RTÉ Two
Encyclopedia
RTÉ Two is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann
. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview
, VHF
and UHF
bands, and is also available via satellite
(DVB-S
) to Irish subscribers of Sky. The channel also broadcasts in High Definition
through RTÉ Two HD. This channel launched on May 27, 2011.
The channel began transmissions on 2 November 1978 and became Ireland
's fifth TV service after BBC One NI (1955), UTV(1959), RTÉ One (1961) and BBC Two (1964) and the Republic of Ireland's second channel. The opening broadcast was a gala ceremony from Cork. Owing to a technical fault, audio from BBC2 was played during the countdown instead of the proper soundtrack, and when the channel commenced programmes, there was no audio for the initial 15 seconds or so. At first the new channel broadcast in the evenings only.
coverage). It broadcast much live programming from the BBC
and ITV
. However the channel in its initial format was not considered a success.
The channel was also there for Irish speakers who were still looking for a television channel in the Irish language. Cursaí a current affair programme air on the channel until the mid-1990s. Other Irish language shows included the schools quiz Eureka and Scaoil Amach an Bobailín with Seán Bán Breathnach
.
However by 1987 RTÉ 2 was beginning to rebrand, RTÉ had relaunch with a new logo and both RTÉ 1 and 2 this year had similar idents. While the rebrand was a small success for both channels it was felt that RTÉ 2 and RTÉ 1 needed more specific audiences, RTÉ 2 at this stage was becoming more and more associated with youth orientated programming and sports programming (especially as UK channels were becoming more and more available across the country). In 1988 the majority of sporting and children's programming was moved to Network 2, the new name for RTÉ 2.
was moved to the channel, along with most youth and children's programming. Jo Maxi
was launched as the youth strand. Sports Stadium took up the entire Saturday afternoon schedule, and all sports programming was aired on the channel, along with Irish language
programming. A late night news bulletin, Network News
, which was followed by the controversial chat show come soap opera Nighthawks
presented by Shay Healy
.
This relaunch was a big success, and Network 2 remained stable until the mid-1990s. A new logo—referring to the channel as RTÉ Network Two (though the "RTÉ" part was not referred to by announcers)—was launched with the new RTÉ logo in 1995. By this time, RTÉ Network Two broadcast from mid-morning onwards, with educational programmes during the day. Also during this era, the channel experimented with late night broadcasts at weekends, under the The End
brand, anchored by Barry Murphy and Sean Moncrieff
.
. Monday nights became comedy nights, with the launch of home-produced comedy such as Don't Feed The Gondolas
. Elsewhere theme nights became a regular fixture, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays. The Den was now broadcast all day until 18:00 and was renamed Den 2.
Not all the changes were universally welcomed, with the "N2" era, RTÉ cancelled its long running Saturday sports programme, Sports Stadium
in 1997. Since then, RTÉ has not regularly aired live sports (or at least, as part of a regular schedule) on Saturday afternoons, though major events are still covered.
Many of the innovations of the N2 era had faded out by 2003. The idents had been replaced by simpler creations, the in-vision continuity had been scrapped again. Later On 2
had more-or-less ended (one of the strands continues as The View on RTÉ One
). In September 2003, News 2 reverted to the regular RTÉ News format (as RTÉ News on Two
).
From September 2003, continuity announcers and trailers began to refer to the channel by the fuller title of "RTÉ Network Two", in line with a new RTÉ initiative to promote the corporate branding. The main channel idents never changed, and said merely "N2" (although a newly-introduced on-screen DOG said "RTÉ N2".). And finally in 2004 Network 2 was relaunched as RTÉ Two, in line with its sister channel RTÉ One.
(see The Den
). The new logo is similar in style to the current RTÉ One
logo. The new branding is designed to promote the Irishness of the station, green is the dominant colour. New strands were developed. In particular, the number of Irish made programmes has increased, though some of this is made up of a new strand of early evening repeats. The idents from this time were based on a Green Room theme.
The latest change has been a complete rebrand and relaunch of The Den
, on Saturday 17 September 2005, with the id Two strand becoming TTV
on the following Monday. In September 2009 TTV relaunched as Two Tube.
RTÉ Two got a new look on 17 September 2009. The new idents were created by RTÉ Graphic Design.
Continuing with the corporate branding of RTÉ radio and Television stations RTÉ TWO's iconic children's brand The Den ended on the 20 of September 2010. The Den was replaced by TRTÉ
, while Den Tots was replaced by RTÉjr
, this was due mainly to the on set of digital TV on which RTÉjr is available as a separate channel. Two Tube remains as the teenage block of programming. RTÉ Two continues to air a block of programming from RTÉjr.
on 27 May 2011. The service broadcasts sporting programming from national to international events, documentaries, movies and US programming in high-definition. Gradually, the channel will begin to air Irish programming in high-definition where available. The channel launches with special HD sporting content between Saturday 28 May and Sunday 29 May 2011. The service will not be made available on UPC Ireland
or Sky Ireland. There is only one broadcast version of RTÉ Two as all Saorview STBs and iDTVs have access to RTÉ Two HD regardless of the TV's HD capacity, although during testing Saorview also carried RTÉ Two in SD on channel 7.
Format
RTÉ Two spent in total €88,673,000 on Indigenous programming, of that a total €70,226,000 was produced by RTÉ internally (In-house productions), and €18,447,000 was produced by independent producers of which 50% is a requirement under Irish law. RTÉ spends a total of €11 million on International productions and a further €48,000 on non-RTÉ Irish produced shows for RTÉ Two. €48,791,000 was received by RTÉ in advertising revenue from RTÉ Two. RTÉ Two had a net loss of €21,975,000 in 2008, however RTÉ
broke even
in 2008. Other costs included Network transmission and other broadcasting operation costs which amounted to €28,948,000 in 2008.
The table below outlines RTÉ Two's total in-house and commissioned programming by genre in 2008:
/TRTÉ
, known from 1986 to 2010 as The Den
, runs from 06:00 to 17:30 each weekday, followed by its youth strand, Two Tube
(formerly TTV
and iD Two) from 17:30 to 19:00. RTÉ News on Two
airs each weekday after 22:45. Much of RTÉ's programming for 2 - 6 year olds will move to a separtate channel RTÉjr
, while it is expected that TRTÉ
will replace RTÉjr
's hours on RTÉ Two on Saorview
when Analogue signals are replaced by Digital Terrestrial Television DTT
in 2012.
The channel also has a number of other strands, including Two Wild, Two Extreme, and RTÉ Sport on Two. Films are also regularly aired on the channel especially European cinema and International cinema.
After 19:00, RTÉ Two airs its primetime lineup. This includes such imported shows as CSI: NY
, CSI: Miami
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, Desperate Housewives
, Grey's Anatomy
, Law & Order
, The Event etc., and such home-produced shows as Livin' with Lucy, Fade Street, The Model Scouts, The Republic of Telly and Wagon's Den. RTÉ Two also airs premier movies under the name SCREEN TWO and has first run rights to Irish rugby
and football
. The channel has a reputation for airing many US shows such as before any other networks in Europe.
were he had successful moved from continuity announcing to TV management in 1996. N2 was a successful relaunched of the channel in the late 1990s however due to allegations of bullying by Andrew Burns towards one of the channels continuity announcers he was forced to resign from his position. Andrew Fitzpatrick was then poached to take control of RTÉ scheduling from TV3 however N2 pretty much reverted to being part of the over all RTÉ Television structure.
In May 2011 it was announced by RTÉ that Eddie Doyle was given the position of Commissioning Editor at RTÉ Two. Eddie Doyle was RTÉ Commission Editor of Entertainment.
. Other UK shows included Top of the Pops
, Porridge
, Mastermind
, Never the Twain
, Treasure Hunt
and Wogan
and American shows such as The Dick Cavett Show
, Tales of the Unexpected
, The Twilight Zone
, Crazy Like a Fox
and The Tracey Ullman Show
. They also broadcast the Australian soap opera A Country Practice
. In 1988 RTÉ did a major revamp of the service, focusing more on Sports, Children's TV, Irish Programming as RTÉ 2 was still behind both UTV
and BBC One NI in the ratings.
, Cheers
, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
, Check It Out and Murphy Brown
. They also broadcast Knots Landing
and Falcon Crest
. They also began broadcasting the long running Australian soap opera Home and Away
, while A Country Practice
moved to RTÉ One. In 1992 Coronation Street moved to RTÉ One. Other US shows at this time included Head of the Class
, Ferris Bueller and Eerie Indiana.
, The X Files, Nowhere Man
, My So-Called Life
, but also Late Night and Daytime repeats of Yes Minister
, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
, Cheers
, The Beverly Hillbillies
, Peyton Place
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
, MacGyver
and also the morning strand of Open University
. At 18:00 they began show many US teen sit-coms such as California Dreams
, Saved by the Bell
and Harry and the Hendersons
.
