the Sunday Business Post has an article on RTE International.

we knew the following already.

Its to be called RTÉ International (not Diaspora), It will source programmes from RTE 1&2 (no mention of 3 or 4 or others), It will be FTA ! the article may put this forward as news but we knew this already. It fails to inform us that RTE Int. will be on air before the March 17th 2009 date. It tends to push FTA but never mention Freesat (how odd) and having read the article I wonder if RTE/Sky are thinking of not giving a free EPG listing to this service, clearly pitting it as a non domestic service, being FTA is one thing, being on Freesat is another and being FTA does not exclude a station from an EPG listing on Sky, but with no Sky International Genre section EPG access to Sky is weakened with Sky+ features unavailable and ‘other channels’ the poor mans erasable Monday method of tuning . This article fails to say how RTÉ International  will be funded or if it will run adverts.

But in many ways it tell us that RTE TV without the programmes with rights issues, like GAA or imports will give us DVB FTA of RTE for the first time since Tara. Bar GAA & imports if RTE TV is FTA like its radio channels are, will I then archive this blog? You’re wondering now, what to do, now you know this is the end?

the Irish Post reports

RTÉ International: It’s coming soon!

THE NEW Irish TV service for Britain is to be called RTÉ International, The Irish Post can reveal.

And the new channel could also be operational ahead of the previously scheduled date of March 17, 2009.

The service is set to be called RTÉ International and not Diaspora TV as originally thought.

The news will come as music to the ears of the 850,000 Irish-born people in Britain who have long sought for Irish television to be available to them outside of Ireland.

Now RTÉ is preparing to provide that link to those living abroad and viewers here can look forward to Irish news, sport and entertainment beamed directly to their screens.

This week the national broadcaster is also recruiting on its website for several positions relating to the new channel, which is dedicated solely to the Irish and those of Irish descent living in Britain.

RTÉ International is looking for applications for the role of full-time channel manager.

And the successful candidate, who is expected to possess a thorough knowledge of the Irish and British television markets, will be responsible for the scheduling and delivery of suitable content to the Diaspora community scattered across the country. The role of channel administrator is also being advertised on the RTÉ website.
The move to introduce a Celtic television channel in Britain follows a long-running Irish Post campaign to establish a dedicated service especially for the Irish in Britain.

Details of the new service released so far indicate that the channel will be a hybrid of RTÉ One and RTÉ Two with some additional programming from TG4.

The One, Six-One and 9 o’clock news bulletins will be carried live. It will also carry a range of h o m e g r own Irish programming that will be of interest to Irish communities abroad.

The introduction of the Diaspora channel comes on the back of last year’s Broadcasting (Amendment) Act. Enacted in April 2007, the Act gave national public service broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4, digital terrestrial television obligations. It also required RTÉ to set up a digital television channel for Irish citizens living abroad.

Commenting on the new service Ireland’s Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said:

“I know that many of these people have been looking for an RTÉ channel in Britain for some time.

“This new channel will provide the Irish abroad with a valuable link to home. “And I will be working closely with Minister Dermot Ahern to ensure that vulnerable groups in Britain will be supported in receiving the service.”

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clipped from boards.ie