channels.
Launch in United Kingdom was expected in March 2009. (RTÉ's domestic channels are already available on cable and Sky Digital in Northern Ireland, but not to Great Britain, owing to rights restrictions.) There are no plans to launch the channel at present. |
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| TV3 Ireland |
TV3 is a free-to-air commercial television network in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Launched on 20 September 1998 it was Ireland's first commercial broadcaster. The channel is owned by TV3 Group a subsidiary of Doughty Hanson & Co.
TV3 broadcasts a wide range of programming which in its early years depended heavily on international acquisitions. In 2008, the TV3 Group produced a three-year strategy to increase the amount of homegrown productions on the channel. Under their contract with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), TV3 are required since 2008 to have 30% of their programming coming from Ireland though TV3 now produces 40% Irish produced content (Most of this content comes from in studio productions such as Ireland AM and Xposé). In 2010 TV3 announced a target of 50% Irish programming by 2012. TV3 has also confirmed its plan to build a major new studio in 2011 which will be fully HD capable with audience capacity.
They have a small staff of 200 employees to run two television channels and one on-demand online service. On average, TV3 spend about €10 million on internal productions which are generally for daytime viewers. They do not have a history of strong prime-time content: generally their home produced programmes consist of at least one independently produced programme, e.g. The Apprentice, a number of internal documentaries such as Ireland Undercover and a number of BCI licence fee-funded independent products such as School Run,Diary of... and Modern Ireland.
TV3 programming has often been criticised for having no "distinctive, clearly Irish identity". In spring 2008, a major effort was made by the station to change this situation. In general TV3 spend around €10 million on their Irish productions each year, in 2008 they significantly increased the number of prime time shows produced in Ireland, TV3 are required by law to use 15% of its total Irish production budget for Independent Productions. |
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| Since 2004 Independent Productions for TV3 have been able to avail of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland's (BCI) Sound and Vision Fund, a fund provided to the BCI from RTÉ. |
| Website: www.tv3.ie |
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| 3e (3 entertainment) |
3e (3 entertainment) is a commercial television network in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 5 January 2009 (replacing Channel 6 which previously launched in March 2006).
The channel is operated by Kish Media a subsidiary of TV3 Group owned by Doughty Hanson & Co.
3e broadcasts a wide range of programming which is made up largely of US, Australian and UK television acquisitions, while also airing some Irish content. 3e utilizes the existing staff at TV3 (200 employees) to operate the channel. The channel airs mainly dramas, comedy, sports and movies. The channel provides a diverse mix of programming both local and international, targeting a demographic ranging between 16 to 35 year olds.
The channel is currently available to 90% of homes within the Republic of Ireland through the national digital terrestrial television service Saorview (Freeview) since November 2010. It is available to 80% of homes through digital cable and satellite service such as UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks, Smartvision and Sky Ireland. Some areas of Northern Ireland can receive the channel through 'overspill' from the republic, the channel is expected to be available on Saorsat (Freesat) when it launches.
In 2009 several rearrangements of the 3e schedule occurred - as it re-branded from Channel 6 - including showing repeats of Xpose and Emmerdale straight after TV3, followed by putting Xpose on at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm and removing repeat showings ofEmmerdale and replacing them with repeat showings of Coronation Street. |
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| The channel was the first Irish general entertainment channel not to provide news bulletins or sport; however 3e has since started to air news bulletins every hour during their prime time schedule each weekday and for the first time 3e began showing live sports in September 2009 with live coverage of the UEFA Europa League. |
| Website: www.tv3.ie/3e |
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| TG4 |
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish-language speakers. The channel has been on-air since October 31, 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland.
TG4 was formerly known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG, before a rebranding campaign in 1999. TG4 was the third national station to be launched in Ireland; after RTÉ One in 1961 (as Teilifís Éireann) and RTÉ Two in 1978, and was followed by TV3 in 1998.
The channel has 800,000 viewers who tune into the channel each day to view a broad programming policy. It has a share of 3% of the national television market. The daily Irish language programme schedule is its core service: seven hours of programming in Irish supported by a wide range of material in other languages such as French and English. |
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| The daily Irish-language programme schedule is its central service, broadcasting approximately 2.5 hours a day of new Irish-language programming, with an estimated 2.5 hours a day of repeated Irish-language programmes. Currently, RTÉ supplies TG4 with one hour a day of Irish language programming. The remainder of the TG4 schedule is made up of acquisitions from other broadcasters particularly from US broadcasters. |
| Operating as a publisher and broadcaster, TG4 annually invests up to €20m in original indigenous programming from the independent production sector in Ireland. The Irish language soap opera Ros na Rún is one of its most popular programmes, and it also commissions a number of documentaries. |
| On 1 April 2007, Teilifís na Gaeilge became an independent statutory corporation, with former Gaelic Athletic Association president Peter Quinn becoming first chairperson of the corporation. The other members appointed to the authority were Joe Connolly, Padraig MacDonnacha, Eilís Ní Chonghaile, Méabh Mhic Ghairbheith, Méadhbh Nic an Airchinnigh, Bríd Ní Neachtáin, Feargal Ó Sé, and Regina Culliton. Coinciding with TG4's independence from RTÉ, TG4 began to broadcast 24 hour news broadcaster France 24 in replacement of Euronews. RTÉ hold a share in Euronews meaning TG4 could no longer broadcast the service. |
| Reception in Northern Ireland |
| TG4 was originally only available in Northern Ireland via 'overspill' of the terrestrial signal from Ireland. In the 1998 Belfast Agreement there was provision for TG4 (then TnaG) to be made available in Northern Ireland, along with increased recognition of the Irish language. Similarly, while TG4, along with Ireland's other terrestrial channels, are carried on Sky Ireland there, it was not available to Sky subscribers in Northern Ireland until 18 April 2005 and on Virgin Media NI until February 2007. |
In March 2005, TG4 began broadcasting from the Divis transmitter near Belfast, as a result of agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Northern Ireland Office. However, because of overcrowding on the frequency bands only a low power signal can be transmitted and reception is still unavailable in many areas, even in parts of Belfast. The channel is however available on cable and on to Sky satellite subscribers. It is hoped that the channel can eventually be made available on digital terrestrial services (Freeview) and free-to-air on satellite.
A report from UK media regulator Ofcom, released in November 2007, suggests that TG4 will be carried on Freeview in the future.
On 1 February 2010 Ireland's Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan signed an agreement with the UK's Ben Bradshaw. This agreement will enable viewers within Northern Ireland to watch RTE One, RTE Two and TG4 on a free-to-air basis as of 2012. The agreement between both jurisdictions will also guarantee that viewers within Ireland will be able to view BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC Two Northern Ireland on the Ireland's free-to-air service which is to debut in late 2010. |
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| The channel will be made available to viewers in Northern Ireland on Freeview afeter digital switchover in 2012, reception will also be possible through Saorsat (Freesat), once the service launches. |
| Website: www.tg4.ie |
| TG4 Live Stream (250 kbps) |
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