, Millennium
, Star Trek: Voyager
, Stargate SG1 and some Australian serials including Water Rats
and Murder Call
. In 2001 they began broadcasting the Australian teen soap Neighbours
. Popular prime time US programmes included Friends
, Ally McBeal
, 24
, Alias
, Dawson's Creek
, Smallville
, Jessie
, Frasier
and Boston Public
. In 2000 Network 2 broadcast all episodes of the cult favourite Freaks and Geeks
and finished the series before NBC
did in the US. During this time they also began airing The Simpsons
which had not be seen on the channel since The Tracey Ullman Show
in the late 1980s.
to 24
, from Rescue Me
to Smallville
. Their 19:00 to 21:00 schedule consists of many BBC natural history programmes including David Attenborough
Life and Horizons. The channel currently shows first time showings of Cougar Town
, Flash Forward
, Lost
, The Good Wife, CSI
, Criminal Minds
, Desperate Housewives
, Grey's Anatomy
and Sons of Anarchy
.
RTÉ Two also airs American programmes such as The Simpsons
(currently airing Season 20 weekdays at 18:30), 90210
, Law & Order
, Criminal Minds
, The Big Bang Theory
, Greys Anatomy, Worst Week
and Private Practice. Australian soaps Neighbours
and Home and Away
air along with Irish programmes such as Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen
, The Podge and Rodge Show
. Other well known US shows on RTÉ Two include Lost
, Ugly Betty
, Prison Break
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, CSI: Miami
, CSI: NY
and Desperate Housewives
. It also airs Smallville
, Sons of Anarchy
, Eli Stone
after midnight on weekends. British shows such as Shameless
and The Thick of It
In 2003 Network 2 set out to find their news TV presenter in a reality show called The Selection Box
, the eventual winner was Caroline Morahan
. In more recent years they have produced a similar children's series for The Den called It's My Show.
RTÉ Two also produced two series of the employment reality show No Experience Required
, three prospective candidates are evaluated over the course of a week for a vacant position in a top company, the show follows them through interview stages and tasks set out by their prospective employees. A spin off series entitled No Experience Require transition years was produced for a younger school going audiences.
In 2008 RTÉ Two broadcast Hollywood Trials
. It follow a group of young actors traveling to make it big in LA. The actors where selected by Hollywood acting guru Margie Haber. Those selected to travel with Margie to LA included Chris Newman
from the RTÉ Two drama Love is the Drug, George McMahon from RTÉ One soap opera Fair City
and Michael Graham of Boyzone
fame.
Hollywood Trials was then followed by The Model Agent
. The model agent in question was Ellis
and with help of Erin O'Connor
as the girls mentor she picked Carrie-Anne Burton for a contract with Independent Models, one of the world's leading modeling agencies and a cover for Image magazine
, one of the Ireland's most high profile and respected fashion titles. A similar series called The Model Scouts is currently in production.
Do the Right Thing
is a reality series which began in September 2010 and is hosted by Lucy Kennedy and Baz Ashmawy, in search of the Ireland's ultimate volunteer.
In 2011 Masterchef Ireland
began airing on the channel two nights a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 21:30.
RTÉ Two also ran spin off serials to RTÉ One's reality shows, such as You're A Star
Uncut, Cabin Fever
, and Treasure Island
Uncovered.
and Glenroe
. RTÉ did place some emphasis on short film in the RTÉ Two series Short Cuts. Short Films remain on RTÉ Two most Monday nights at 11:30; these shorts are not just taken from RTÉ co-financed productions but also from independent producers around the world.
RTÉ Two's most successful drama was a drama/comedy/chat show entitled Nighthawks
presented by Shay Healy. This was produced as a pseudo-documentary about the behind the scenes of the television production, it featured many well known Irish comedians, however unlike the mockumentary
The Larry Sanders Show
, Nighthawks featured real interviews and was created by David Blake Knox, who went on to be controller of Network 2 until 1998. Gerry Ryan had a similar format show called Gerry Ryan Tonight during the 1990s.
(2000), Bachelors Walk (2001–2003), The Big Bow Wow (2003), Pure Mule
(2004), Love is the Drug
(2004) and Prosperity
(2007). Raw
was RTÉ Two's last Monday night drama; it received mixed reviews but it reached on average 250,000 viewers each week against RTÉ One's Prime Time Investigates and TV3'sThe Apprentice; Raw's second series ran on RTÉ One
. Most of RTÉ Two's drama output was aimed at a younger audience than that of RTÉ One's and it often contained bad language and sex scenes.
RTÉ ended their RTÉ Two drama's in 2008 with the first season of Raw, choosing to air its second season on RTÉ One. RTÉ are not currently looking for drama specifically for RTÉ Two which brings to an end a significant amount of work brought to the channel from RTÉ's drama department and independent producers. Many of the dramas of this era on RTÉ Two were seen as experimental but also highly modern and innovative.
, A Scare at Bedtime
with Podge and Rodge, @LastTV, The Liffey Laughs, The Blizzard of Odd
, The Byrne Ultimatum and Night Live.
's young peoples' programming moved from RTÉ One
to Network 2.
, Zig and Zag
and Zuppy the Dog. It moved to Network 2 from RTÉ One, and broadcasting for an extra hour from 15:00 to 18:00. Network 2 would start the day 14:30 with Bosco
a pre-school television show. All children's television moved to Network 2 when it rebranded in 1988. When Ian Dempsey left Dempsey's Den the show was renamed The Den with new presenter Ray D'Arcy
. Ray presented the show from 1990 to 1997 when the strand began to expand it schedule into the early hours of the morning. From 1997 to 2010 The Den ran for 10 hours a day starting at 07:00 to 17:00 followed by teenage strands iD, TTV and Two Tube. RTÉ choose to rebrand their children's strands in 2010 effectively axing Ireland's longest running children's TV show. TRTÉ
and RTÉjr
will begin airing from 20 September 2010.
Saturday programming came from RTÉ Cork in form the mid-1990s to the late-2000s, starting with The Swamp which took the place of classic Irish Children's TV such as Pajo's Junkbox, Scratch Saturday and Anything Goes
(which broadcast on RTÉ One
). Satitude was RTÉ Cork's main TV show for children and was broadcast on The Den
on RTÉ Two on Saturday mornings. Satitude was cancelled in 2009.
Den Tots was The Den's pre-school strand it is replaced by RTÉjr, RTÉ do not advertise during these selected hours.
In the late 1980s RTÉ began simulcasting The Beatbox with 2FM as a replacement for MTV USA. Presenters included Barry Lang, Electric Eddie (Doug Murray), Simon Young, Peter Collins, Ian Dempsey
. It was replaced in 1995 with Dave Fanning
's 2TV
. 2TV spawned several spin offs late night videos hosted by Jon Slattery and RTÉ's only attempt at a morning show in 1999 with Bianka Luykx.
In 1988 Jo Maxi
appeared for the first time until 1993, a daily teen show airing at 18:00, which was later replaced by Echo Island and in the early 2000s by ID, followed by ID2, TTV and now Two Tube
.
is RTÉ
's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes. It has been known over the years as Network News and News 2.
RTÉ News on Two takes a different agenda to other RTÉ News
programmes. Its content is customised for a younger audience, and presenters and journalists tend to use more informal language on the programme. Since October 2006 the bulletin has been presented by Eileen Whelan, following the departure of Anthony Murnane who was with the programme from the beginning. John O'Driscoll is the programme Editor.
Since March 2007 RTÉ News on Two is now streamed live
on the internet
and archive shows are available to view through the RTÉ website
. On Fridays an extended late summary on RTÉ One
is broadcast instead of RTÉ News on Two. There are no weekend news programmes on RTÉ Two other than summaries.
They also provide children's news each weekday called News2day.
, however RTÉ One rarely provides sporting events on weekdays hence most Soccer matches are shown on RTÉ Two. These include UEFA Champions league and the League of Ireland
. George Hamilton
is the station's main sports commentator
. RTÉ Two also covers some smaller sports such as Athletics
, Australian rules football
, Baseball
, Basketball
, Combat sports, Cricket
, Cycling
, Extreme sports, Golf
, Hockey
, Racquet sports, Scuba diving
, Snooker
, pool
, Target shooting, Triathlon
, and Water sports. RTÉ Two also covers the Olympic Games
and the annual International Rules Series between Ireland and Australia.
RTÉ Two's sports coverage is its most popular programming strand, it often tops RTÉ Two's most watch shows, significantly out doing other all other programming. RTÉ plan to provide most sporting events in High Definition on RTÉ Two.
Championship coverage for Hurling and Football, in 2008 RTÉ lost its monopoly on the championship games as TV3 for the first time in its 10 year history took an interest in the games having mainly bought in Soccer and bought live rights for 10 of the matches for 3 seasons.
The main GAA show is called The Sunday Game
it is a review of the weekends action and it is presented by Michael Lyster and Des Cahill, The Sunday Game Live is broadcast earlier in the day. While The Saturday Game Live only provides live coverage of the games. Setanta Sports
also holds rights for the GAA Championships however these are delayed rights as Setanta Sports is a pay television service. RTÉ Two also provides live coverage of the Camogie
All-Ireland finals. RTÉ was one of three sponsors for the Hurling Championships.
