The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

The same is true of the Aussie soap of course, perhaps he means they could mirror the schedule of each other though and share the original content. Since Ben Frow joined Channel 5, Channel 5 has taken documentaries from TV3 and I think Channel 5 documentaries have appeared on TV 3 also. Of course when it comes to acquired content it'll come down to whether they can beat the dual funded RTE 2.[/quote]

That's what I meant, but also a strategic alliance when it comes to acquisitions - pooling financial resources to acquire foreign content for the UK and Ireland.

But that would lead most people to believe that Downton abbey is the better programme of the 2. Surely you show your strongest programme at a time when people will watch?

I don't have this years figures to hand but last year Downton abbey was being watched by 300,000 plus in the republic. Not even half were watching on TV3. The sensible thing would be to show Downton on TV3 and Xtra Factor on 3e.

TV3 would add very little financially to any bargaining position that Channel 5 would have.

3 would need to work strategically - but Jeff Ford was the master of acquisitions when he was at 5, grabbing Home & Away from ITV, Securing Big Brother plus getting the CSI franchise and turning 5 into the home of US drama.

Yes he has much less to work with here, but a few key acquisitions, plus some clever scheduling could be enough to keep 3 in the game.

RTE Two HD on Saorview has changed it's name to RTE2 recently. The name change came after a rescan which appeared last Wednesday. The rescan gave Saorview viewers over 50 TV channels alone and 20 radio stations although the majority of TV stations are not showing anything on them at all. Some of these channels are hidden on some Saorview Receivers btw.

This may suggest that UTV Ireland will appear on Saorview in a few months time. Oireachtas TV is no doubt still being discussed with 2RN as well although nothing may come about from that discussion.

On the other hand I don't know why there are even there at all. It is a big mystery as to why they are there.

It's mainly to do with RTE2's latest rebrand which had seen it revert to its original name. UPC and Sky have also changed.

Not sure what the 50 TV channels thing you are referring to is BTW - are you maybe picking up Freeview?

No you're incorrect about me picking up freeview because all of these extra blank channels are from being received from 2RN (RTENL) so these are not freeview services at all. This rescan is being picked on everybody who has a Saorview receiver in their homes regardless of what part of Ireland they are living in.

This include's Northern Ireland as well because anyone who are getting Saorview from the NI Minimux are getting them as well as receiving their Freeview channels if they got a message from to rescan their receivers during the week.

They couldn't be IPTV channels could they? UK Freeview has a whole bunch of services that have low bit-rate MHEG5 data streams that point compatible internet connected receivers to IP streams for the video and audio rather than using off-air. They appear in the guide/ EPG as channels - though not all receivers can access them.

There are very tenative plans for a hybrid DTT/IP service called Saorview Connected alright but I didn't think they were that advanced. It got a mention in the Business Post yesterday but the article is behind a paywall.

I have the print version of the Sunday Business Post article here so here it is typed out.

New plans in the pipeline at Saorview

By Siobhan Brett

Saorview is planning to launch a service called Saorview Connected, currently in procurement and under development, which will allow it to work with a broadband provider to offer "a hybrid-type" service.

"It's early days, but that's the kind of direction were taking," said Jim Higgins, the platform's brand compliance and business development manager. In four months to September, Saorview added 41,000 households (to 653,000). It is targeting something in the region of 700,000 by mid-2015.

There are 1.586 million "TV households" in Ireland.

During the 2014 World Cup, retailers reported that customers who had pay-TV were getting aerials for Saorview because they knew they could get RTE Two in HD with paying a premium (indeed, without paying).

Higgins said that consumer advertising, which began earlier this year, could be credited with the summer increase. The ad campaign revolved around a single piece of research by Nielsen: that 97 per cent of the top 5,000 programmes were available on Saorview. The brand has begun to sell itself as "an offering in it's own right", in Higgins' words, profiting from an increased desire on the part of consumers to eliminate monthly bills, but also to precisely tailor the television they want to see, often by blending digital and linear.

"As people are faced with increased bills for pay-TV, they start looking around," Higgins said. The appetite for Saorview says something for the appetite people have for their own content, and the content that's available on our channels in this country. "I'm quite happy for people to understand that if you combine Saorview with free-to-air or any kind of online offering you choose, then you can basically pick your own bundle of TV services," Higgins said.

"In the US, for example, they go for something called 'cord cutting', this phenomenon whereby people are breaking the bundles, moving away from very expensive TV packages and asking: 'What exactly do I need?' They are customising their home entertainment."

UTV Ireland is currently in carriage negotiations with Saorview. "We're not officially able to say anything yet-not until those carriage negotiations are concluded-but I am hopeful that we would have UTV. Our plan for Saorview is to develop the platform; not to be static and to say, 'what we have will do'."

Will it ever be a case of Saorview going after a channel rather a channel going after a platform? "I think it's probably true that, as we grow the platform, we will be doing a number of things to make Saorview more appealing. "It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation," said Higgins.

"The more homes we get on Saorview, the more appealing it is to broadcasters. The more broadcasters we get on Saorview, the more appealing it is to homes. We'll see how it goes."

TV3 are launching a +1 on UPC on 1st December:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/media-and-marketing/a-new-dawn-for-tv3-as-it-goes-on-the-counter-attack-1.2007363?page=2

Also in presentation terms there's a new RTE end cap in use since this week - consists of shimmering lines on a black background with the RTE logo forming up on the centre left.

TV3+1 launched today, a day late. The TV3 DOG has also been moved to the more conventional place of top right - it's been at the bottom right I think since launch.