Republic of Ireland

UTV practically everywhere now, but many providers in the past provided HTV Wales, either instead of (because of being easier to pick up off air in a particular area), or prior to Channel 4's opening, in addition to UTV.



Essentially the reason why RTE cannot as aired in Ireland be aired in the UK (other than NI). Its far cheaper for BBC/ITV rights already cleared for 55m people to be cleared for an addition 4 million, than for rights cleared for 4 million to be cleared for an addition 55m. Put simple it would either bankrupt RTÉ, or lead to RTÉ being refused premmision to run any US programming prior to it already having been run on a UK station.



RTÉ were essentially responsible for putting Tara into liquidation. Word is that RTÉ CEL were not being paid for the programming being supplied to Tara. Incidently the other shareholders in Tara were UPC who are now essentially in control of practically the entire cable network in Ireland.

Yup – also RTÉ CEL refused to lower its prices for Tara, arguing that it wouldn’t make any difference given it had accumulated debts of something like €20 million.

However this was all pre-digital, or at least pre-widespread digital, with Tara only making it to about one million British homes via cable and Sky Digital, out of a market of 25 million+ households. Now the infrastructure is there, one would hope a new RTÉ service could be successful this time round.

Not sure what you mean by RTÉ’s presentation being ‘refreshing’ and different to the UK nwtv2003 – over here that could really only be construed to mean one thing . But yes I suppose there’s a slightly more laid back approach to Irish television, not in the stereotypical diddle aye kind of way, as arguably things can be too formal at times, but rather we’re somewhat less formatted than the UK. There’s also a related tradition of doing things live when possible (though has changed a bit recently), whereas in the UK that notion kinda went out the window upon the adoption of decent video recording in the 60s-early 70s.
A lot of RTÉ presentation is also quite parochial – bad insofar as it can be professionally shoddy, but also good in that it generates a slightly homely quality to things .

Overall a mix of professionalism and the odd bit of shoddiness that I imagine UK viewers would find rather strange! Indeed it’s strange for us to think of having an English-speaking nation right next door unable to receive any of your television content! We’re just so used to the tables being the other way round




You do your indigenous television a disservice djmgpsp. I'm sure if you were lumped with nothing but the BBC in the UK you'd hardly be best pleased either. At the end of the day that's what we have - it's the size of the Irish market that dictates the lack of variety. Luckily for us, it does not affect quality.

Irish tv is rubbish, it's all a copy of uktv for example House hunters & House Hunters in the sun are just Location, Location, Location and A place in the sun. A night with Daniel O'Donnell whoop de doo I hate him,
RTE 2 is just Friends/Simpsons and baby programmes.Tv3 is just UTV with a bit of C4 and BBC thrown in too and TG4 (Irish station) had Ni Gaelagor Me (I'm not an Irish speaker) which was Big Brother in Irish and the celebrity was the NI bloke out of X-Factor and the worst thing was that they refused to speak Irish.

We all know what TV3 is, but RTE does have a lot of good programmes unique to them, Podge and Rodge, Apres Match, The Sunday Game, need I go on.......

The only show is Podge and Rodge which gets funnier by every repeat

RTÉ Two is not just a load of Simpsons and Friends. For a public service broadcaster, RTÉ Two is providing a very good service to its viewers. May I point out to you that RTÉ Two shows several major programmes like Desperate Housewives (C4) , Lost (C4), 24 (Sky One) and several others - usually a few weeks before the respective channels in the UK. It also has a wide variety of their own programmes which have some of the highest ratings in Ireland - even though the majority of Irish people have access to the major British networks. That such a small broadcaster with limited resources shows all of these shows and pulls such large audiences is quite respectable actually.

When I was back home last week, I spent most of my tv watching time watching Rte 2, partly because of Lost-even though I have it on VHS. I was also surprised by how far TG4 has come, with great shows, and large audience. I was surprised when I turned the tv on and saw Dora the explorer. Ususally that show is to teach US tykes spanish. Odd.

What are you, six? I can't stand Natasha Kaplinsky, so the British Broadcasting Corporation is a pile of sh*te?

Yes RTÉ has the odd dodgy rip-off thrown into the mid-market pit that is the 8-9 slot, but what broadcaster doesn't? At least it produces its own material; check the schedules of the public service broadcasters of Sweden or Belgium or Italy and see the amount of acquired content they shove in at this time - a least RTÉ makes its own.
In any event, the appalling rip-off formats of House Hunters etc comprise a tiny section of what RTÉ broadcasts at this time, and a fraction again in the broader station context.

RTÉ makes an astonishing amount of programming, with nearly everything you see mid-week on RTÉ One being home-produced aside from Eastenders and the odd afternoon filler. And most of an international standard - a far superior service to that available elsewhere in Europe. RTÉ Two is deliberately geared towards foreign material, intertwined with home-grown young people's content, as well as sport and childrens. As such ir provides a wide ranging service, but at the same time should not be taken as being 'Iirsh Televiion' as so many young people seem to think it is. There is a flagship channel the national broadcaster owns - you may have heard of it...

However if you determine the quality of a television station on the basis of the amount of American content it acquires, I suggest you move to the US.

What about their Daytime tv, Anna Nolan on the Afternoon show and then the rest is repeats
6:20 Home and Away R
06:45 EuroNews
07:25 Neighbours
07:50 About the House R
08:15 Dallas R
09:10 Gilmore Girls R
10:05 Holby City R
11:15 Dr Phil R
12:05 Shortland Street R
12:35 King of Queens R
13:00 RTE News: One O'Clock R
13:25 Home and Away R
13:55 'Allo 'Allo! R
14:30 Veronica Mars R
15:25 ER R
16:20 Hope and Faith R
16:50 Doctors R
17:20 Nuacht RTE
17:30 The Bill R

Can I say more?

Do a little bit more research before putting up a list like that in future

The fact that you may have seen the programme before doesn't make it a repeat for RTE and also for a certain number of viewers

Here's that list amended to the way it should read

1st =First Transmission on RTE

Also djmgpsp, a high summer schedule is hardly the most flattering of promotions for any television station.
You take an average autumn/winter/spring schedule and even daytime is virtually wall-to-wall home production, usually One O'Clock News, Home & Away, The Big Bite, News & Weather, The Afternoon Show, Nuacht, RTÉ factual repeat and/or acquired drama, Six One.

A very strong line-up, whatever about certain programmes that may not appeal to certain people.

The trial line-up hasn't as yet been announced Seamus, but it'll only be the existing four channels, perhaps with Dublin's and Cork's City Channels thrown in - hard to say.

As for a permanent DTT system, RTÉ will almost certainly have at least two extra channels - things have been scaled down a lot from the five or so originally envisaged 10 years ago!
TV3 and TG4 also have a channel extra each, if not two, I think it's only one each though. Frankly I can't see them having much use for them at present.