If you're forever bemoaning the fact that there's rarely anything REALLY decent on Irish telly then you might just be delighted to hear that the folks at UTV want to set up a brand new Dublin-based channel, and create 100 new Irish jobs while they're at it.
The UTV Media group is submitting a plan to the Broadcasting Authority Of Ireland (the lads and lasses who regulate all your favourite TV and radio stations) today and, all going to plan, they'll be up and running with the as yet unnamed new addition by early 2015.
It looks like it could be bad news for TV3 though, because UTV's officially been given the exclusive rights to broadcast all ITV Studios content in Ireland too. That means that from early 2015, they'll be the ones pumping out your Jeremy Kyle of a weekday morning, and bringing Coronation Street and Emmerdale to you in the evenings. We're guessing X Factor, I'm A Celeb and co are all on the list of potential losses too.
"UTV Media already has a very strong presence in the Republic of Ireland employing more than 300 people in our various businesses including our market leading Irish radio stations. We look forward to building on that success with the launch of a new Irish TV channel", CEO John McCann said in a statement released this morning.
"After incurring start-up costs in 2014 we expect the new channel to breakeven in its first full year of operation and then move into profit from 2016. Today’s announcement represents a strong vote of confidence in Irish broadcasting and our investment in the Irish economy."
That's all well and good John, but we sure do hope you bring us some decent Irish telly too... And no, a whole host of Reality TV shows just won't cut it either.
