BBC Northern Ireland

BBC Northern Ireland (Irish: BBC Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: BBC Norlin Airlan) is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland.

It is one of the three BBC national regions, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Cymru Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content. BBC Northern Ireland currently employs 700 people, largely in Belfast.

BBC Northern Ireland has two TV channels BBC One, BBC Two and two radio stations.

Television

BBC Northern Ireland operates two television stations;

Prior to 27 October 2006, BBC Two NI was a digital only service while BBC Two Northern Ireland was available on analogue transmission. Since 28 October 2006, BBC Two Northern Ireland has been the on-air name for both services which have been merged.

BBC Northern Ireland has its own team of continuity announcers which introduce the vast majority of programmes on BBC One and BBC Two in Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Northern Ireland is a television channel operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is the Northern Irish variation of the UK-wide BBC One. The service is broadcast in Northern Ireland from Broadcasting House in Belfast. Outside Northern Ireland the service is available on Sky (UK) channel 953 and across the border in the Republic of Ireland on Sky (ROI) Channel 141.

On 24 October 2012, an HD variation of BBC One Northern Ireland was launched, to coincide with the completion of the digital switchover process in Northern Ireland. On 18 November 2013, BBC One Northern Ireland HD was swapped with the SD channel on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers.

The BBC One Northern Ireland branding is utilised between 6am until the handover to the BBC News Channel with live continuity handled by a team of regional announcers who double up as playout directors. The channel's main competitor is UTV while also competing with RTÉ One and TV3 from the Republic of Ireland. Although BBC One NI and UTV are competitors, on the final night of UK digital switchover, BBC One NI and UTV joined forces for a special simulcast, "The Magic Box", with Eamonn Holmes, celebrating 60 years of TV history.

BBC Two Northern Ireland

BBC Two Northern Ireland (Irish: BBC Thuaisceart Éireann a Dó) is a television station operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is broadcast via digital television.

The channel was branded onscreen as 'BBC Two NI' from October 2006 until February 2007, though not referred to as such by continuity announcers. Unique idents for Northern Ireland featuring the robotic figure 2 were used during this time, showing the Giant's Causeway and the feature eating an Ulster Fry.

Until 28 October 2006, there were two separate services – 'BBC Two Northern Ireland"', an analogue-only service, referred to as "BBC Two", both in idents and continuity, and a digital-only opt-out, 'BBC Two NI', (the successor to BBC Choice Northern Ireland) which carried extra regional programming and continuity between 6pm and midnight. This has all now ended and the two Northern Ireland services have been merged.

Programming

Unlike BBC Two in the rest of the UK, the channel broadcasts regular news and regional weather updates between programmes. Programmes on the service have included the following: