Its now time the Sky grip on Irish TV was forcefully removed

RTE shelves UK launch
Broadcaster cites straitened circumstances as it puts off move planned for 2009
Mark Tighe times online
RTE has postponed the planned launch of its international station for the Irish community in Britain, citing straitened financial circumstances.

The national broadcaster wrote to Eamon Ryan, the communications minister, last month claiming that it would be “unwise” for it to continue with the plan.

John Nolan, chairman of the Celtic and Irish Cultural Society in Britain, said he was “shocked” by the move. “This is really disheartening, especially for the older generation,” he said. “The government has bragged about providing this service and it is long overdue, so there should be no excuses.”

Under the 2007 Broadcasting Act, the RTE Authority is required to set up a channel for “Irish communities outside the island of Ireland”, but there was no time limit imposed.
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Five months ago Ryan said the channel would be available to the 850,000 Irish-born people living in Britain by St Patrick’s Day 2009 and would “provide the Irish abroad with a valuable link to home”.

RTE said it intended to honour the commitment in the legislation and hoped to launch the station by the end of 2009. Its initial plan was to have the channel on air by the end of this year.

The estimated cost of running RTE International is €3m a year. The main costs involve buying space on a UK transmission network and setting up a London base to assemble the programming for the channel. The government also wants the new station to expand into other countries with large Irish communities.

A spokeswoman for Ryan said the decision to postpone the launch of the channel was “a reflection of the financial realities in Ireland and worldwide”. She said the minister is committed to the idea of RTE International and that it could be a “brilliant product” similar to BBC World News.

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Paris France 17th March 2008

This St. Patrick’s Day, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan announced that Diaspora TV would be on air in the UK by next St. Patrick’s Day. Diaspora TV will be an RTÉ channel available on the new Freesat service in the UK.

This channel will be a hybrid of RTÉ One and RTÉ 2 with some additional programming from TG4. The One, Six-One and 9 o’clock news bulletins will be carried live.  It will carry a range of home-grown Irish programming that will be of real interest to Irish communities abroad.

Minister Ryan: The 2001 Census in Britain records a figure of 850,000 Irish born people living in Britain. There is many more of direct Irish descent. I know that many of these people have been looking for an RTÉ channel in the UK for some time. I am pleased that foot of last year’s Broadcasting Act, this new channel will be up and running by next St. Patrick’s Day.

I will be working closely with Minister Dermot Ahern to ensure that vulnerable groups in the UK will be supported in receiving the service.

This new channel will provide the Irish abroad with a valuable link to home.”

ENDS

Freesat is a new free-to-air satellite service that will be available throughout the UK and across the Astra satellite footprint, covering Ireland and some other parts of Europe.  It is led by the BBC and ITV.  Further information is available at www.freesat.co.uk

comment by RTE2FTA. we welcome this move we will monitor the progress. nothing in it says how RTÉ will fund Diaspora TV, RTÉ have real funding issues when it come to this project (according to statements made by its DG to the old audience council). It is a shame that the Minister Eamon Ryan TD has failed to press release on next Mondays medium  wave close down that he supports that will CUT THE VALUABLE LINK TO HOME he mentions above. We also look forward to Freesat a project, we are happy to see RTÉ involved with Freesat a move away from the RTÉ/BSKYB encryption deal that stinks. Perhaps RTÉ along with Channel 4 will leave Sky encryption in 2008, don’t hold your breath. No mention of Dáil TV output

personal comment. I don’t like the name Diaspora TV, i hope its only a working title.