, RTÉ
and Setanta Sports. They each take turns on showing live matches each Friday night. RTÉ also produce a domestic soccer show called Monday Night Soccer
(MNS) which provides a round up of the weekend of League of Ireland. RTÉ have held rights to the 15:30 FA Premiership match from the English league, however these are now owned by Setanta Sports. RTÉ currently have the rights to highlights from the FA Premiership which they show every Saturday night with regular pundits Eamonn Dunphy and Johnny Giles
. The currently have the rights to the World Cup in South Africa. They currently hold the rights to Tuesday Nights soccer from UEFA Champions League with both Setanta and TV3 all other hold rights. They also broadcast games of the Republic of Ireland national football team
, though the games were formerly broadcast by RTÉ One
.
RTÉ have had exclusive rights to the World Cup tournament, coverage is on RTÉ Two while rte.ie provides coverage of clashing games. Having been the only national service until the arrival of TG4
and TV3 in the mid-1990s. In 1990 RTÉ made a major investment into the coverage of the tournament which coincided with Ireland's successful campaign under the management of Jack Charlton
. The main panel of pundits appeared for the first time conisisting of presenter Bill O'Herlihy
and pundits John Giles
and Eamon Dunphy
. For their coverage of 1994 World Cup RTÉ introduced the comedy Apres Match
, a mock of the panel of pundits. The Apres Match pundits first appeared on RTÉ's late night comedy show The End
with Barry Murphy. In 1998 the Apres Match pundits for the first time took control of the punditry of the third place play-off and in 2006 surprised themselves and audiences when Barry Murphy playing the part of Liam Brady
accurately guess the result - Germany 3 and Portugal 1. In 2006 RTÉ also introduced Graeme Souness
as a panelist. Other panelist include Ronnie Whelan
, Richie Sadlier, Liam Brady
and Denis Irwin
. In 2010 Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar (Didi) Hamann
and Kevin Kilbane
joined the team of panelists. Darragh Maloney, Peter Collins
and Con Murphy
also present live matches and highlights of the games each night. The matches commentary is provided by George Hamilton
, Ray Houghton
, Gabriel Egan, Trevor Steven
, Stephen Alkin, Damian Richardson, Adrian Eames, Matt Holland
and Jimmy Magee
.
and Ryle Nugent
.
In the early years of RTÉ Two music shows on the channel consisted of Music TV USA every Friday nigh, which was then repeated on Sunday afternoons at 3pm. In the mid-1980s this was replaced by The Beatbox presented by Ian Dempsey. From 1995, Dave Fanning presented a near identical programme under the new name of 2TV
. The Beat Box and 2TV were both broadcast on 2FM RTÉ's popular music radio station.
No Disco
was an alternative music show for late night TV from 1993 to 2003, it was hosted by initially by Donal Dineen
who left to present radio on Radio Ireland in 1997. Uaneen Fitzsimons took his place on the show, seen as a major upcoming television talent, Uaneen died in a road accident in 2000. She had made a significant name for herself on the show, her knowledge of the music industry, her love of the music and her respect for her guests was apparent throughout the show. When Under Ether is a music magazine show launched in 2009 and focuses on alternative, indie and electronica music.
In 1997 Later On 2
, Tuesday nights was the Arts review show presented by John Kelly who now presents a similar show on RTÉ One called The View (RTE). Also in 1997 RTÉ introduced a set of comedy television shows on the newly re-launched N2 service. Don't Feed The Gondolas
or DFTG was presented by Sean Moncreiff and later by Brendan O'Connor
. In the initial years Brendan O'Connor was one of the main team captains, during the final season Brendan O'Connor became the main host with only 3 guests. Other shows to begin that year included Rodge and Podge:A Scare at Bedtime and @LastTV a fast paced review show with interviews, comedy sketches and music.
In 2009 RTÉ Two revamped its Entertainment season with critics and fans still undecided about new titles which included The Byrne Ultimatum, Meave Higgan's Fancy Vittles, The Republic of Telly and Podge & Rodge's Stickit Inn
.
RTÉ Two's schedule is carefully made so as to maximise the viewing figures for RTÉ Two but not at the expense of its sister channel, RTÉ One
.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview
Saorview
Saorview is the national free-to-air digital terrestrial television service in Republic of Ireland.The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation it was required to be available to approximately 90% of the population by end of...
, VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
and UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
bands, and is also available via satellite
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
(DVB-S
DVB-S
DVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
) to Irish subscribers of Sky. The channel also broadcasts in High Definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
through RTÉ Two HD. This channel launched on May 27, 2011.
History
In the 1970s the Irish government considered three options for the introduction of a second television service: the re-transmission of BBC1 Northern Ireland; authorization of an independent commercial service; or charging RTÉ with the establishment of a second national channel. It was the last of these that was finally chosen.The channel began transmissions on 2 November 1978 and became Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
's fifth TV service after BBC One NI (1955), UTV(1959), RTÉ One (1961) and BBC Two (1964) and the Republic of Ireland's second channel. The opening broadcast was a gala ceremony from Cork. Owing to a technical fault, audio from BBC2 was played during the countdown instead of the proper soundtrack, and when the channel commenced programmes, there was no audio for the initial 15 seconds or so. At first the new channel broadcast in the evenings only.
RTÉ 2 (1978–1988)
60% of the Republic of Ireland could receive UK channels via spillover or via cable. Cable in the republic was only permitted in areas of spillover up to the mid 1980s, to provide viewers with better reception of channels they could already receive over the air. Hence RTÉ Two was aimed at those that did not have the UK channels. To this end one of their main remits was the re-broadcasting of UK programming to Irish Audiences, that would not otherwise be seen on RTÉ 1. Coronation Street aired on the channel simultaneously with ITV's broadcasts of the programme (this continued until 1992 when it was put on RTÉ 1 due to the Olympic GamesOlympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
coverage). It broadcast much live programming from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. However the channel in its initial format was not considered a success.
The channel was also there for Irish speakers who were still looking for a television channel in the Irish language. Cursaí a current affair programme air on the channel until the mid-1990s. Other Irish language shows included the schools quiz Eureka and Scaoil Amach an Bobailín with Seán Bán Breathnach
Seán Bán Breathnach
Seán Bán Breathnach is a radio and television broadcaster and personality in the Ireland. He broadcasts in the medium of the Irish language, but is well known to English speakers in the country.-Broadcasting:...
.
However by 1987 RTÉ 2 was beginning to rebrand, RTÉ had relaunch with a new logo and both RTÉ 1 and 2 this year had similar idents. While the rebrand was a small success for both channels it was felt that RTÉ 2 and RTÉ 1 needed more specific audiences, RTÉ 2 at this stage was becoming more and more associated with youth orientated programming and sports programming (especially as UK channels were becoming more and more available across the country). In 1988 the majority of sporting and children's programming was moved to Network 2, the new name for RTÉ 2.
Network 2 (1988–1997)
In September 1988, RTÉ2 was given a major revamp and became Network 2. In addition to the launch of a new vivid red, blue, and green logo, the channel now came on air at 14:30. The DenThe Den (television)
The Den was the brand of the children's television strand on Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Two. It first broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ One, before moving to RTÉ Two in September 1988. The strand began to diversify throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s...
was moved to the channel, along with most youth and children's programming. Jo Maxi
Jo Maxi
Jo Maxi was an Irish teenage entertainment show which would report on teenage issues. The presenters would discuss issues relating to teenagers through reports and studio discussions. They would also review books, movies and other TV shows. Gig Guides and job/study information was also reported...
was launched as the youth strand. Sports Stadium took up the entire Saturday afternoon schedule, and all sports programming was aired on the channel, along with Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
programming. A late night news bulletin, Network News
RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two is RTÉ's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the Irish RTÉ Two TV channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes....
, which was followed by the controversial chat show come soap opera Nighthawks
Nighthawks (TV series)
Nighthawks was an Irish television series broadcast on Network 2 . It was hosted by Shay Healy. It was part of the major re-brand of RTÉ Two as Network 2 in 1988....
presented by Shay Healy
Shay Healy
Shay Healy is an Irish songwriter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known for his role as host of Nighthawks, a RTÉ Television chat show of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for composing "What's Another Year", Ireland's winning entry in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest.-Early life:Shay...
.
The End (television)
The End is an adult comedy television strand on Network Two/RTÉ Two in the Republic of Ireland.The End was aired on Friday and Saturday night from 11pm to 2am. RTÉ used this show to test the audience appetite for late night TV. The End was presented by Barry Murphy on Friday nights and by Sean...
brand, anchored by Barry Murphy and Sean Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and writer. He currently presents the weekday afternoon radio show Moncrieff on Newstalk. His television credits include his own Raidió Teilifís Éireann chat show Good Grief Moncrieff!, comedy panel show Don't Feed the Gondolas, and The...
.
N2 (1997–2004)
There was another major revamp in 1997, the channel was visually rebranded as "N2", though announcers continued to refer to "Network 2". N2 brought about perhaps as big a change as the original relaunch, RTÉ branding was dropped from the station almost completely, with home produced programmes now being referred to as "N2 Productions" (foreign imports were "N2 Presentations"). A futuristic logo along with a series of unusual graphical idents were developed. In-vision announcing returned. More importantly, the channel's line-up was completely refreshed. The late night schedule was completely revamped, with the launch of News 2—a tailored bulletin for young people—followed by a talk show, Later On 2Later On 2
Later On 2 was part of the Network 2/RTÉ Two N2 rebrand of 1997. It was broadcast after News 2 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night at 11:20pm.-Tuesday night:...
