UTV eyes up bid to take over 'debt laden' TV3

No wonder people in Ireland try and watch UTV and BBC.






RTE Two has kids line up with mirrors UK output form 10 years ago..

It would be quite easy for TV3 to become a clone of UTV, with all the programming slots being matched up, so for example This Morning matched with 'The Morning Show' and Ireland AM, Daybreak. The 5:30 and Xpose which from what I can gather is just showbiz news could probably moved to match the ITV News hour.

Don't forget they already show ITV's biggest shows at the same time, including Corrie, Emmerdale, BGT etc.

TV3 would probably take more ITV network programming under UTV, and fewer US imports. Some of those US imports could be moved to 3e or UTV 2, which would probably remain as a secondary channel for the republic due to rights restrictions.

The 10pm hour could be used for US and UK imports UTV don't have rights for in the North, with 11pm remaining as Vincent Browne.

I had forgotten Xposé, although for good reason...

Besides, RTL originally stood for Radio Télévision Luxembourg, but there are now RTL-branded radio and TV stations operating across Europe.

[quote="Jon" pid="874643"]
It would be quite easy for TV3 to become a clone of UTV,....... TV3 would probably take more ITV network programming under UTV, and fewer US imports. Some of those US imports could be moved to 3e or UTV 2, which would probably remain as a secondary channel for the republic due to rights restrictions.........../quote]

Very much so.

TV3 and UTV woud re-brand as something pan-Ireland, and have common programming with only ad spots and rights related variations on either side of the border.

News would be interesting though. I'd immagine that UTV would integrate its existing TV and Irish radio news assets with TV3's which with some redundancy and operational efficiency would make an awesome operatin. Would ITV News carry in the South though? Yes, presumably UTV would take elements of it to mix with its own TV3 content from Dublin to make a massivly competitive programme.

TV3 isn't. Its available over most of NI from RTE's Clairmant Cairn and Holywell Hill SaorView transmitters. The major exceptions are the are arout Eniskillen and much of Belfast. The NI_Mux is effectively an infill from Brougher Mountain, Black Mountain and Carnmoney Hill. TV3 and 3e are not carried because of its rights overlap with UTV.

The NI_Mux is an RTE/TG4 thing. Prior to DSO TG4 was bradcat in NI from Divis.

RTE anfd TG4 are also available in NI on Sky and Cable. Again, but not TV3 oe 3e.

The TV3 signal is indeed patchy compared to the other RoI-emanating channels. When I was at university in Coleraine a decade or so ago, I could get the two RTÉ channels and TG4 clear enough, but not TV3.

Whereas in Enniskillen, you can receive it with a decent-sized roof aerial. My late Nan could get a good signal via these means from her house in the Cornagrade area, but when I lived off the Sligo Road while working at the Castle Barracks one summer, I couldn't tune it in through an indoor aerial only.

I'll whist up now.

Clashing with the RTE News at 6?? I don't think so. Up until a few years ago there was a 6.30 bulletin which was axed as it was being hammered 5 to 1 by the hour long bulletin on RTE. It was replaced by Expose which qualifies as news content!
RTE news is incredibly dominant as both TV3 and Sky News Ireland(remember!) have learned to their expense.
Before Vincent Browne launched there was a 30 minute Nightly bulletin at 11 followed by a 30 minute live sports news programme. All axed to make way for the much cheaper Browne panel show. They have very few actual news correspondents left.



Their spend on US imports is very small, the big contracts are all with RTE or Sky One who often buy the Irish tv rights too. They cut back big time a few years ago to fund their original factual shows.

And when they originally launched, they did an hour long TV3 News@6. It didn't last long before it was split into two seperate programmes at 5:30pm and 6:30pm (IIRC Family Affairs was sandwitched in the middle).

No Irish TV news programme can compete with Six One. Even if RTÉ's news wasn't far more authoritative, its not possible due to the fact that there's a large crowd of older people whose TV's are almost permanently tuned to RTÉ One and for the rest of us, well RTÉ One is top of the EPG.

Presumably UTV can't just lift its schedule and rebroadcast it in the Republic. While it pays the appropriate fees to use ITV PLC content in the north, presumably it would need to pay again to do so in the south, and it may just be the case that programming it owns the rights to would be a cheaper option.

Sorry to hear TV3 is in trouble - always been astonished at the amount of media the Republic is able to sustain given it has the same population as Scotland.

Yet have the media in republic is sometimes worse...

It pretty well could, given that TV3 has an existing and extendable contract for supply of ITV content, and overlapping European football rights. TV3 is in effect an ITV affiliate. Where problems could arise would be with ITV bought-in content, where rights lie elsewhere in the RoI. This could (would) happen with US drama and possibly films and some sport. UTV could just schedule away from contentious areas, or replace some ITV content in the Republic with something else. UTV and TV3 already hold similar territorial rights to all the major audience pulling stuff, so other issues would be marginal and workable.

One of the big advantages for UTV with this (possible/potential) deal is it gets to eradicate a serious competitor. The combined UTV/TV3 audience in the RoI is significant, and UTV would be able to control the destiny of the overspill transmitters Holywell Hill and Clermont Cairn potentially allowing them to sell the NI Republican and Unionist audiences separately.

Where would objections come from?

Anti-competitive? Well yes, but only just a little more so than when ITV regions with significant overlap merged. There's a correlation between this and say, STV and Grampian. An issue may be with the combined TV and radio interest in the RoI.
Politically insensitive to the Irish situation? Well, no. The Good Friday agreement called for the harmonisation of broadcast media across all Ireland. The last obstacle to this is ructiousness over TV3's ITV programme rights. This would all be swept away. UTV has 50 year’s experience of being neutral(ish) in the conflict, it knows how not to diss its audience.
Irish perspective? There my be an issue with national/international news, but presumably the combined resources of TV3, UTV and ITN could make a hybridised Irish version of ITV News that could affordably challenge the prominence of RTE1.
Removing local content? No, potentially the reverse: UTV has journalistic resources in its commercial radio stations across the RoI.
Financially streach UTV plc? No, not if they get it on the cheap.
A bit of ITV outside OfConm's regulatory grip? Well, they hardly grip and any case the RoI's mechanisms are at least compatible.
Branding? Shouldn't be a big issue, ITV is already "Channel3" and the "U" of UTV doesn't represent the red glove of Ulster any more. Infact the "i" in ITV's current logo looks so much like a "U" that rebranding the whole thing as ITV Ireland would be walk-over. The "I" could even be said to mean... - well, you get it! -