RTÉ International
| RTÉ Ireland | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Owned by | Raidió Teilifís Éireann |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English Irish |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom, Ireland |
| Headquarters | Dublin |
| Sister channel(s) |
RTÉ One RTÉ Two RTÉ News Now RTÉjr |
| Website | http://www.rte.ie/ |
RTÉ Ireland (lit. Raidió Teilifís Éireann Ireland = Radio Television Ireland Ireland) is the planned international television channel by Ireland's public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The channel will broadcast online at RTÉ.ie, IPTV and on satellite in the United Kingdom.
The channel is expected to offer programmes from RTÉ One and Two, including education, drama, comedy, music, news and current affairs. This includes The All Ireland Talent Show, Fair City, Dragons' Den and The Late Late Show. The Oireachtas (parliament) has passed legislation requiring that RTÉ supply international service to suit the needs of Irish citizens living abroad, along with other new digital RTÉ channels.
The channel was initially to launch in Spring 2009 under the branding RTÉ International. The channel was expected to launch in the United Kingdom in March 2009. (RTÉ's domestic channels are already available on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media in Northern Ireland, but not to Great Britain, owing to rights restrictions.) There are also plans to launch the channel in North America and Central Europe.
A similar service aired from 1996 until 2002 operated by a now-defunct cable and satellite channel, Tara Television. This channel was carried on Sky in the United Kingdom and on a small number of cable television services. The channel was 75% owned by UPC, RTÉ owned the remaining 25%. It was claimed by RTÉ that the channel could not pay royalty payments due to RTÉ for their programming. Despite a last minute deal between Setanta Sports and UPC, Tara closed down, leaving Irish viewers in Britain without access to Irish television. Setanta then considered themselves creating a direct replacement channel carrying the best of RTÉ TV in Britain during 2004, but this did not materialise.
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