. Monday nights became comedy nights, with the launch of home-produced comedy such as Don't Feed The Gondolas
Don't Feed The Gondolas
Don't Feed the Gondolas is an Irish comedy panel show, similar in format to the BBC's Have I Got News For You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, that ran for four series on Network 2 between 1997 and 2001...
. Elsewhere theme nights became a regular fixture, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays. The Den was now broadcast all day until 18:00 and was renamed Den 2.
Sports Stadium
Sports Stadium was an Irish television sport programme on Raidió Teilifís Éireann . Broadcast between 1973 and 1997, it was RTÉ's flagship sports programme and one of its longest-running shows....
in 1997. Since then, RTÉ has not regularly aired live sports (or at least, as part of a regular schedule) on Saturday afternoons, though major events are still covered.
Many of the innovations of the N2 era had faded out by 2003. The idents had been replaced by simpler creations, the in-vision continuity had been scrapped again. Later On 2
Later On 2
Later On 2 was part of the Network 2/RTÉ Two N2 rebrand of 1997. It was broadcast after News 2 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night at 11:20pm.-Tuesday night:...
had more-or-less ended (one of the strands continues as The View on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
). In September 2003, News 2 reverted to the regular RTÉ News format (as RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two is RTÉ's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the Irish RTÉ Two TV channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes....
).
From September 2003, continuity announcers and trailers began to refer to the channel by the fuller title of "RTÉ Network Two", in line with a new RTÉ initiative to promote the corporate branding. The main channel idents never changed, and said merely "N2" (although a newly-introduced on-screen DOG said "RTÉ N2".). And finally in 2004 Network 2 was relaunched as RTÉ Two, in line with its sister channel RTÉ One.
RTÉ Two (2004- )
RTÉ decided that the channel needed another revamp to keep it fresh. The channel's name reverted to RTÉ Two on the morning of 2 October 2004, with a themed evening of programmes called "Farewell Network 2" beginning at 20:00, featuring Podge and RodgePodge and Rodge
Pádraig Judas O'Leprosy and Rodraig Spartacus O'Leprosy are the two central characters on A Scare at Bedtime, an Irish adult comedy televised puppet show. Created and performed by Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara, more recently, the brothers have presented The Podge and Rodge Show, a chat show in...
(see The Den
The Den (television)
The Den was the brand of the children's television strand on Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Two. It first broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ One, before moving to RTÉ Two in September 1988. The strand began to diversify throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s...
). The new logo is similar in style to the current RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
logo. The new branding is designed to promote the Irishness of the station, green is the dominant colour. New strands were developed. In particular, the number of Irish made programmes has increased, though some of this is made up of a new strand of early evening repeats. The idents from this time were based on a Green Room theme.
The latest change has been a complete rebrand and relaunch of The Den
The Den (television)
The Den was the brand of the children's television strand on Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Two. It first broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ One, before moving to RTÉ Two in September 1988. The strand began to diversify throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s...
, on Saturday 17 September 2005, with the id Two strand becoming TTV
TTV (RTÉ)
TTV was a youth-aimed programming strand broadcast on RTÉ Two in Ireland, from 17:00 - 19:00, on weekdays. TTV replaced iD Two, which was basically the same show with few differences, on Monday 19 September 2005...
on the following Monday. In September 2009 TTV relaunched as Two Tube.
RTÉ Two got a new look on 17 September 2009. The new idents were created by RTÉ Graphic Design.
Continuing with the corporate branding of RTÉ radio and Television stations RTÉ TWO's iconic children's brand The Den ended on the 20 of September 2010. The Den was replaced by TRTÉ
TRTÉ
TRTÉ is a programming block which airs on RTÉ Two targeting children between 8 and 16 years of age. It operates along its sister strand RTÉjr, which targets children of less than 8 years of age. The strand also appears on RTÉ Junior....
, while Den Tots was replaced by RTÉjr
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is a children's channel operated by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ Television, which targets a demographic between 2 – 6 years of age. The channel launched as part of Saorview's line-up on May 26, 2011. The channel broadcasts daily between 06:00 to 19:00, sharing broadcasting space with...
, this was due mainly to the on set of digital TV on which RTÉjr is available as a separate channel. Two Tube remains as the teenage block of programming. RTÉ Two continues to air a block of programming from RTÉjr.
RTÉ Two HD
RTÉ Two HD launched on SaorviewSaorview
Saorview is the national free-to-air digital terrestrial television service in Republic of Ireland.The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation it was required to be available to approximately 90% of the population by end of...
on 27 May 2011. The service broadcasts sporting programming from national to international events, documentaries, movies and US programming in high-definition. Gradually, the channel will begin to air Irish programming in high-definition where available. The channel launches with special HD sporting content between Saturday 28 May and Sunday 29 May 2011. The service will not be made available on UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
or Sky Ireland. There is only one broadcast version of RTÉ Two as all Saorview STBs and iDTVs have access to RTÉ Two HD regardless of the TV's HD capacity, although during testing Saorview also carried RTÉ Two in SD on channel 7.
Format
- The channel simulcastSimulcastSimulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
s content from RTÉ Two SD and upscalesVideo scalerA video scaler is a device for converting video signals from one size or resolution to another: usually "upscaling" or "upconverting" a video signal from a low resolution to one of higher resolution A video scaler is a device for converting video signals from one size or resolution to another:...
SD content into HD. All other content on the channel will be made available entirely in HD this includes Gaelic Athletic AssociationGaelic Athletic AssociationThe Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
, Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, Magners League sporting content, US television series and movies. Additional Irish HD content will air from late 2011 onwards.
- Where HD technology is not available RTÉ Two SD continues to broadcast, while on HD services RTÉ Two HD will broadcast free-to-air.
Budget
RTÉ Two received €35 from each license fees of the total €160 license fee in 2008. This is equal to €49,126,000 in total from the licence fee.RTÉ Two spent in total €88,673,000 on Indigenous programming, of that a total €70,226,000 was produced by RTÉ internally (In-house productions), and €18,447,000 was produced by independent producers of which 50% is a requirement under Irish law. RTÉ spends a total of €11 million on International productions and a further €48,000 on non-RTÉ Irish produced shows for RTÉ Two. €48,791,000 was received by RTÉ in advertising revenue from RTÉ Two. RTÉ Two had a net loss of €21,975,000 in 2008, however RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
broke even
Breakeven
In economics & business, specifically cost accounting, the break-even point is the point at which cost or expenses and revenue are equal: there is no net loss or gain, and one has "broken even"...
in 2008. Other costs included Network transmission and other broadcasting operation costs which amounted to €28,948,000 in 2008.
The table below outlines RTÉ Two's total in-house and commissioned programming by genre in 2008:
| Genre | Budget |
|---|---|
| Factual | €2,080,000 |
| Drama Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a... |
€4,739,000 |
| Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation... |
€8,698,000 |
| Music Music Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture... |
€1,375,000 |
| News News News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :... ,Current Affairs and Weather Weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate... |
€3,024,000 |
| Sport Sport A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree... |
€53,820,000 |
| Young Peoples Programming | €14,935,000 |
| Total | €88,673,000 |
Programming
RTÉ Two's main emphasis is on programmes for children and young people together with sports and acquired imported programmes. The channel's children's strand is called RTÉjrRTÉjr
RTÉjr is a children's channel operated by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ Television, which targets a demographic between 2 – 6 years of age. The channel launched as part of Saorview's line-up on May 26, 2011. The channel broadcasts daily between 06:00 to 19:00, sharing broadcasting space with...
/TRTÉ
TRTÉ
TRTÉ is a programming block which airs on RTÉ Two targeting children between 8 and 16 years of age. It operates along its sister strand RTÉjr, which targets children of less than 8 years of age. The strand also appears on RTÉ Junior....
, known from 1986 to 2010 as The Den
The Den (television)
The Den was the brand of the children's television strand on Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Two. It first broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ One, before moving to RTÉ Two in September 1988. The strand began to diversify throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s...
, runs from 06:00 to 17:30 each weekday, followed by its youth strand, Two Tube
Two Tube
Two Tube is an Irish youth-aimed programming strand broadcast on RTÉ Two in Ireland, from 17:35 - 19:00, on weekdays. Two Tube replaced TTV, which was basically the same show with few differences, on Monday 7 September 2009...
(formerly TTV
TTV (RTÉ)
TTV was a youth-aimed programming strand broadcast on RTÉ Two in Ireland, from 17:00 - 19:00, on weekdays. TTV replaced iD Two, which was basically the same show with few differences, on Monday 19 September 2005...
and iD Two) from 17:30 to 19:00. RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two is RTÉ's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the Irish RTÉ Two TV channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes....
airs each weekday after 22:45. Much of RTÉ's programming for 2 - 6 year olds will move to a separtate channel RTÉjr
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is a children's channel operated by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ Television, which targets a demographic between 2 – 6 years of age. The channel launched as part of Saorview's line-up on May 26, 2011. The channel broadcasts daily between 06:00 to 19:00, sharing broadcasting space with...
