Television in the Republic of Ireland

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 since analogue transmissions ended on 24 October 2012. Digital satellite (from Sky Ireland, Saorsat and other European satellite service providers are available) and Cable (from Virgin Media Ireland) are also widely used.

The Irish satellite fill-in service (Saorsat) is via Ka-Sat using the Irish K_a band spot and has been available since June 2011.

While many people receive their television via Saorview, which is broadcast by 2RN, more than half subscribe to multichannel television networks. The biggest single multichannel television network in Ireland is Sky Ireland, which broadcasts digital satellite television services.Virgin Media Ireland, Magnet Networks, Eir and Smart Vision, among others, provide similar digital television services to Irish viewers.

History

Television was first received in Ireland from 1949, following the opening of high power BBC transmitters at Sutton Coldfield and later Holme Moss, giving marginal reception along parts of the East coast. The first transmissions on the island of Ireland began with the launch of BBC in Northern Ireland (BBC Northern Ireland) when it began broadcasting television programmes in 1953, followed in 1959 with the launch of Ulster Television (now known as UTV).