3, 3e and be3 - Jan 2017 relaunch

rdd's post in the megathread seems a good place to start discussion of the new look TV3 and 3e, plus the launch of be3. TV3 News will also be rebranded 3News Ireland from tomorrow.



If those brief clips featuring the 3 logo are the new idents they well and truly put BBC1 to shame.

So the TV3 website has now been updated (tv3.ie) It includes the new 3 Player and 3 News logos. The UTV Ireland website is still holding out for now.
Onscreen the trailers on UTV Ireland are still airing and are promoting shows that will be aired on Be3. The voiceover at the end of the trailer does not mention UTV Ireland or Be3. On TV3 and presumably 3e, breakbumpers are airing featuring the TV3, 3e and Be3 logos with the tagline of 'A new world of TV'.

Worse publicised launch ever. Only tonight did the EPG numbers get announced. Here on Virgin TV3 remains on 103, Sky Sports Mix moves from 105 allowing 3e to move to 105. Meanwhile UTV shuts down on 110 and be3 starts on the old 3e slot at 106. No idea what's happening to 110. Big day tomorrow.

There keeping this morning and moving it to tv3. Some of the other changes seem weird.

No doubt (mostly) Dublin Cable viewers will complain from tomorrow that UTV Ireland has been taken from them... just like UTV 2 years previously.



Some would be putting it conservatively. It's like they're trying to stretch 1 and half stations worth of programmes over 3 channels. The repeats of Saturday and Sunday AM on Be3 on Saturday and Sunday Afternoons is bizarre.

Well it all happened rather quickly. The last promo on UTV Ireland was for an ITV show airing on TV3. Then at 00:51 channel 110 closed and be3 played out with UTV Ireland graphics for 10 minutes on 106 until 1:03 when the dog updated. Meanwhile 3e HD has launched.

And so it begins. A brand new era.

3e HD is big news indeed, given TV3 (after a barren 2016) seem to be ramping up their sports content again.

Incidentally if TV3' News' Twitter is anything to go by we can only expect a quick and dirty edit to lower thirds today with the new logo, though I understand a new look is in the pipeline. Fortunately for TV3 they must be one of the few news organisations around that don't use their own logo in their news titles (neither, oddly, did UTV Ireland).

One thing that we may or may not read into is that they've changed their hashtag from #TV3News to #3News.

Where has 3e HD launched? On both of my Sky+HD boxes I still have 3e SD on 105 and UTV Ireland HD and UTV Ireland on the EPG airing a blue screen. Unable to watch the new Be3 channel.

Virgin Media it seems. For technical reasons there will be no changes on Sky until after 10:00am.

Perhaps they could use UTV Ireland HD for 3e HD. The new 3e idents really need to be in HD and at a high bitrate to be enjoyed!

I give 3b until dec 2017 and it clbe merged.