, while it is expected that TRTÉ
TRTÉ
TRTÉ is a programming block which airs on RTÉ Two targeting children between 8 and 16 years of age. It operates along its sister strand RTÉjr, which targets children of less than 8 years of age. The strand also appears on RTÉ Junior....
will replace RTÉjr
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is a children's channel operated by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ Television, which targets a demographic between 2 – 6 years of age. The channel launched as part of Saorview's line-up on May 26, 2011. The channel broadcasts daily between 06:00 to 19:00, sharing broadcasting space with...
's hours on RTÉ Two on Saorview
Saorview
Saorview is the national free-to-air digital terrestrial television service in Republic of Ireland.The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation it was required to be available to approximately 90% of the population by end of...
when Analogue signals are replaced by Digital Terrestrial Television DTT
DTT
DTT may refer to:* Demographic transition theory, a four stage transition model, which all countries progress through as they develop economically* Double taxation treaty...
in 2012.
The channel also has a number of other strands, including Two Wild, Two Extreme, and RTÉ Sport on Two. Films are also regularly aired on the channel especially European cinema and International cinema.
After 19:00, RTÉ Two airs its primetime lineup. This includes such imported shows as CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
, CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, The Event etc., and such home-produced shows as Livin' with Lucy, Fade Street, The Model Scouts, The Republic of Telly and Wagon's Den. RTÉ Two also airs premier movies under the name SCREEN TWO and has first run rights to Irish rugby
Rugby union in Ireland
Rugby union is a popular team sport played in Ireland. The sport is organised on an all-Ireland basis with one team, governing body and league for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland...
and football
Association football in the Republic of Ireland
Association football, more usually known as football or soccer, is the team sport with the highest level of participation in the Republic of Ireland ....
. The channel has a reputation for airing many US shows such as before any other networks in Europe.
Commissioning Editor
During the time of the 1997 rebrand of the channel as N2 they had placed the Head of Schedule as "controller" of the channel. Up to then channel was run side by side RTÉ One under RTÉ Television. Andrew Burns was head hunted from Border TelevisionBorder Television
Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
were he had successful moved from continuity announcing to TV management in 1996. N2 was a successful relaunched of the channel in the late 1990s however due to allegations of bullying by Andrew Burns towards one of the channels continuity announcers he was forced to resign from his position. Andrew Fitzpatrick was then poached to take control of RTÉ scheduling from TV3 however N2 pretty much reverted to being part of the over all RTÉ Television structure.
In May 2011 it was announced by RTÉ that Eddie Doyle was given the position of Commissioning Editor at RTÉ Two. Eddie Doyle was RTÉ Commission Editor of Entertainment.
1978–1988
RTÉ Two was original set up to provide Irish viewers with retransmission of BBC and ITV programming. In 1978 it introduced a simulcast of many British programmes including Coronation StreetCoronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
. Other UK shows included Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
, Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
, Never the Twain
Never the Twain
Never the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke...
, Treasure Hunt
Treasure hunt
A treasure hunt is one of many different types of games which can have one or more players who try to find hidden articles, locations or places by using a series of clues. This is a fictional activity; treasure hunting can also be a real life activity. Treasure hunt games may be an indoor or...
and Wogan
Wogan
Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. It followed the format of a series broadcast in 1980 entitled What's On Wogan?, which failed to gather viewers. The Wogan show was initially broadcast on Tuesday evenings on BBC1 in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984, it moved into the...
and American shows such as The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
, Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...
, The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
, Crazy Like a Fox
Crazy Like a Fox
Crazy Like a Fox may refer to:* Crazy Like a Fox , an American television series * Still Crazy Like a Fox, a 1987 American television movie that was a spinoff of the television series...
and The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
. They also broadcast the Australian soap opera A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
. In 1988 RTÉ did a major revamp of the service, focusing more on Sports, Children's TV, Irish Programming as RTÉ 2 was still behind both UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
and BBC One NI in the ratings.
1988–1993
As Network 2 the service still focused strongly on imported programming, RTÉ would now look to have first runs of US programming before other European networks. In the early years Network 2 broadcast US sit-coms Monday to Friday at 21:00 such as The Golden GirlsThe Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
, Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
, Check It Out and Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
. They also broadcast Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
and Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
. They also began broadcasting the long running Australian soap opera Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
, while A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
moved to RTÉ One. In 1992 Coronation Street moved to RTÉ One. Other US shows at this time included Head of the Class
Head of the Class
Head of the Class is an American sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program at the fictional Monroe High School in Manhattan, and their history teacher Charlie Moore...
, Ferris Bueller and Eerie Indiana.
1993–1997
During the 1990s Network 2 began to expand it schedule to cover morning and late night television. Imports still played a major part of the schedule with first showings of popular 1990s TV such as FriendsFriends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, The X Files, Nowhere Man
Nowhere Man (TV series)
Nowhere Man is an American television series that aired from 1995 to 1996 starring Bruce Greenwood. Created by Lawrence Hertzog, the series aired Monday nights on UPN. Despite critical acclaim, including TV Guides label of "The season's coolest hit," the show was cancelled after only one...
, My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It originally aired on ABC from August 25, 1994, to January 26, 1995 and was distributed by The Bedford Falls Company with ABC Productions. Set at the...
, but also Late Night and Daytime repeats of Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
, Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
, The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
, Peyton Place
Peyton Place (TV series)
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
and also the morning strand of Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
. At 18:00 they began show many US teen sit-coms such as California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
, Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
and Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons is a 1987 American comedy film directed and produced by William Dear, and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Lainie Kazan and Don Ameche. It is the story of a family's encounter with the cryptozoological creature Bigfoot...
.
1997–2004
During the late 1990s the schedules began to increase in size again. All of the daytime repeat programmes were replaced by Children's television while Late Night TV was extended until 2am each morning with shows like, ProfilerProfiler (TV series)
Profiler was an American crime drama that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series follows the exploits of a criminal profiler working with the fictional FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force based in Atlanta, Georgia....
, Millennium
Millennium (TV series)
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Millennium aired on the Fox Network from 1996 to 1999. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington...
, Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
, Stargate SG1 and some Australian serials including Water Rats
Water Rats (TV series)
Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001. The series was based around the men and women of the Sydney Water Police who fight crime across Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney...
and Murder Call
Murder Call
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked...
. In 2001 they began broadcasting the Australian teen soap Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
. Popular prime time US programmes included Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
, 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, Alias
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
, Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
, Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
, Jessie
Jessie
Jessie may refer to:*"Dear Jessie", a song by Madonna*"Jessie's Girl", a 1981 single written and performed by Rick Springfield*"Jessie" , a song written and performed by Joshua Kadison*"Kim & Jessie", a song by M83...
, Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
and Boston Public
Boston Public
Boston Public is an American drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox. It centered on Winslow High School, a fictional public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was named for the real public school district in which it takes place...
. In 2000 Network 2 broadcast all episodes of the cult favourite Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is an American teen comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
and finished the series before NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
did in the US. During this time they also began airing The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
which had not be seen on the channel since The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
in the late 1980s.
Since 2004
Renamed in 2004 as RTÉ Two, the channel still has a heavy emphasis on imported programming. Its late night schedule completely filled with imports from Rules of EngagementRules of engagement
Rules of Engagement refers to those responses that are permitted in the employment of military personnel during operations or in the course of their duties. These rules of engagement are determined by the legal framework within which these duties are being carried out...
to 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, from Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
to Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
. Their 19:00 to 21:00 schedule consists of many BBC natural history programmes including David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
Life and Horizons. The channel currently shows first time showings of Cougar Town
Cougar Town
Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009. The series focuses on a recently divorced woman in her forties facing the often humorous challenges, pitfalls and rewards of life's next chapter, along with her son, ex-husband, and friends who together make...
, Flash Forward
Flash Forward
Flash Forward is a Disney Channel Original Series produced in Canada for pre-teens and teenagers which aired on both the Disney Channel and ABC from 1996-1997....
, Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, The Good Wife, CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
and Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California...
.
RTÉ Two also airs American programmes such as The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(currently airing Season 20 weekdays at 18:30), 90210
90210 (TV series)
90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...
, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
, Greys Anatomy, Worst Week
Worst Week
Worst Week is an American TV series which originally aired on CBS from September 22, 2008 to June 6, 2009. The series was based on the British sitcom The Worst Week of My Life...
and Private Practice. Australian soaps Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
and Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
air along with Irish programmes such as Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen
Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen
Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen is a six-part Irish comedy television programme broadcast on RTÉ Two. It stars comedienne Katherine Lynch, who also co-wrote and co-produced the series alongside Warren Meyler...
, The Podge and Rodge Show
The Podge and Rodge Show
The Podge and Rodge Show is an Irish chat show, broadcast and produced by RTÉ, featuring the popular Podge and Rodge as hosts...
. Other well known US shows on RTÉ Two include Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
and Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
. It also airs Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
, Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California...
, Eli Stone
Eli Stone
Eli Stone is an American TV series, and also the name of the title character.San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone begins to see things, which leads him to discover a brain aneurysm...
after midnight on weekends. British shows such as Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
and The Thick of It
The Thick of It
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
Reality TV
During the last decade like many other TV channels RTÉ Two have had several reality based TV shows.In 2003 Network 2 set out to find their news TV presenter in a reality show called The Selection Box
The Selection Box
The Selection Box was a talent search reality TV show produced by Adare Productions for RTÉ. It was directed by Brian Reddin and Brian Graham. It was broadcast on Network 2 in 2001...
