 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 ] Next Last |
Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ; English: Radio and Television of Ireland) is the national state broadcaster of Ireland. The radio service began on January 1 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on 31 December 1961.
Telefís Éireann began broadcasting on 31 December 1961, the opening address was given by the then President of Ireland Eamon de Valera. Television opened up a completely new world to the Irish people which were growing tired of the mundane life they endured. Topics which were hitherto not discussed in IrelandThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan, such as abortionThe subject of abortion has had a controversial history in Ireland, and remains a controversial subject today. Constitutional Issues: Ireland & the Abortion Debate At independence, the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act remained in force, maintaining al, contraception and various other controversial topics, were now openly being discussed in television studios. The Late Late Show, which began in July 1962Events January January 1 Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro January 4 New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board January 8 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is e and is still running as of 2004, and its host, Gay Byrne, pioneered many of these discussions and has been credited with being a major influence in the changing social structure of Ireland.
Colour television started in 1972, and in 1978 Ireland's second television channel, RTÉ Two, known for many years as Network 2, began broadcasting. Both RTÉ One and RTÉ Two provide round-the-clock broadcasts seven days a week, providing comprehensive coverage of news, current affairs, sport, music, drama and entertainment. Most of the broadcasts are in English, including programming imported from Britain, the United States and Australia. However Irish language programmes, such as Nuacht (the news) and Léargas (insight) have been an integral part of the schedule. In 1996 a new Irish language TV service, Teilifís na Gaeilge, since renamed TG4, began broadcasting for the first time though much of its programming is English movies and sport which are often unrelated to the language or Ireland for that matter. TG4 is part of RTÉ, but will become a separate public body during 2004, although RTÉ will continue to provide it with programming which comes essentially in the form of a subsidy. RTÉ's monopoly on TV broadcasting in the Republic only ended in 1998, with the launch of the commercial channel TV3.
RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TG4 are also available in Northern Ireland (coverage and inclusion on cable systems varies), and from 1995 to 2002, there was also a channel in Great Britain Tara Television, which carried RTÉ programming, though not Irish sport coverage like the highly GAA or Gaelic games, as broadcasting rights had already been licensed to another channel, Setanta. Tara closed due to disagreements between RTÉ and the other companies. Ironically, RTÉ One, Network 2 and TG4 are available throughout Great Britain and Ireland via satellite on Sky Digital, although these are encrypted (for rights reasons, according to RTÉ), and anyone wishing to view the channels needs to obtain a Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland subscription (Family Pack or higher). There has been criticism that RTÉ is not available free on Sky Digital in the Republic (there is no use of "free to view", a non-subscription viewing card, as was used by the BBC).
From the outset, RTÉ had faced competition from British TV channels such as those of the BBC and UTV, broadcasting from Northern Ireland, whose signal spilt over into the Republic. RTÉ's approach was pragmatic, as it introduced cable television in the 1970s, initially known as RTÉ Relays, and subsequently as Cablelink, although it later sold its stake in the company, which is now known as NTL Ireland. In the late 1980s, more competition came from satellite television, especially from Sky based in the UK.
In 2003, RTÉ's reality TV show Cabin Fever made international news when the ship, on which contestants where scheduled to remain for eight weeks, with one person voted off each week by viewers and forced literally to "walk the plank" was thrown into chaos when the sailing ship on which the show was taking place hits rocks near Tory Island , off the Irish coast, and later sank. All the contestants escaped unharmed.
Three personalities have worked with and continue to work with RTÉ since 1962:
See also: List of RTÉ television programming
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|