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| Irish Television & Radio |
Television in Ireland is available through a variety of platforms. The digital terrestrial television service is known as Saorview and is the primary source of broadcast television and digital satellite (from BSkyB & Freesat) and Cable (from UPC) are also widely used.
The Irish satellite fill-in service Saorsat (Freesat) is available from Eutelsat KA-SAT 9A using the Irish ka-Band spotbeam.
While many people still receive their television via Saorview, run by RTÉ Network Limited more than half subscribe to multichannel television networks. The biggest single multichannel television network in Ireland is Sky, owned and operated by BSkyB, which broadcasts digital satellite television services. UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks and Smart Vision, among others, provide similar digital television services to Irish viewers.
Broadcasting in Northern Ireland is governed under United Kingdom law. The British Broadcasting Corporation operates a national region in Northern Ireland, known as BBC Northern Ireland, and one member of the BBC Trust is designated Trustee for Northern Ireland. The Office of Communications regulates the commercial broadcasting sector in Northern Ireland.
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| Television |
Public service channels are carried by RTÉ Network Limited, covering 98% of the country.
The Irish system, being used by both RTÉNL and any subsequent commercial DTT provider is a MPEG-4 DVB-T service with an MHEG-5 interactive layer.
RTÉ Television were awarded a licence to operate a single multiplex, with a second multiplex to follow once analogue broadcasting ceased after 24 October 2012. Other possible services to launch on the second multiplex include additional services from TV3 such as TV3HD, TV3+1, 3Kids and 3Classics and additional channels from RTÉ such as an arts channel and music channel.
The Broadcasting Act 2009 provided provision for the launch of two additional public services. These include an Oireachtas Channel and an Irish Film Channel. The launch date for these services are unknown. The Irish Film Board will oversee operation for the Irish Film Channel.
By 2012, SAORVIEW offered 98% coverage for all channels. Similar services such as Saorview available in the United Kingdom (Freeview) and other parts of Europe are not compatible with Ireland's DTT service.
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| Saorview (Freeview) |
Saorview is the national digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in Ireland. It is owned and operated by RTÉ NL. The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation it was required to be available to approximately 90% of the population by end of October 2010 in a public testing capacity and nationwide by December 2011.
Saorview was officially launched on 26 May 2011 by Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte TD, and the service became the primary source of broadcast television in Ireland following the ending of analogue transmissions on 24 October 2012.
The service is a DVB-T/MPEG-4 HD set top box (STB) receiver or iDTV and UHF aerial will be required. MHEG-5 has been selected as the middleware standard for digital teletext, Saorview branded EPG and interactive services. For non MHEG-5 compatible receivers regular analogue TV teletext will continue to be available and programme information is displayed through the receiver's own inbuilt EPG. Either DVB or Teletext subtitling can be displayed when broadcast.
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| Irish TV in Northern Ireland |
Viewers in the Northern Ireland can receive a number of channels broadcast in the Republic of Ireland, including TG4 and RTÉ One RTÉ Two, TG4 and RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta.
The multiplex (NiMux) broadcasts in DVB-T2, the same parameters used by Freeview HD and is available to 90% of viewers in Northern Ireland. Other areas are covered by overspil from the Irish Republic and by Saorsat which covers almost the whole of Ireland |
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| Saorsat (Freesat) |
SAORSAT is the name given to the infill free-to-air satellite television service put in place by RTÉNL to deliver Irish television services to the 1% to 2% of homes that are not covered by the SAORVIEW Digital Terrestrial Television service.
The RTÉ services on SAORSAT are exactly the same as those on SAORVIEW. The full list of TV channels is: RTÉ One, RTÉ Two HD,TG4, RTÉ News Now, RTÉjr, and RTÉ One+1. The facility for other channels to be carried on the service is available but is a business decision for other broadcasters to make.
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| SAORSAT is available on the Eutelsat KA-SAT 9A, which is a narrow-band satellite with a footprint on the island of Ireland. To receive SAORSAT, you will need a satellite dish equipped with a Ka band LNB and a DVB-S2, SAORSAT set-top-box. RTÉNL recommends that anyone wishing to access the SAORSAT service should seek the advice of a specialist satellite installer. |
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| Radio |
The first known radio transmission in Ireland was a call to arms made from the General Post Office in O'Connell Street during the Easter Rising.
The first official radio station on the island was 2BE Belfast, which began broadcasting in 1924. This was followed in 1926 by 2RN Dublin and 6CK Cork in 1927. 2BE Belfast later became BBC Radio Ulster and 2RN Dublin became RTÉ.
The Republic of Ireland has five national radio stations: RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta are operated by RTÉ Radio, while Today FM is a commercial radio station operated by Denis Obrien group communicorp.
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Newstalk 106, a Dublin local station, has been issued a "quasi-national" FM licence, and a similarly limited AM licence has been advertised for a religious service, persumabely to quell the rising amounts of religious stations on Irish pirate radio. A "multi-city" service, consisting of one ILR franchise operating a single service in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, has been awarded to 4FM which is expected to launch in early 2009.
The BCI's main commercial radio service is the Independent Local Radio network. This consists of 18 commercial stations licensed for different franchise areas. Except in Dublin and Cork, they operate as monopolies. (6, soon to be 7 stations are now licensed in Dublin and 2 in Cork). They operate a common news service, Independent Network News, and a common sales house, Independent Radio Sales. The first of these stations, FM104, came on air in 1989. One independent regional radio station, Beat 102. |
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| DAB in the Irish Republic |
Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in the republic of Ireland, is the only current form of digital radio terrestrial transmission in the state. It was launched to the public on 30 November 2006, with trials taking place in 1998, 2001 and 2006. Currently, 56% of Ireland's population - mainly in Counties Cork, Limerick and the North East - can receive permanent DAB services.
One permanent multiplex exists, operated by the national broadcaster RTÉ. The service began to be marketed in May 2007 by a collective of commercial broadcasters, digitalradio.ie; and receivers are now sold by most major electronics retailers.
21 services were available in Dublin, surrounding areas and the north-east, and 11 were available in other coverage areas during the trial phase.
A temporary licenced trial multiplex began transmission using block 9B in April 2010. It is operated by Total Broadcast Consultants Ltd. Initially it covered the Waterford City area and from mid May, expanded to cover much of the South East of Ireland.
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