, the eventual winner was Caroline Morahan
Caroline Morahan
Caroline Morahan is an Irish actress and television host. She presents TV fashion show Off the Rails on RTÉ One. She has hosted numerous television shows including The Fame Game, Chance to Dance, The Podge and Rodge Show and The IFTA's Red Carpet Show, and has been a celebrity judge on talent shows...
. In more recent years they have produced a similar children's series for The Den called It's My Show.
RTÉ Two also produced two series of the employment reality show No Experience Required
No Experience Required
No Experienced Required is an Irish RTE reality television series that debuted on RTÉ Two in February 2006.- Seasons :The first season consisted of 6 episodes. The series offered 3 individuals with no experience in the relevant fields the opportunity to win the job of their dreams...
, three prospective candidates are evaluated over the course of a week for a vacant position in a top company, the show follows them through interview stages and tasks set out by their prospective employees. A spin off series entitled No Experience Require transition years was produced for a younger school going audiences.
In 2008 RTÉ Two broadcast Hollywood Trials
Hollywood Trials
Hollywood Trials was an observational documentary series which ran on RTÉ Two Ireland, in 2008.The series followed ten Irish actors trying to break into Hollywood...
. It follow a group of young actors traveling to make it big in LA. The actors where selected by Hollywood acting guru Margie Haber. Those selected to travel with Margie to LA included Chris Newman
Chris Newman (actor)
Chris Newman ,born 16 December 1987, is an Irish actor with roles in films Song for a Raggy Boy and Perrier's Bounty and TV series The Clinic, Love is the Drug, Stardust, Aisling's Diary, and Love/Hate.-Early life:...
from the RTÉ Two drama Love is the Drug, George McMahon from RTÉ One soap opera Fair City
Fair City
Fair City is an award-winning Irish television soap opera on RTÉ One. Produced by Radio Telefís Éireann, it was first broadcast on Monday, September 18, 1989...
and Michael Graham of Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
fame.
Hollywood Trials was then followed by The Model Agent
The Model Agent
The Model Scouts, called The Model Agent in its first season in 2009, is an Irish reality documentary on RTÉ Two that follows twelve girls competing for a lucrative modelling contract....
. The model agent in question was Ellis
Ellis
Ellis is a first name and surname of Welshoriginal spelling. At the time of the British Census of 1881, its relative frequency was highest in Merioneth , followed by Flintshire, Denbighshire, Caernarfonshire, Montgomeryshire, Anglesey, Devon, Kinross-shire, Shropshire and Yorkshire...
and with help of Erin O'Connor
Erin O'Connor
-Early life:Erin O'Connor was born and brought up in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, England and went to Brownhills Community School . She was raised Catholic and her father is from Ballycastle, Northern Ireland...
as the girls mentor she picked Carrie-Anne Burton for a contract with Independent Models, one of the world's leading modeling agencies and a cover for Image magazine
Image magazine
Image magazine, the student magazine of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, was started as an alternative to the school's yearbook in 1973. Images first editor was Tom Siegfried. The general-interest magazine is published twice a semester by a small staff of students in the Schieffer...
, one of the Ireland's most high profile and respected fashion titles. A similar series called The Model Scouts is currently in production.
Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing (Irish TV series)
Do the Right Thing is an Irish reality television series, in which a group of aspiring young volunteers compete for the chance to Ireland's ultimate volunteer. The show is sponsored by Panadol and Volunteering Ireland.-Candidates:...
is a reality series which began in September 2010 and is hosted by Lucy Kennedy and Baz Ashmawy, in search of the Ireland's ultimate volunteer.
In 2011 Masterchef Ireland
MasterChef Ireland
MasterChef Ireland is a RTÉ television cooking game show based on the international format created by Franc Roddam.-Contestants:Series One*Mary Carney*Nadia Mathiasen*Mike Curran*Mandy Scott*Grant*Conal Markey*Bridin Carey*Clare Anne O'Keefe...
began airing on the channel two nights a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 21:30.
RTÉ Two also ran spin off serials to RTÉ One's reality shows, such as You're A Star
You're A Star
You're a Star was a singing contest in Ireland,similar to th X Factor in the United Kingdom and American Idol in the USA created by Screentime ShinAwiL and Radio Telefís Éireann. It was shown weekly on RTÉ One over the winter months of each year...
Uncut, Cabin Fever
Cabin Fever (TV series)
Cabin Fever is an RTÉ reality TV show which was meant to have been broadcast over eight weeks starting on 3 June 2003. Disaster struck however two weeks into the broadcast when, on Friday 13 June 2003, the ship ran aground off Tory Island off the north-west coast near County Donegal.Cabin Fever...
, and Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
Uncovered.
Drama
In the first two decades of RTÉ Two little original drama was produce for the channel; often RTÉ would just repeat their dramas on the channel such as Fair CityFair City
Fair City is an award-winning Irish television soap opera on RTÉ One. Produced by Radio Telefís Éireann, it was first broadcast on Monday, September 18, 1989...
and Glenroe
Glenroe
Glenroe was an Irish television drama series broadcast between September 1983 and May 2001 on RTÉ One. The programme was a spin-off from Bracken, a short-lived RTÉ drama itself spun off from The Riordans. Glenroe was broadcast on Sunday nights at 20.30, generally from September to May. The show was...
. RTÉ did place some emphasis on short film in the RTÉ Two series Short Cuts. Short Films remain on RTÉ Two most Monday nights at 11:30; these shorts are not just taken from RTÉ co-financed productions but also from independent producers around the world.
RTÉ Two's most successful drama was a drama/comedy/chat show entitled Nighthawks
Nighthawks
Nighthawks is a 1942 painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. It is considered Hopper's most famous painting, as well as one of the most recognizable in American art...
presented by Shay Healy. This was produced as a pseudo-documentary about the behind the scenes of the television production, it featured many well known Irish comedians, however unlike the mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
, Nighthawks featured real interviews and was created by David Blake Knox, who went on to be controller of Network 2 until 1998. Gerry Ryan had a similar format show called Gerry Ryan Tonight during the 1990s.
Drama 2000-2008
From 2000 to 2008 RTÉ were committed to providing new and original drama on RTÉ Two each Monday night each autumn. The dramas had mixed reviews but they included Paths to FreedomPaths to Freedom
Paths to Freedom was a popular comedy on the Irish television network RTÉ Two. The shows stars two characters, Jeremy and Rats , who have both recently been released from a Dublin prison...
(2000), Bachelors Walk (2001–2003), The Big Bow Wow (2003), Pure Mule
Pure Mule
Pure Mule was an Irish six-part drama mini-series aimed at a young audience and broadcast on RTÉ Two as part of RTÉ's autumn schedule in 2005, shot and screened in 2004–2005 in County Offaly....
(2004), Love is the Drug
Love is the Drug (TV series)
Love is the Drug was a short lived drama based in Drogheda, Co. Louth and it ran on RTÉ Two for their 2004 season....
(2004) and Prosperity
Prosperity (TV series)
Prosperity is a series of four one-hour dramas for television from director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O'Halloran. Prosperity features "four powerful, moving and funny stories set on the same day, with each episode examining the life of a single character." The series first aired on 3...
(2007). Raw
Raw (television series)
Raw, an Irish drama television series for RTÉ. The show focuses on the staff at a Dublin restaurant. The first season featured six episodes shown on RTÉ Two in September 2008 and the second season of six episodes was shown on RTÉ One from 10 January 2010...
was RTÉ Two's last Monday night drama; it received mixed reviews but it reached on average 250,000 viewers each week against RTÉ One's Prime Time Investigates and TV3'sThe Apprentice; Raw's second series ran on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
. Most of RTÉ Two's drama output was aimed at a younger audience than that of RTÉ One's and it often contained bad language and sex scenes.
RTÉ ended their RTÉ Two drama's in 2008 with the first season of Raw, choosing to air its second season on RTÉ One. RTÉ are not currently looking for drama specifically for RTÉ Two which brings to an end a significant amount of work brought to the channel from RTÉ's drama department and independent producers. Many of the dramas of this era on RTÉ Two were seen as experimental but also highly modern and innovative.
Comedy
Monday night has been comedy night on RTÉ Two since its 1997 re-launch. Many US sitcoms were intermixed with live Irish comedy such as Don't Feed The Gondalas (DFTG), The Panel, The Podge and Rodge ShowThe Podge and Rodge Show
The Podge and Rodge Show is an Irish chat show, broadcast and produced by RTÉ, featuring the popular Podge and Rodge as hosts...
, A Scare at Bedtime
A Scare at Bedtime
A Scare at Bedtime was an Irish television show, produced by Double Z Enterprises and broadcast by RTÉ, featuring the two puppets Podge and Rodge as the hosts of a spooky tales and urban myths comedy show...
with Podge and Rodge, @LastTV, The Liffey Laughs, The Blizzard of Odd
The Blizzard of Odd
The Blizzard of Odd was an Irish comedy television programme broadcast on RTÉ, presented and written by Irish comedian Colin Murphy...
, The Byrne Ultimatum and Night Live.
