The Late Late Gay Byrne Irish Television Thread

So, does TV3 still have any connection to ITV or is any new series from ITV fair game for RTÉ and TV3 to bid on?

They have a ten year programme supply deal with ITV so no, new series from ITV are only fair game for RTE if they're not actually made by ITV (and in fact TV3 also have most non news and sport ITV shows tied up on seperate deals).

Today is the last day of UTV Ireland's seperate news service, with the final Ireland Live airing at 5;30pm. There'll still be news on Be3, but it will come under the banner of 3News Ireland from Monday onwards and the 5:30pm bulletin moves to 7pm. This also means the end of the UTV Live theme music, which has been around in various arrangements since 2000.

So the story ends for at least one.

Honoured to have anchored first #IrelandLive news on #UTVIreland two years ago & last one today at 1730. An amazing team who broke the mould pic.twitter.com/uwjiDllj62

— Alison Comyn (@alisoncomyn) January 6, 2017

Not much of a send off, though probably to be expected in the circumstances. On Monday, it will be the TV3 News crew that will be providing news on Be 3.

UTV Ireland doesn't appear to be running any promos at all now. With the EPG listings and listings on the stations website finishing Sunday night, it really is more like a closedown than a rebrand. For some people Be 3 won't even be on the same channel number as UTV Ireland.

TV3 have updated channel numbers for Be3 from tomorrow shown on Xpose's website.

http://www.tv3.ie/xpose/article/entertainment-news/227519/TV3-Group-launches-new-look-threechannel-lineup

For Saorview viewers Be3 will take over UTV Ireland's channel position on No 6.

Not No 106 as previously reported from their channels media launch last year.

Updated list for Be3 - Monday 9th January 2017

VM Ireland 106
Sky Ireland 116
Saorview 6
Eir 108
Vodafone 110

http://content.tv3.ie/content/images/0992/jighuioghuie_263464.jpg

Is it in HD? Wasn't UTV in HD on Saorview but 3 not?

UTV Ireland is in HD on Sky but not on Saorview. I doubt Be3 will be in HD on Sky, they'll likely just close that down and keep it as an SD only channel, same as 3e, unless the TV3 group have some big surprises for us.

No. UTV Ireland was never HD on Saorview. It was via pay TV only on Sky & Virgin.

Also

Saorview Viewers need to retune their box or TV to continue receiving Be3.
Be3 on Sky Ireland will not air until 10am tomorrow.
3e will be on No 105 on VM Ireland replacing Sky Sports Mix.
GMB & Lorraine will not on any TV3 channel from tomorrow.

I thought that 3e would move to 105 alright, SSM on that channel never made any sense.

Meanwhile there seems to have been a new RTE One ident before Dancing with the Stars (aka Strictly Come Dancing) tonight?

I agree with what you are saying about SSM. I heard it is not getting a great amount of viewers on VM Ireland.

A notice came up on 105 on VM Ireland tonight. I heard that SSM will swap to No 400 from tomorrow.

It was baffling to see that Sky Sports Mix was being promoted to EPG 105 in August - when 3e should have taken the spot. Or were Virgin waiting for the sale to be finalised to make such a change?

About time they've done this - especially with Be3's launch tomorrow.

Also - the final programme on UTV Ireland is the Chase - at 12.50am it will go off the air, with Be3 going on air at 7am.

I think it was more to do with damage limitation from the departure of eir Sport to be honest.