Bubble Hits was an Irish-owned

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

music channel owned by Creative Sounds. It broadcast two channels, one for Ireland, and a Pan-European feed which covered the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Germany. On 13 February 2009, Bubble Hits went off air and was removed from most of TV

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

s. The websites, including the official one and social networking versions on MySpace and

Bebo Bebo ( ) was an American Social networking service, social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013 and relaunched in February 2021. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number ...

l, were also removed. The closure of the channel was due to the current downturn in advertising revenue.

Location

Bubble Hits studios were located in

Ashbourne, County Meath Ashbourne, historically called ''Killeglan'' or ''Kildeglan'' (), is a town in County Meath, Ireland. Located about 20 km north of Dublin and close to the M2 motorway, Ashbourne is a commuter town within Greater Dublin. In the 20 years be ...

, Ireland at the Creative Sounds studios. The channel was broadcast

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

, therefore viewers did not need to have a Sky

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

to view it. Despite being Irish-owned, it was not licensed by the

Broadcasting Commission of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ( ga, Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ( ga, Coimisiún Craolacháin na hÉireann). The BAI is ...

(BCI) but instead by the UK's

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

to " Creative Sounds UK", who are based in

Northchapel Northchapel is a village and civil parish in Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It stands on the A283 road just south of the Surrey border, around 9 km north of Petworth. The village is believed to have taken its name from a churc ...

. This is not unusual amongst Irish channels, as well as those from other countries with restrictive broadcasting legislation, such as Sweden. The decision may also have been due to BCI's requirements that a significant percentage of programming must be Irish-produced.

Advertising

Originally Bubble Hits claimed to be Europe's only music channel without adverts. By February 2007, the channel started carrying adverts. Adverts usually lasted 60 seconds and appeared after 3 song intervals. The station promised to be no more than 60 seconds away from the next song. Commercial breaks appeared to consist of only two advertisements. This was a unique approach to advertising amongst channels within Europe.

Bubble Hits (Ireland)

A specific Bubble Hits channel for the Irish market (

Bubble Hits Ireland Bubble Hits Ireland was a short-lived Irish owned digital television music channel operated by Creative Sounds. Bubble Hits Ireland aim to be a much-needed platform for Irish bands and artists to showcase their music alongside the current progra ...

) launched on Sky Digital,

UPC Ireland Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and d ...

Smart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * ''SMart'', a children's television ser ...

Magnet Networks Magnet Networks is an Irish company providing telephone, television and broadband internet via subscription over an optical fiber-HFC cable network. Magnet Networks was launched in Dublin in 2004, and is wholly owned by the US-based international ...

, SCTV on Monday 19 May 2008. With specific programming and advertising, the schedule featured more localised content including music videos, music shows, chart shows and entertainment news specific to Ireland & it was also localised by Irish advertisements. http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=MEDIA+AND+MARKETING-qqqs=mediaandmarketing-qqqid=24085-qqqx=1.asp bubble hits Ireland closed on the same day as the uk version

Bubble Hits (Pan-Europe)

It was available on satellite, mainly Sky Digital, in the UK. The channel was available

Eutelsat 28A Eutelsat 133 West A (formerly Eurobird 1, Eutelsat 28A, and Eutelsat 33C) is a Eutelsat operated Eurobird satellite, used primarily for digital television. It was launched in March 2001, and after a short period testing at 33°E, joined Eutelsat ...

in Ireland, Germany, Poland, Hungary and other parts of Europe. The channel was localised with UK advertisements. Launched on 16 August 2006 this channel served the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Hungary. This channel also served Ireland until the launch of

on 19 May 2008. On 13 February 2009 the channel ceased transmission.

Former Programmes

*''

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'' – The official European Top 30 chart, videos selected from 11 European countries. *'' Poptastic Hits'' – The latest pop hits *'' iBubble'' –

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

request show *''

Bubble Fresh Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

'' – brand new video show sponsored by

Veet Veet, formerly called Neet and Immac, is a Canadian brand of chemical depilatory products manufactured by the British company Reckitt. Hair removal cream, Lotions, gel, mousse, and wax products are produced under this brand, with differing variant ...

