TV3 News

TV3News
Country of origin Republic of Ireland
Production
Running time Varies
Broadcast
Original channel TV3 Group
Picture format 4:3 September 1998 to November 2010
16:9 November 2010 to date.
Original run 20 September 1998 – present

TV3 News is the television and internet news service from TV3 in Ireland. Its flagship bulletin is at 17:30, hosted by Alan Cantwell, Colette Fitzpatrick and Elaine Crowley. TV3 News produces bulletins broadcast live on TV3 each day and online at tv3.ie/news. TV3 news bulletins are also present on Ireland AM, Midday and Tonight with Vincent Browne.

TV3 News also produce topical shows such as Midweek and Tonight with Vincent Browne. Previously, TV3 News produced Week in Politics, The Political Party and an Irish edition of the popular U.S. series 20/20 (1998-2000).

Contents

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News team

The TV3 News team includes:

General history

Prior to the launch of TV3, its strategy was to produce Ireland's first independent television news service. The first televisual broadcast of TV3 News took place at 18:00 on 20 September 1998, 30 minutes after the channel launched. TV3 News was initially presented by Gráinne Seoige and Alan Cantwell. The current main evening bulletin takes place from 18:30 to 18:00 and is presented by Alan Cantwell and Colette Fitzpatrick. All bulletins are broadcast from the chromakeyed news studio at the TV3 studio complex at Ballymount, Dublin. TV3 News Tonight was broadcast Monday to Friday at 23:00. The Week in Review broadcast on Sunday nights at 23:00.

On 20 October 2008, TV3 announced that it was axing the Friday broadcast of TV3 Nightly News, moving current affairs programme The Political Party to replace it. (The Political Party has itself since been cancelled and replaced with Midweek). The Saturday and Sunday editions of TV3 News at 5:30 were also cut back, with TV3 News at 5:30 being axed from the weekend schedules to be replaced by five-minute news bulletins.[9]

Morning news bulletins

TV3 News morning bulletins are broadcast during Ireland AM and presented by Siobhan Bastible and/or Elaine Crowley, with Aidan Cooney presenting sports updates. They have been present on the show since its launch on 20 September 1999. Bulletins are broadcast every half hour. A news ticker also runs throughout the programme, keeping viewers informed of the news headlines.

Main Evening News

History

On 20 September 1998, TV3 launched its news service. TV3 News @ 6 would broadcast Monday – Friday for an hour at 18:00, with half an hour bulletins on Saturdays and Sundays.

Originally an hour-long news bulletin was broadcast at 18:00 on weeknights. However, this attempt to compete with RTÉ News: Six One was a failure, and the bulletins were moved to 17:30 and 19:00 (later 18:30, after TV3 acquired the rights to Emmerdale and began showing it at 19:00, the same time as ITV). News @ 6.30 was eventually dropped in April 2007. For a time, the 17:30 programme was called First Edition.

Previous anchors have included Gráinne Seoige, who moved to Sky News Ireland in 2004 and Claire Byrne, who departed for the radio station Newstalk in 2006 following a High Court battle with her bosses at TV3.

In 2001, after Granada (now ITV plc) bought 45% of TV3, TV3 began to simultaneously broadcast Emmerdale with the ITV Network, TV3 choose to move their News @ 7 to 18:30 Monday to Friday. In 2006, TV3 axed TV3 News @ 6:30 (their only prime time news programme) in favour of a new entertainment news programme called Xposé (see "Entertainment" section below).

Alan Cantwell has been TV3's main news anchor since it began broadcasting in 1998, his co-anchors have all been women. Gráinne Seoige was his co-anchor after being head hunted from TG4 where she launched their news show Nuacht TnaG, in 2004 she moved to Sky News to launch Sky News Ireland. She was replaced with Claire Byrne who later moved to Newstalk to host their morning show. The current co-anchor is Colette Fitzpatrick.

TV3 News at 5.30

TV3 News flagship daily news bulletin is broadcast at 5:30 pm. The bulletin is called TV3 News at 5.30 and runs for approximately 30 minutes, though the bulletin has been extended to 60 minutes over the years for major news stories such as general elections, budgets and referendums.

The broadcast includes news headlines with reports from TV3 News reporters and correspondents, sports news and weather. The show is presented from the news desk (and the weather area) and has a bright blue background theme. Alan Cantwell and Colette Fitzpatrick are the news anchors, while Trevor Welch and Martin King are the sports and weather presenters respectively.

Late Night News

History

TV3 News Tonight, Late Edition or Nightly News was first broadcast on Monday 21 September 1998 at 23:00. It aired at 23:00 each weeknight for 30 minutes. It was hosted by either of its two main anchors each taking alternative nights. In 2008, TV3 News axed the late news in preference for TV3 Nightly News with Vincent Browne which also aired for 30 minutes until 2009 when the show was rebranded as Tonight with Vincent Browne. TV3 Nightly News continued to air on Friday nights until 2009 when it was replaced with The Political Party.

