UTV Ireland

I don't think it's even an issue, UPC are never going to do it. However, they could if they wanted to under EU law. If the signal can be picked up it can be relayed (However payment has to be made for rights) Any hassle that's currently there will have died down by this time next year if not a lot sooner. Most of the uproar seems to be from the same 10 or 11 voices on multiple platforms.

I agree - that's why I'm surprised that UTV are going to the bother, especially given the hassle of having to black out competitions, and manually track ad breaks to insert them locally. They are certainly missing a few tricks scheduling wise that way as well. I'd be amazed given the breakdown of the Ratings panel if GMB even got that many viewers (10,000) - it's hardly the market leader in its designated market in the UK

The only reason I would give 10,000 -15,000 would be the Saorview houses. About 90% of Households in Ireland get UK stations at this stage. So in the last 10% of houses you'll find a far higher percentage of TV3 viewers and now UTV Ireland viewers. I would think those already watching GMB in non UPC areas will continue to watch on Sat on UTV Ulster or another ITV Region.

However, we're talking about very small numbers. The reason they didn't launch was because they thought there would be no interest at all. They've had enough complaints to change their minds. It would make me nervous if I were TV3. Even 10,000 off of 50,000 turns a break even programme into a loss making one in the long term. Plus I don't think it'll reach 10,000-15,000 for at least a year, Breakfast TV if you're watching it does appear to be more a habit than a choice. We never had the American love of Breakfast TV either in Ireland or the UK.

Again the station is only on air just over 4 weeks. they will probably sort out the competitions and such like over the coming months. It's very much a work in progress.

How do the ratings break down for Ireland AM considering it airs 7-10am, so half of the programme won't face GMB.

I'm not sure, I do know that they have the majority of their viewers after 8am till 10. However, UTV Ireland has Lorraine from 8.30-9.25 which will benefit from having GMB on before it. Repeats of Loose Women at 7.30am could never be considered an audience Builder! TV3 did think that a Newshour type show would improve ratings between 7 and 8am. That was scraped fairly quickly but we were told that was because the presenter was off to do new projects for TV3... Obviously he hasn't been seen on the station since.

Everything on TV is dwarfed by the 430,000 Morning Ireland gets on RTE Radio 1, really.

100% true. Total watching all TV at that time in Ireland is not even 200,000 and a lot of them would be kids and under 15's.

Explains why RTE have never bothered producing a breakfast programme, I'm quite surprised to see TV3 get a low rating for Ireland AM.

Aside having to produce Ireland Live during GMB's regional opt outs UTV Ireland have nothing to lose by taking GMB.

I'll be interested to see whether they name drop Ireland during tomorrow show.

If it's like the UK though radio is measured much differently to TV - think the quoted figures for radio audience are the number tuning in for at least 15 minutes in a week while TV is the average (or peak) per day.

Irrespective of the way they are measured Irish people just don't watch morning time TV. Radio is primary medium from 7-12 each morning. Newstalk get 150,000 listeners on their breakfast show and local radio is generally extremely popular at this time also. I think Morning Edition on RTE which aired 9-11 averaged around 20,000 viewers each morning.

I would have thought they'd at least have to say "You can't enter this competition in Ireland "

It's True, most people just don't watch TV in Ireland until at least 10 or 11, It's around that time that viewership starts to rise. RTE Didn't launch a Breakfast Show because the Unions kicked up a fuss and wanted more money. That really wouldn't have been a problem paying extra if there was an audience between 7 and 10 but there isn't. Ireland AM has a 30% share some mornings and they still are only around 55,000 viewers. The Main reason Ireland AM started was to put out more Irish produced programming on TV3. It has taken them a long time to build up to 55,000 averages The first few years there were on averages of under 10,000 at times. It probably doesn't lose money at the moment but if you watch it, it feels very much like an infomercial at times. There's Product Placement all over the shop and many of the features feel like sales.