RTÉ Young Peoples
RTÉ Young Peoples' department oversees programming for Under 5s, 5 to 12 year olds and teenage audiences. As part RTÉ Two's redevelopment in 1988 as Network 2, most of RTÉRTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
's young peoples' programming moved from RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
to Network 2.
Children's television
Dempsey's Den was hosted by Ian DempseyIan Dempsey
Ian Michael Dempsey is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, which runs from 07:00 - 09:00 each weekday morning...
, Zig and Zag
Zig and Zag (puppets)
Zig and Zag are an Irish puppet duo performed by Mick O'Hara and Ciaran Morrison.The characters are a pair of furry extraterrestrial twins from the planet Zog. They made their television début on RTÉs Dempsey's Den in 1987. A year later they won a Jacob's Award for TV Personalities of the year...
and Zuppy the Dog. It moved to Network 2 from RTÉ One, and broadcasting for an extra hour from 15:00 to 18:00. Network 2 would start the day 14:30 with Bosco
Bosco
Bosco was an Irish children's television programme produced during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was produced by the Lambert Puppet Theatre. Designed by Jan Mitchell, Bosco was voiced by Miriam Lambert initially; in later years Paula Lambert took over the character...
a pre-school television show. All children's television moved to Network 2 when it rebranded in 1988. When Ian Dempsey left Dempsey's Den the show was renamed The Den with new presenter Ray D'Arcy
Ray D'Arcy
Raymond 'Ray' D'Arcy is an Irish television and radio presenter. He currently presents a weekday morning radio programme, The Ray D'Arcy Show, on Today FM...
. Ray presented the show from 1990 to 1997 when the strand began to expand it schedule into the early hours of the morning. From 1997 to 2010 The Den ran for 10 hours a day starting at 07:00 to 17:00 followed by teenage strands iD, TTV and Two Tube. RTÉ choose to rebrand their children's strands in 2010 effectively axing Ireland's longest running children's TV show. TRTÉ
TRTÉ
TRTÉ is a programming block which airs on RTÉ Two targeting children between 8 and 16 years of age. It operates along its sister strand RTÉjr, which targets children of less than 8 years of age. The strand also appears on RTÉ Junior....
and RTÉjr
RTÉjr
RTÉjr is a children's channel operated by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ Television, which targets a demographic between 2 – 6 years of age. The channel launched as part of Saorview's line-up on May 26, 2011. The channel broadcasts daily between 06:00 to 19:00, sharing broadcasting space with...
will begin airing from 20 September 2010.
Saturday programming came from RTÉ Cork in form the mid-1990s to the late-2000s, starting with The Swamp which took the place of classic Irish Children's TV such as Pajo's Junkbox, Scratch Saturday and Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
(which broadcast on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
). Satitude was RTÉ Cork's main TV show for children and was broadcast on The Den
The Den (television)
The Den was the brand of the children's television strand on Irish public broadcaster RTÉ Two. It first broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ One, before moving to RTÉ Two in September 1988. The strand began to diversify throughout the late 1990s and the 2000s...
on RTÉ Two on Saturday mornings. Satitude was cancelled in 2009.
Den Tots was The Den's pre-school strand it is replaced by RTÉjr, RTÉ do not advertise during these selected hours.
Teenage television
Shows for young people in the 1970s and 1980s included- MTV USA a pop video music programming presented from New York by pioneering Irish radio DJ and television presenter Vincent Hanley
- Youthline a series which looked at new and upcoming artists such as U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
.
In the late 1980s RTÉ began simulcasting The Beatbox with 2FM as a replacement for MTV USA. Presenters included Barry Lang, Electric Eddie (Doug Murray), Simon Young, Peter Collins, Ian Dempsey
Ian Dempsey
Ian Michael Dempsey is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, which runs from 07:00 - 09:00 each weekday morning...
. It was replaced in 1995 with Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning is an Irish rock journalist, DJ, retired film critic and veteran broadcaster. He currently hosts The 11th Hour on RTÉ Two and two radio shows: Drivetime with Dave on RTÉ Radio 1 and The Dave Fanning Show on RTÉ 2fm. He also fills in for other presenters on RTÉ Radio, including acting...
's 2TV
2TV
2TV was an Irish music programme broadcast on Sunday mornings on both Network 2 television and RTE 2fm radio from 1995 until at least 2001, even during the summer months...
. 2TV spawned several spin offs late night videos hosted by Jon Slattery and RTÉ's only attempt at a morning show in 1999 with Bianka Luykx.
In 1988 Jo Maxi
Jo Maxi
Jo Maxi was an Irish teenage entertainment show which would report on teenage issues. The presenters would discuss issues relating to teenagers through reports and studio discussions. They would also review books, movies and other TV shows. Gig Guides and job/study information was also reported...
appeared for the first time until 1993, a daily teen show airing at 18:00, which was later replaced by Echo Island and in the early 2000s by ID, followed by ID2, TTV and now Two Tube
Two Tube
Two Tube is an Irish youth-aimed programming strand broadcast on RTÉ Two in Ireland, from 17:35 - 19:00, on weekdays. Two Tube replaced TTV, which was basically the same show with few differences, on Monday 7 September 2009...
.
RTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on TwoRTÉ News on Two
RTÉ News on Two is RTÉ's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the Irish RTÉ Two TV channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes....
is RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
's late evening news programme. The program is broadcast Monday-Thursday on the channel. It does not have a regular time slot, but is usually broadcast at some point between 22:45 and 23:30. It runs for 22 minutes. It has been known over the years as Network News and News 2.
RTÉ News on Two takes a different agenda to other RTÉ News
RTÉ News
RTÉ News and Current Affairs , is a major division of Raidió Teilifís Éireann responsible for news programming on television, radio and online within the Republic of Ireland. It is, by far, the largest and most popular news source in Ireland - with 77% of the Irish public regarding it as their main...
programmes. Its content is customised for a younger audience, and presenters and journalists tend to use more informal language on the programme. Since October 2006 the bulletin has been presented by Eileen Whelan, following the departure of Anthony Murnane who was with the programme from the beginning. John O'Driscoll is the programme Editor.
Since March 2007 RTÉ News on Two is now streamed live
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
on the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and archive shows are available to view through the RTÉ website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
. On Fridays an extended late summary on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
is broadcast instead of RTÉ News on Two. There are no weekend news programmes on RTÉ Two other than summaries.
They also provide children's news each weekday called News2day.
Sport
RTÉ Two broadcast the majority of RTÉ's sports content. Since RTÉ own rights to several competitions any fixtures clashing with RTÉ Two's schedule will often be provided on RTÉ OneRTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
, however RTÉ One rarely provides sporting events on weekdays hence most Soccer matches are shown on RTÉ Two. These include UEFA Champions league and the League of Ireland
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
. George Hamilton
George Hamilton (commentator)
George Hamilton is an Irish sportscaster born in Belfast. He works for Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and is a household name in Ireland where his voice and refined commentary style of football are familiar to sports fans. He also presents a show on RTÉ lyric fm and previously presented Know Your Sport...
is the station's main sports commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. RTÉ Two also covers some smaller sports such as Athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, Combat sports, Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, Cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, Extreme sports, Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, Racquet sports, Scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
, Snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, pool
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
, Target shooting, Triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
, and Water sports. RTÉ Two also covers the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
and the annual International Rules Series between Ireland and Australia.
RTÉ Two's sports coverage is its most popular programming strand, it often tops RTÉ Two's most watch shows, significantly out doing other all other programming. RTÉ plan to provide most sporting events in High Definition on RTÉ Two.
GAA
RTÉ Two provides most of the GAAGaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
Championship coverage for Hurling and Football, in 2008 RTÉ lost its monopoly on the championship games as TV3 for the first time in its 10 year history took an interest in the games having mainly bought in Soccer and bought live rights for 10 of the matches for 3 seasons.
The main GAA show is called The Sunday Game
The Sunday Game
The Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first...
it is a review of the weekends action and it is presented by Michael Lyster and Des Cahill, The Sunday Game Live is broadcast earlier in the day. While The Saturday Game Live only provides live coverage of the games. Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
also holds rights for the GAA Championships however these are delayed rights as Setanta Sports is a pay television service. RTÉ Two also provides live coverage of the Camogie
Camogie
Camogie is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women; it is almost identical to the game of hurling played by men. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and world wide, largely among Irish communities....
All-Ireland finals. RTÉ was one of three sponsors for the Hurling Championships.
Soccer
League of Ireland rights are owned by TG4TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
, RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
and Setanta Sports. They each take turns on showing live matches each Friday night. RTÉ also produce a domestic soccer show called Monday Night Soccer
Monday Night Soccer
Monday Night Soccer is the RTÉ's main football television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two on Monday evenings during the Irish football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in Irish football's top division, the League of Ireland Premier Division...
(MNS) which provides a round up of the weekend of League of Ireland. RTÉ have held rights to the 15:30 FA Premiership match from the English league, however these are now owned by Setanta Sports. RTÉ currently have the rights to highlights from the FA Premiership which they show every Saturday night with regular pundits Eamonn Dunphy and Johnny Giles
Johnny Giles
Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...
. The currently have the rights to the World Cup in South Africa. They currently hold the rights to Tuesday Nights soccer from UEFA Champions League with both Setanta and TV3 all other hold rights. They also broadcast games of the Republic of Ireland national football team
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
, though the games were formerly broadcast by RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
.