Tonight with Vincent Browne

In early 2008, 3 News launched the Vincent Browne-fronted Nightly News with Vincent Browne, a news programme to replace News Tonight. Initially, "3 News Nightly News" was a similar programme to RTÉ's Prime Time. Two of TV3's journalists filed the shows main reports, their reports were followed by a studio discussion of that report, followed by a commercial break and they the show would return with a look at the next day's newspapers. The format was changed mid-season and the reports from the two TV3 journalist were scraped in favour of a discussion show. Now the programme is called Tonight with Vincent Browne and starts with a look at what is coming up on the show, followed by a short news bulletin. After this Browne introduces his guests and discusses the day's news with them or a specific topic. After the first commercial break the discussion typically continues and following the second commercial break Browne and his guests typically review the next day's papers, and discuss the stories within them. The weather is then presented at the end, but is not part of the show, unlike News @ 5:30.

The programme used to run from 11:00 pm to 11:40 pm from Monday to Thursday, however, following the cancellation of Sports Tonight the show began to run to midnight. The programme is broadcast from the news studio, albeit on a separate podium to the news desk. It has a red and black background theme. Since the programme has been renamed Tonight with Vincent Browne, it is sponsored by Bank of Scotland (Ireland), with TV3's Nightly News airing for five minutes before the show as a separate bulletin.

During the summer, and on Friday nights, Nightly News with Vincent Browne was simply billed as TV3 Nightly News and followed the old TV3 News Tonight format (i.e., a straight 30 minute news bulletin in much the same style as News at 5:30). The Friday bulletin was axed in October 2008, while the filler service during the summer of 2009 was cut down to a 10 minute bulletin. Summer 2010 editions of Tonight with Vincent Browne were filled in by Sarah Carey, Kevin Myers, Sam Smyth, Ger Colleran and Ivan Yates.[10] Summer 2011 editions of Tonight with Vincent Browne were filled in by Mammy O'Rourke, Sam Smyth and others.

Sponsorship controversy

From September 2009 the programme was renamed Tonight with Vincent Browne, after a deal was signed with Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to sponsor the programme. Due to legislation from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and similar European Union rules preventing a news programme from being sponsored, it was no longer to be branded as "TV3 News" and officially considered to be an "entertainment/lifestyle" programme rather than news or current affairs.[11] The CEO of TV3 David McRedmond is also a Director of Bank of Scotland (Ireland).[12]

Friday Late with Vincent Browne

This appeared in 2011 and was a more relaxed version of the heavy political debate of Tonight with Vincent Browne. After successful ratings of the more easy-going Friday night election specials in the run up to the 2011 Irish general election, which often featured Marie-Louise O'Donnell as guest, TV3 chose to continue in the same vain with a new spin-off show entitled Friday Late with Vincent Browne, presented from the Ireland AM studio by Vincent Browne, and taking on The Late Late Show, presented by Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ One. Friday Late with Vincent Browne featured guests such as Ray D'Arcy, Linda Martin and Jedward in its first episode. Subsequent episodes featured guests such as David McSavage and Paddy Cole. Browne introduced entrepreneur Norah Casey as "Norah Carey".[13] It was soon discontinued.

Additional programming

Agenda was a political magazine show hosted by David McWilliams it ran from 1998 to 2001 on Sunday mornings and repeated in the afternoon, it was replaced by The Political Party. The Political Party was a politically-themed chat show, hosted by TV3's political editor Ursula Halligan, which originally aired Sundays at 17:00 before being moved to Fridays at 23:00 in late 2008. However the show was axed in March 2009 due to falling advertising revenues at the station. Both shows were produced independently of TV3.

In 2009, TV3 announced a new business show that would effectively replace the original slot held by both Agenda and The Political Party airing every Sunday at midday Business Matters is business related series on TV3. The series was hosted by Ivan Yates.[14] Business Matters began on 13 September 2009, but just lasted 19 episodes. The series was produced in house by TV3. In 2009, TV3 also started to broadcast the current affairs show, Midweek, which airs weekly each Wednesday night and focuses on the latest political and topical issues affecting Ireland.

In house news documentaries include Ireland's Crime Capitals, a sensationalist show that observes crime in Ireland; Gift of Life, a three part special focusing on donor donations; Surviving the Recession, a one-off special looking at life in Ireland and the recession.

From the station's launch, a 30-minute news bulletin was broadcast at weekends. However in December 2008, these weekend bulletins were reduced to five minutes, this cut blamed on a downturn in advertising revenues. According to The Sunday Business Post, TV3 had to cut 15 jobs and 15 freelance jobs in the company to save money.

Midday

TV3 News also airs at the beginning of Midday. Midday is a 40-minute daily chat show, similar to U.S. chat show The View. Midday is hosted by a panel mainly women and anchored by 3 News presenters Elaine Crowley and/or Colette Fitzpatrick. The show was launched in September 2008. The show was previously hosted by a mixed panel of men and women such as Colette Fitzpatrick, Alan Cantwell and Martin King. From September 2009, the show was reformatted to reflect a mainly female panel addressing issues affecting women and men, similar to UK lunchtime show Loose Women.

