Television in Northern Ireland is available using, digital terrestrial (known as

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

), digital satellite (from Sky &

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

) and cable (from Virgin Media). Analogue terrestrial used UHF 625 lines, in common with the rest of the UK, although transmission ceased in October 2012, as part of the

UK Digital Switchover The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Northern Ireland was the last region to switch over, in a process which coincided with the switchover in the Republic of Ireland. Both the analogue and digital networks are managed by

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

. Regulation of the broadcasting and telecommunications sector is regulated by Ofcom.

History

Television on the island of Ireland began with the launch of BBC in Northern Ireland ( BBC Northern Ireland) when it began broadcasting television programmes for the region 1953 (with a regular television service launching in 1955), followed in 1959 with the launch of Ulster Television (now known as UTV).

Digital terrestrial television

Digital terrestrial television is provided by the

service. As of October 2012, all analogue TV broadcasts have been shut down, and replaced by

Freeview HD Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Digital UK Ltd and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, t ...

(an MPEG-2 DVB-T & MPEG-4

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial tele ...

SD &

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

service). Northern Ireland was one of the last UK regions to switch off analogue signals and see the rollout of Freeview SD & HD. Formerly, only two-thirds of homes in Northern Ireland was able to receive Freeview services from the three main transmitters (Brougher Mountain, Divis and Limavady). At the time of the October 2012 switchover, the Freeview service was boosted in power and extended to relay transmitters for the first time, making it available to 98% of homes. DigitalUK's postcode checker advises consumers of Freeview availability at ww.digitaluk.co.uk digitaluk.co.uk Since the launch of DTT services in the Republic on 29 October 2010, some households will find that they can receive 'cross-border'

Saorview Saorview ( ) is the national digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in Ireland. It is owned by RTÉ and operated by 2RN. The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with a full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation i ...

DTT services. The extent to which it overlaps into Northern Ireland has to be determined as coverage expands.

Cable and satellite

As of August 2010, 12% of Northern Irish Viewers subscribe to cable services, while 48% of Northern Irish Viewers use Satellite as their platform for viewing TV according to an Ofcom report . The biggest single multichannel television network is

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, owned and operated by Sky UK, which broadcasts digital satellite television services. Another option for viewers is

, which provides FTA channels from the same Astra satellites as Sky. Virgin Media operates cable networks in Belfast and Derry. Viewers can receive RTÉ and TG4 via these multichannel networks, as well as, in much of Northern Ireland, overspill from terrestrial transmitters in the Republic.

Cross-border partnership

On 1 February 2010 the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

's Minister for Communications

Eamon Ryan Eamon Michael Ryan (born 28 July 1963) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport since June 2020 and Leader of the Green Party since May 2011. He ha ...

signed an agreement with the UK's Ben Bradshaw. This agreement will enable viewers within

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

to watch

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 ...

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

and

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

on a

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

basis as of 2012. The agreement between both jurisdictions will also guarantee that viewers within the Republic of Ireland will be able to view

BBC One Northern Ireland BBC One Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish television channel based on the UK-wide BBC One, owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland. The service is broadcast from Broadcasting House in Belfast. In the rest of the UK, BBC One Northern Irela ...

and BBC Two Northern Ireland on the Republic of Ireland's free-to-air service to debut in late 2010. A cross-border initiative has always been on the agenda for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

in the Republic of Ireland. However it was later announced that a change has occurred such that BBC services are now to be offered in the Republic of Ireland on a 'paid for' basis and not the original free-to-air basis. Following a broad range of technical work, the two Governments have now agreed an effective way to provide for the continuing provision of TG4 by building a new, low power TV multiplex in Northern Ireland. This multiplex will use the DVB-T2/MPEG-4 standard with a very robust modulation and a very strong FEC (error correction code). FreeviewHD branded equipment will be needed. In addition to carrying TG4, this multiplex, which will be part of the UK DTT system, will also carry RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 2.
/ref> When the new DVB-T2 multiplex is in operation – some Irish radio channels may be added. This would be expected to increase coverage of these channels in Northern Ireland, to 90% of the population in Northern Ireland to receive their services on a free-to-air basis, either through overspill as before or via the new multiplex in future. Foreseen as part of the agreement between both Governments is the establishment of a joint venture between RTÉ and TG4 to run the multiplex which will be licensed under the UK's Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 by Ofcom at the request of the UK Government. This will be a not-for-profit company. In addition, the licensee will have to put out to competitive tender all the elements of the multiplex operation which are contestable and the multiplex will be operated on a not-for-profit and open book basis.

References

External links