World Cup Coverage
RTÉ have had exclusive rights to the World Cup tournament, coverage is on RTÉ Two while rte.ie provides coverage of clashing games. Having been the only national service until the arrival of TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
and TV3 in the mid-1990s. In 1990 RTÉ made a major investment into the coverage of the tournament which coincided with Ireland's successful campaign under the management of Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
. The main panel of pundits appeared for the first time conisisting of presenter Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy is an Irish sports broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He also heads one of Ireland's largest public relations firms.-Bill's life:...
and pundits John Giles
Johnny Giles
Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...
and Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, radio and television presenter, author, sports pundit, as well as a former professional football player. He is best known as a soccer analyst on Raidió Teilifís Éireann 's coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He was paid...
. For their coverage of 1994 World Cup RTÉ introduced the comedy Apres Match
Après Match
Après Match is an Irish comedy show normally screened after competitive Irish soccer matches on RTÉ. It is performed by Barry Murphy, Risteárd Cooper and Gary Cooke. It grew out of Barry Murphy and Risteárd Cooper's Frank's Euro Ting sketches which first enlivened RTÉ's coverage of Euro '96 for...
, a mock of the panel of pundits. The Apres Match pundits first appeared on RTÉ's late night comedy show The End
The End (television)
The End is an adult comedy television strand on Network Two/RTÉ Two in the Republic of Ireland.The End was aired on Friday and Saturday night from 11pm to 2am. RTÉ used this show to test the audience appetite for late night TV. The End was presented by Barry Murphy on Friday nights and by Sean...
with Barry Murphy. In 1998 the Apres Match pundits for the first time took control of the punditry of the third place play-off and in 2006 surprised themselves and audiences when Barry Murphy playing the part of Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
accurately guess the result - Germany 3 and Portugal 1. In 2006 RTÉ also introduced Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...
as a panelist. Other panelist include Ronnie Whelan
Ronnie Whelan
Ronald Andrew "Ronnie" Whelan is a former Irish football midfielder, and sometimes defender, who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s...
, Richie Sadlier, Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
and Denis Irwin
Denis Irwin
Denis Joseph Irwin is a former Irish football player who is best known for his long and successful stint at Manchester United, where he established himself as one of the most important players in the United team that won a host of domestic and European trophies in his time there between 1990 and...
. In 2010 Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar (Didi) Hamann
Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar "Didi" Hamann is a German footballer who was most recently manager at Stockport County. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Manchester City primarily in a defensive midfield position. He also spent time at Milton Keynes Dons as a...
and Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Daniel Kilbane is an English-born Irish association footballer who plays as a left back or left winger for Derby County, on loan from Hull City....
joined the team of panelists. Darragh Maloney, Peter Collins
Peter Collins (broadcaster)
Peter Collins is an Irish sportscaster for national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. He is to be seen on RTÉ's coverage of live association football, Gaelic games, Formula One and Moto GP.-Career:...
and Con Murphy
Con Murphy
Con Murphy is a former Irish sportsperson who played hurling with Cork in the 1940s, winning four All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships with the county. He later served as President of the Gaelic Athletic Association...
also present live matches and highlights of the games each night. The matches commentary is provided by George Hamilton
George Hamilton (commentator)
George Hamilton is an Irish sportscaster born in Belfast. He works for Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and is a household name in Ireland where his voice and refined commentary style of football are familiar to sports fans. He also presents a show on RTÉ lyric fm and previously presented Know Your Sport...
, Ray Houghton
Ray Houghton
Raymond James "Ray" Houghton is a retired Scottish-born footballer who represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, qualifying through his Irish father...
, Gabriel Egan, Trevor Steven
Trevor Steven
Trevor McGregor Steven is a football talent scout. He was formerly an England footballer who shot to fame with the successful Everton side of the 1980s....
, Stephen Alkin, Damian Richardson, Adrian Eames, Matt Holland
Matt Holland
Matthew Rhys "Matt" Holland is a former English-born Irish footballer, who represented Republic of Ireland at international level...
and Jimmy Magee
Jimmy Magee
Jimmy Magee is a longstanding Irish sports broadcaster. Known as 'the Memory Man', he has spent over half a century in sports broadcasting...
.
Rugby
RTÉ holds the rights to highlights of the Heineken Cup, full coverage of the Six Nations Rugby, while lost out to Setanta and TV3 for the Rugby World Cup 2008. Their main Rugby team consists of George HookGeorge Hook
George Hook is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
and Ryle Nugent
Ryle Nugent
Ryle Nugent is an Irish sports broadcaster, reporter and Head of RTÉ Sport . Prior to his appointment, he was RTÉ's commissioning editor for sport primarily specialising in rugby union. He is the resident rugby union commentator for RTÉ's television coverage of international and club competitions,...
.
Entertainment
RTÉ Two's entertainment content is generally aimed at a young audience to that of its sister channel RTÉ One. Since 1988 RTÉ Two has been successful with a number of entertainment shows aimed at the 15 to 35 year old age group.In the early years of RTÉ Two music shows on the channel consisted of Music TV USA every Friday nigh, which was then repeated on Sunday afternoons at 3pm. In the mid-1980s this was replaced by The Beatbox presented by Ian Dempsey. From 1995, Dave Fanning presented a near identical programme under the new name of 2TV
2TV
2TV was an Irish music programme broadcast on Sunday mornings on both Network 2 television and RTE 2fm radio from 1995 until at least 2001, even during the summer months...
. The Beat Box and 2TV were both broadcast on 2FM RTÉ's popular music radio station.
No Disco
No Disco
No Disco was RTÉ's flagship music television programme, broadcast on Irish television channel, Network 2, from 1993 - 2003. It was presented by Donal Dineen, Uaneen Fitzsimons and, following the death of Fitzsimons, Lawrence "Leagues" O'Toole...
was an alternative music show for late night TV from 1993 to 2003, it was hosted by initially by Donal Dineen
Donal Dineen
Donal Dineen is an Irish radio presenter, photographer, film maker and former television presenter from County Kerry. He currently presents an assortment of electronica and world music on his Small Hours late-night radio show on Today FM...
who left to present radio on Radio Ireland in 1997. Uaneen Fitzsimons took his place on the show, seen as a major upcoming television talent, Uaneen died in a road accident in 2000. She had made a significant name for herself on the show, her knowledge of the music industry, her love of the music and her respect for her guests was apparent throughout the show. When Under Ether is a music magazine show launched in 2009 and focuses on alternative, indie and electronica music.
In 1997 Later On 2
Later On 2
Later On 2 was part of the Network 2/RTÉ Two N2 rebrand of 1997. It was broadcast after News 2 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night at 11:20pm.-Tuesday night:...
, Tuesday nights was the Arts review show presented by John Kelly who now presents a similar show on RTÉ One called The View (RTE). Also in 1997 RTÉ introduced a set of comedy television shows on the newly re-launched N2 service. Don't Feed The Gondolas
Don't Feed The Gondolas
Don't Feed the Gondolas is an Irish comedy panel show, similar in format to the BBC's Have I Got News For You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, that ran for four series on Network 2 between 1997 and 2001...
or DFTG was presented by Sean Moncreiff and later by Brendan O'Connor
Brendan O'Connor (journalist)
Brendan O'Connor is an Irish journalist, comedian, media personality and retired pop star. Since 2010 he has presented The Saturday Night Show on RTÉ One. O'Connor is a columnist for the Sunday Independent, and is editor of the newspaper's Life Magazine.O'Connor's pop career has included a stint...
. In the initial years Brendan O'Connor was one of the main team captains, during the final season Brendan O'Connor became the main host with only 3 guests. Other shows to begin that year included Rodge and Podge:A Scare at Bedtime and @LastTV a fast paced review show with interviews, comedy sketches and music.
In 2009 RTÉ Two revamped its Entertainment season with critics and fans still undecided about new titles which included The Byrne Ultimatum, Meave Higgan's Fancy Vittles, The Republic of Telly and Podge & Rodge's Stickit Inn
Podge & Rodge's Stickit Inn
Podge and Rodge's Stickit Inn is an Irish Comedy entertainment show, broadcast and produced by RTÉ, featuring the popular puppet characters Podge and Rodge as hosts...
.
RTÉ Two's schedule is carefully made so as to maximise the viewing figures for RTÉ Two but not at the expense of its sister channel, RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
.
RTÉ Two main analogue transmitters
| UHF | VHF | Location |
|---|---|---|
| - | G | Mullaghanish |
| - | G | Truskmore |
| - | H | Kippure |
| - | H | Maghera |
| - | I | Mount Leinster |
| 26 | - | Holywell Hill |
| 33 | - | Three Rock |
| 43 | - | Cairn Hill Carn Clonhugh Carn Clonhugh is a hill just north of Longford Town, Ireland, approximately halfway between Drumlish and Ballinalee in the parish of Killoe. It is the highest point in County Longford. The hill is almost 300 metres above sea level, and has a transmitter situated on the top which rises... |
| 56 | - | Clermont Carn |
| 57 | - | Spur Hill |
- Source: http://www.wolfbane.com/articles/eitv.htm (Accessed 18 October 2006)