Television in Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ireland's television channels are a subset of the Media in Ireland.
Contents |
[edit] Republic of Ireland channels
Approximately 21.5% of homes receive only RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3 and TG4. 78% of homes receive additional channels.
| Television Channel | Public? | Free-to-air? | Availability | Owner | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTÉ One | Yes | Yes | National | Radio Telefís Éireann | Terrestrial, cable, satellite |
| RTÉ Two | Yes | Yes | National | Radio Telefís Éireann | Terrestrial, cable, satellite |
| TV3 | No | Yes | National | Doughty Hanson & Co | Terrestrial, cable, satellite |
| TG4 | Yes | Yes | National | Teilifís na Gaeilge | Terrestrial, cable, satellite |
| City Channel | No | Yes | Dublin, Galway, Waterford | City Channel | Cable |
| Channel 6 | No | Yes (on cable), No (on satellite) | National | Channel 6 Broadcasting Limited | Cable, satellite |
| Setanta Ireland | No | Yes (on cable), No (on satellite) | National | Setanta Sport Holdings Limited | Cable, satellite |
| Bubble Hits | No | Yes | National | Creative Sounds Limited | Cable, satellite |
| Bubble Hits Ireland | No | Yes | National | Creative Sounds Limited | Cable, satellite |
| NASN | No | No | National | ESPN | Cable, satellite |
| DCTV | No | Yes | Dublin | Dublin Community Television | Cable |
| P5TV | No | Yes | Navan | N/A | Cable |
Forthcoming stations
These channels have all been officially announced and/or licensed.
- The Irish Film Channel - film channel to launch in 2009. It will be a public service broadcaster.
- Oireachtas TV - political channel to launch in 2008/9. It will be a public service broadcaster.
- RTÉ International - For the Irish audience abroad. It is due to be on air in Britain by Saint Patrick's Day 2009 - however it is unknown if it will be available in Ireland itself. It will eventually broadcast to mainland Europe and North America.
Proposed/Planned stations
These channels have been proposed by various groups; all in relation to the DTT launch in 2008/9.
- 3TODAY - News and information channel from TV3.[1]
- 3XPOSÉ- General Entertainment channel from TV3.[2]
- RTÉ Three (working name) - General Entertainment channel from RTÉ.[3]
- RTÉ One +1 (working name) - Timeshift service for RTÉ One.[4]
[edit] Northern Ireland terrestrial channels (Also widely available in the Republic of Ireland)
- BBC One Northern Ireland
- BBC Two Northern Ireland
- UTV - the Northern Ireland Channel 3 (ITV) Franchisee
- Channel 4 - same version as England and Scotland but with variations in adverts
- Five - same version as England, Wales and Scotland (not available in all parts of NI)
Local Television
- C9TV operates in Derry and broadcasts to some or all of Counties Londonderry, Antrim, Tyrone and, in the Republic, County Donegal.
- NvTv operates in Belfast.
[edit] Pan-European channels in Ireland
These are channels which are not based in Ireland but produce special programming, offer local advertising for the Irish market.
- Cartoon Network
- Discovery Channel
- Disney Channel
- E4
- EuroNews
- EuroSport
- France 24
- National Geographic
- MTV
- Nickelodeon
- Nick Jr
- Paramount Comedy (Comedy Central)
- Sky News
- Sky Sports 1
- Sky Sports 2
- Living TV
- Sky One
- TV5MONDE
[edit] Other channels
In September 2006, it was estimated[5] that 70% of Irish homes have cable, satellite or MMDS TV, with 70% of these using digital systems. As a result the majority of Irish homes have a large number of TV channels available - a full list is available at the page List of television channels available in Ireland.
TV stations from other countries available in Ireland include those from Poland, China, Iceland, Italy, France, Middle East, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Nordic Region, Germany, India, Pakistan and the U.S.A..
[edit] Defunct channels
- Channel 3 (Later known as Channel D) was a short-lived Dublin based television station broadcasting from July 1981 to October 1981. It was a pirate TV channel.
- Capital Television was another short-lived Dublin channel which only broadcast a caption for a week, along with a testcard at night another week. It, too, was a pirate TV channel.
- Nova TV was another Dublin pirate TV channel that was broadcast for a short time in the 1980s.
- Telefís na Gaeltachta, which inspired the later TnaG(today TG4), was a pirate Irish language service in the west of Ireland.
- Tara TV was an Irish channel that was broadcast in the UK on Sky Digital from 1997 until RTÉ forced its closure in 2002. It was also broadcast in the Republic of Ireland for much of this time.
- RLO TV was another pirate television station (UHF and Satellite), broadcast in Limerick by Radio Limerick One in 1999 and 2000. While the station were not airing their own content they would broadcast a relay of UK Channel 5.
- Chorus Sports on Chorus Cable, which showed local sports, greyhound racing, and national motor racing events. This ceased broadcasting in January 2007.
- Sky News Ireland was a 1 hour daily Irish opt-out on Sky News, carried to Ireland on Sky Digital, and by most cable companies. Stopped in November 2006.
[edit] Technical information
Analogue television in both parts of Ireland uses System I with 625 lines and the PAL colour standard, with NICAM digital stereo sound where applicable. In the Republic both VHF and UHF are used but in Northern Ireland, in common with the rest of the UK, VHF is no longer used for analogue TV. VHF for TV transmission is slowly being phased out in Ireland - only RTÉ One and RTÉ Two are on VHF band III in some areas, and the more recently established stations (TV3 and TG4) have been only broadcast on UHF.
[edit] Digital terrestrial television (DTT)
A public digital terrestrial television in the Republic of Ireland currently in trial phase in Dublin and Louth through RTÉ and the Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources using a DVB-T based system at the moment. Digital terrestrial television in Ireland is currently limited to retransmitting the nationally available TV and radio services via a single multiplex and additional channels for those part of the trial.
A full public service is expected to roll out in late 2008 beginning with the converting of the trial into a full service consisting at start of nationally available channels and possibly the A, B and C licensees. The BCI opened 3 licenses competition process for 3 multiplex during on March 7, 2008 and are expected to decide on the successful applicants based on set criteria around July 21, 2008. Coverage is expected to be 90% by Analogue Switchoff for BCI DTT licensees which could be beyond 2012. RTÉ's mux is likely to be higher at 98% reflecting legislative requirements and its public service remit. MPEG 4 HD friendly standard has been decided with MHEG5 interactivity standard also decided. Backward compatibility is likely to be included in the national specifications to be agreed amond the DTT stakeholder group. A sustained public information on the benefits of DTT can be expected in late 2008. A DSO campaign is not expected to begin until early 2012.
UK DTT aka Freeview can be received in parts of Wicklow, Wexford, Westmeath, Roscommon, Sligo as well as those counties bordering Northern Ireland. UK satellite free-to-air channels are available to anyone in Ireland using a Satellite dish pointed at Astra (28.2° East) /Eurobird (28.5° East) using either the BBC/ITV Freesat platform with a FTA receiver or with a Sky-type digital satellite and decoder (sky requires an initial subscription payment but then they are Free-to-view). These channels must be tuned in manually.
[edit] See also
- List of television channels available in Ireland
- Lists of television channels
- Radio in Ireland
- List of newspapers in Ireland
- List of Irish language media
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Broadcasting Commission of Ireland
- Broadcasting Complaints Commission
- Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources - Broadcasting
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
