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 UPC) are also widely used.
The Irish satellite fill-in service (Saorsat) is via Ka-Sat using the Irish ka-Band spot and was available from June 2011.
While many people still receive their television via Saorview, run 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. UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks, Eircom and Smart Vision, among others, provide similar digital television services to Irish viewers
Most-viewed channels (IRL)
The channels with the largest AGB Nielsen viewing share from 2002 – 2012 are outlined in the table below:In 2013 in the Republic of Ireland 45% of TV Viewers watch free-to-air Irish services from RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, while 10% of viewers watch the traditional Northern Irish channels UTV, BBC 1 NI, BBC 2 NI and Channel 4.
This compares to 2002 figures which show that 47% of viewers watched services from RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, while 31% watched traditional Northern Irish channels.
Irish services had an audience peak of 56% in 2006, while traditional Northern Irish services saw their audience share slide down to 19% in the same year.
Since 2002 the number of channels competing for advertising revenue has risen from 11 in 2002 to 38 in 2013. Advertising on UK services account for about 17% of all advertising revenue in Ireland. Of the 38 channels competing for advertising only 6 are Irish based.
| Share of total viewing (%) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Channel | Owner | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| 1 | RTÉ One HD | Radió Teilifís Éireann | 22 | 22.6 | 25.00 | 24.8 | 25.79 | 26.8 | 26.9 | 27.5 | 27.8 | 27.7 | 27.4 | 24.1 |
| 2 | TV3 | TV3 Television Network Ltd. | 11.3 | 11.5 | 12.9 | 12.8 | 12.30 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 12.8 | 13.4 | 14.0 | 13.4 | 10.7 |
| 3 | RTÉ Two HD | Radió Teilifís Éireann | 7.1 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 9.8 | 9.65 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 12.2 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 10.7 | 10.2 |
| 4 | BBC One Northern Ireland | BBC | 4 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 5.29 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 6.9 | 7.6 | 9.8 |
| 5 | UTV | UTV Media | 3 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.53 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 10.2 |
| 6 | 3e | TV3 Television Network Ltd. | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.85 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | ||||
| 7 | TG4 | Teilifís na Gaeilge | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.67 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.1 |
| 8 | BBC Two Northern Ireland | BBC | 2 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.06 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.1 |
| 9 | Channel 4 | Channel Four Television Corporation | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 3.74 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.9 |
| 10 | Sky1 | Sky Ireland | 1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.92 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 4.1 |
| 11 | Sky News | Sky Ireland | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.17 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| 12 | Sky Sports 1 | Sky Ireland | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.94 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | |
| 13 | Sky Sports News | Sky Ireland | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.53 | 0.2 | ||||||
| 14 | Comedy Central | Paramount UK Partnership | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.02 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.4 | |||
| 15 | E4 | Channel Four Television Corporation | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1 | 1.19 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
| 16 | Sky Living | Sky Ireland | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1 | 1.18 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.3 | ||||
| 17 | Discovery Channel | Discovery Networks Western Europe | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.01 | |||||||
| 18 | At The Races | ?? | 0.5 | |||||||||||
| 19 | Dave | BBC Worldwide / Scripps Networks Interactive | 0.5 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 20 | GOLD | BBC Worldwide / Scripps Networks Interactive | 0.5 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 21 | RTÉ ONE +1 | Raidió Teilifís Éireann | 0.5 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 22 | Comedy Central +1 | Paramount UK Partnership |
0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.47 | 0.1 | ||||||
| 23 | Nick Jr. | Nickelodeon UK |
0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.46 | 0.4 | ||||||
| 24 | E4+1 | Channel Four Television Corporation | 0.4 | 0.3 | ||||||||||
| 25 | Channel 4+1 | Channel Four Television Corporation | 0.4 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 26 | Universal Channel | Universal NBC | 0.4 | |||||||||||
| 27 | Setanta Ireland | Setanta Sports | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | |||
| 28 | Sky Sports 2 | Sky Ireland | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.48 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | |
| 29 | MTV | Viacom International Media Networks Europe | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.72 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.8 | |
| 30 | E! | NBCUniversal | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.02 | |||||||
| 31 | Sky Two | Sky Ireland | 0.3 | 0.3 | ||||||||||
| 32 | Nickelodeon | Nickelodeon UK |
0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.48 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.8 | |
| 33 | Sky Living +1 | Sky Ireland | 0.2 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 34 | Sky Atlantic | Sky Ireland | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |||||||||
| 35 | NickToons | Nickelodeon UK |
0.2 | |||||||||||
| 36 | NickJr 2 | Nickelodeon UK |
0.2 | |||||||||||
| 37 | TLC | Discovery Networks Western Europe | 0.1 | |||||||||||
| 38 | Pick | Sky Ireland | 0.0 | |||||||||||
| 39 | Challenge | Sky Ireland | 0.0 | |||||||||||
| 40 | MTV Music | Viacom International Media Networks Europe | 0.0 | |||||||||||
| 41 | Other | Various | 30.3 | 29.5 | 27.5 | 25.6 | 20.09 | 17.9 | 17.6 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 12.3 | 10.6 | 14.8 |