It's a historic day for Irish television as another channel arrives on the scene, and this one promises gáire agus grá go leor.
Airing for 14 hours daily from 6am to 8pm, Cúla4 is the first dedicated Irish language channel for children and will be available on most Irish TV providers, Saorview, and also online at cula4.com and via the Cúla4 App.
The new channel, aimed at 0 to 12-year-olds, will provide a daily point of contact with the Irish language for children and includes a wealth of entertainment, a mix of home-produced content and acquired shows, as well as being a valuable source of educational Irish language content.
Cúla4 will also have news bulletins for young people during the week with Aisling Ní Dhonnabháin and Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin covering local, national, local and international news. Schools will be able to tune in from their classrooms from Tuesday to Friday at 1:30pm to keep up with the news of the day.
And all of that will be anchored by presenters Seosamh Mac Seoin, Síle Ní Chonghaile and Niamh Ní Chróinín. Seosamh, from Belfast, will host the morning slot from 6am before handing over to Galway's Síle for the educational zone at 9am. Niamh, from Dublin, will then host the fun-packed afternoon slot from 3pm for older age groups.
"It’s a historic day for TG4 and the Irish language,' said Channel Manager Karina Feirtéar.
"The new Cúla4 channel ensures that Irish language content is more accessible for our younger audiences, and will hopefully strengthen their engagement with it, as they are the future generation. We developed a space for our audience to enjoy entertaining content when they like, and will continue to make sure that we represent our diverse audience as best we can by showcasing lives in Ireland today, through a fun and colourful experience- while immersing them in a living language, in the hope that they learn new things about the world around them through a medium they are used to."
Some of the highlights to look forward to on Cúla4 include:
‘Anfa’ - an action-oriented and high-energy game show based on the weather. 'Anfa' is produced by Fíbín Media.
'Uiscenauts' - a fun all-action water-based game show produced by Abú Media
'Nuacht Cúla4' - news for young people covering local, national and international news.
'M’Ainm Mo Scéal' - a children’s series about the meaning and the stories associated with given names.
'Teach Spraoi' - every week, a different group of children have two days to design and build their choice of playhouse.
'Uisce Uisce' - a new series for children who love water activities – be it sailing or zorbing their excitement is contagious.
Cúla4 is available now on Saorview channel 18, Virgin Media channel 602, Sky channel 624, and is also available online at www.cula4.com.