Midweek

Midweek is hosted by TV3 News presenter Colette Fitzpatrick. The show began on 16 September 2009. It is a much more tabloid version of other current affairs shows on Irish television dealing with issues such as mail-order brides, alternative medicine, gangland crime, etc. Midweek airs on Wednesdays at 22:00.

During a piece investigating cross-border shopping for groceries in 2011, there was controversy when Ciara Doherty offended viewers from Northern Ireland by implying that everyone in Nothern Irelasnd identified as British. Midweek was also accused of portraying Notherners as if they were from Germany or Outer Mongolia.[15]

CNN on 3News

CNN, the American cable news channel, often airs on TV3 News when major breaking news stories are taking place, particularly major events in the United States. CNN made its first appearance on TV3 News on 11 September 2001. CNN services have also been availed of during the 2008 election of Barack Obama as President of the United States and the 2009 Death of Michael Jackson.

3e News/FYI

3e News broadcasts on TV3's sister channel 3e. It is aimed at the 15–36 year old age group. It is presented by Caroline Twohig (News), Paul Walsh (Sport) and Cassie Stokes (Technology). Reports are sourced from the TV3 newsroom, however TV3 state that the news content is entirely different to that of TV3 News at 5:30. 3e News broadcasts daily from the TV3 newsroom at 6 pm Monday to Friday.[16]

3e also broadcast regular one minute news updates. The programme first started broadcasting shortly after TV3 renamed Channel 6 as 3e. The updates last for one minute, and start at 7:00 pm and broadcast thereafter, every hour, at 8:00 pm, and 9:00 pm. The programme gives viewers a one minute news summary, with all of the days main news headlines.

3e News was renamed as FYI (For Your Information) from 10 March 2010. The show's presenters remain on in their current roles and the format of an interactive news aimed at the 15 to 35 year old age group remains.[17]

3Today

As Ireland moved towards full integration of digital terrestrial television, TV3 Group initially proposed to launch two channels to appear on the OneVision pay television service.[18] These channels included a news and current affairs channel called 3Today and a channel skewed towards women called 3Expose.[18] Onevision (which TV3 held a nominal share in the consortium) withdrew from offering the pay television element to Ireland's digital terrestrial television Saorview after negotiations with the BAI failed due to difficulties with the terms of RTÉ NL apparently regarding multiplexing, marketing for DTT and other issues. The 3Today service was expected to appear on the Onevision DTT service. As of 2011, TV3 Group have yet to confirm whether a similar channel will appear on Saorview or a similar service in the near future.[18] The channel was expected to air both Irish and international bespoke programing in current affairs as well as drama, comedy and documentary titles from international producers.

External links

References

  1. ^ "Siobhan Bastible". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=17. 
  2. ^ "Paul Byrne". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=20. 
  3. ^ "Dyane Conor". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=18. 
  4. ^ "Brian Daly". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=14. 
  5. ^ "Geraldine Lynagh". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=16. 
  6. ^ "Jenny McCudden". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=19. 
  7. ^ "Stephen Murphy". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=12. 
  8. ^ "Brian O'Donovan". TV3 News. http://www.tv3.ie/reporter.php?request=13. 
  9. ^ "TV3 lays off 15 and cuts news coverage as ad revenue slumps". The Irish Times. 21 October 2008. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1021/1224454425921.html. 
  10. ^ Harrison, Bernice (4 September 2010). "An old fashioned detective". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0904/1224278171821.html. 
  11. ^ Kenny, Colum (30 August 2010). "Browne must go 'lifestyle' or TV3 will lose sponsor". Sunday Independent. http://www.independent.ie/business/media/browne-must-go-lifestyle-or-tv3-will-lose-sponsor-1873158.html. 
  12. ^ "Panel". Smurfit School BJA.
  13. ^ Heaney, Mick (31 March 2011). "A new heavyweight in light entertainment". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0331/1224293430591.html. Retrieved 31 March 2011. 
  14. ^ Noonan, Laura (26 July 2008). "TV3 to buy Channel 6 for €10m". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/business/media/tv3-to-buy-channel-6-for-836410m-1441338.html. Retrieved 26 July 2008. 
  15. ^ "Ciara in "Irish accent" boob on cross-border shopping story". Donegal Daily. 1 December 2011. http://www.donegaldaily.com/2011/12/01/ciara-in-irish-accent-boob-on-cross-border-shopping-story/. Retrieved 1 December 2011. 
  16. ^ "3e to launch own news after reporting 25pc surge in new Sky slot". Irish Independent. 12 November 2009. http://www.independent.ie/business/media/3e-to-launch-own-news--after-reporting-25pc-surge-in-new-sky-slot-1940290.html. Retrieved 12 November 2009. 
  17. ^ "fyi. – A Fresh Approach to News". TV3. 4 March 2010. http://www.tv3.ie/pr_sub.php?type=1&view_pr=120. Retrieved 4 March 2010. 
  18. ^ a b c http://www.bci.ie/DTT/one_vision/app1.pdf