The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has today (6th October) announced that it has signed a contract with Teilifís Mhaigh Eo Teoranta (Irish TV) under Section 71 of the Broadcasting Act.
Irish TV is a local and international channel offering a mix of live and recorded programming relevant to Irish people at home and abroad. Its schedule consists of weekly half-hour programmes from all counties in Ireland, plus a selection of themed programmes covering sport, music, entertainment, business, lifestyle, education and agriculture. It also offers some news and current affairs programming. Content for the service will be produced through a mixture of in-house production and independent production companies.
Irish TV is a linear television channel, distributed by Arqiva on the Astra satellite across Ireland, the UK and Europe. The service is available on Sky, Eircom eVision and Freesat. Irish TV is also currently in negotiations with UPC for carriage on its platform, while it will also be available throughout the USA, Asia and Australia.
ENDS
Media Queries:
Catherine Heaney/Emily Kelly
DHR Communications
Tel: 01-4200580 / 087 2309835 / 087-9759248.
- Irish TV Chief Executive Pierce O’Reilly pictured (foreground) at the signing of the station’s Section 71 Content Contract with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), with BAI Chief Executive Michael O’Keeffe and Head of Contract Awards Ciarán Kissane (background).
Picture: Conor McCabe.
Note to Editors
Irish TV commenced broadcasting on 1st May 2014 under a licence issued by the UK regulator Ofcom. On completion of contract negotiations and the signing of a contract with the BAI, Irish TV relinquished its UK licence and will now operate under a Section 71 content contract, granted in this jurisdiction.
The contract to be negotiated between the BAI and Teilifís Mhaigh Eo Teoranta is provided for under Section 71 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. There are a number of elements to a contract granted under this section of the Act which differ from the regulatory regime applied to the public service broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4, and the commercial broadcaster, TV3 and its sister station, 3e, specifically in the areas of carriage, content, and levy.
Contracts granted by the BAI under Section 71 are for content only and do not carry an automatic right to carriage on a platform. From a programming perspective, the programme service obligations associated with Section 71 extend only to compliance with statutory Codes and Rules and with the European Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive requirements relating to European and Independent Production works. Finally, services licensed under Section 71 of the Act are not subject to a broadcasting levy, while the free-to-air services are all subject to the payment of a levy to the BAI.