*''

Pop Pop Pop ''Tangk'' is the upcoming fifth studio album by British rock band Idles, scheduled to be released on 16 February 2024 through Partisan Records. It was co-produced by Kenny Beats, Nigel Godrich and Idles member Mark Bowen. It has been preceded b ...

'' – non-stop pop video show sponsored by

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

.com *''

Most Wanted Most Wanted may refer to: Law enforcement A most wanted list used by a law enforcement agency to alert the public, such as: *FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives *FBI Most Wanted Terrorists *ICE Most Wanted *List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords *Lis ...

'' – daily chart show of the highest requested songs of the day sponsored by Jamster *'' Glenda's Showbiz Gossip'' – nightly entertainment news updates every night from 16:00.

Former Presenters

*''

Glenda Gilson Glenda Gilson (born 3 March 1981) is an Irish people, Irish former Model (person), model and television presenter. Career Beauty Gilson represented Ireland in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic in 2002 in Oahu and went on to win the title for Europe. Her ...

'' *''

Liam McKenna Six were an Irish pop group who formed on the Irish version of the television programme '' Popstars'' in 2002. The programme aired on RTÉ One on Sunday nights in the autumn and winter of 2001–02. The band were signed to Simon Cowell under ...

'' *''

Louis Walsh Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He later bec ...

Ownership

The station was operated by James Hyland and Lee Walsh. The pair were listed as 27th richest under-30-year-olds in Ireland in a TV show entitled, "Young, Irish and Wealthy" broadcast on 28 December 2008 on national Irish television station

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

. However, there has been some discussion and debate as to the accuracy of the list.

Competition

*Bubble Hits was the only independent music channel broadcasting into Ireland or the UK without being owned by

CSC CSC, Csc or CSc may refer to: Awards * Conspicuous Service Cross (disambiguation) ** Conspicuous Service Cross (Australia) ** Conspicuous Service Cross (New York) ** Conspicuous Service Cross (United Kingdom) Science and industry * Cancer ...

MTV Networks Europe Paramount Networks Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA) is a division of Paramount International Networks which is fully owned by Paramount Global. The unit's headquarters are in Berlin, with additional offices in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Am ...

EMAP Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Ric ...

. *Bubble Hits was watched by more than

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

in the UK and Ireland. In February 2007 Bubble Hits took 6% of

's audience (16- to 34-year-olds) by May 2007 it has risen to 9%. ource:_Irish_Examiner_(04.08.2007).html" ;"title="Irish_Examiner.html" ;"title="ource: Irish Examiner">ource: Irish Examiner (04.08.2007)">Irish_Examiner.html" ;"title="ource: Irish Examiner">ource: Irish Examiner (04.08.2007)*Bubble Hits claimed to have more than 2.5 million viewers from both Ireland and the UK. ource:_Irish_Examiner_(04.08.2007).html" ;"title="Irish_Examiner.html" ;"title="ource: Irish Examiner">ource: Irish Examiner (04.08.2007)">Irish_Examiner.html" ;"title="ource: Irish Examiner">ource: Irish Examiner (04.08.2007)

References

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country. ...

Weekend edition (04.08.2007) '

Bubble Up Bubble Up is a lemon-lime soft drink brand created in 1919, by Sweet Valley Products Co. of Sandusky, Ohio. It is now manufactured by the Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC for the United States, Canada, and Mexico ...

' (article)

External links

*Bubble Hits promises new music channel for Ireland: archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2007/06/03/story24085.asp
Official site
Currently unavailable
Bubble Hits' MySpace page
Now inactive and been removed

{{Irish Television Channels Television networks in Ireland Television stations in Ireland Music television channels 2006 establishments in Ireland Television channels and stations established in 2006 Defunct British television channels Music organisations based in Ireland