TG4
TG4 - Teilifis Gaeilge is a television channel for Irish speakers, launched in 1996, and it has some links to the Irish state broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann. While 730,000 viewers tune in to the station every day, the core audience is more in the region of 100,000. The daily Irish language programme schedule is its core service: over seven hours of programming in Irish supported by a wide range of material in other languages.
TG4 invests over ?15m annually in original Irish programming from the independent production sector in Ireland. The channel has had a major role in increasing the profile of Ireland's Gaelic-speaking minority, which is mostly resident in rural west-coast communities but is increasingly represented by a self-confident and vibrant community in Ireland's cities. Considered technologically innovative and creative, TG4 (known as Teilifís na Gaeilge (TnaG) before a rebranding campaign in 1999) is making some of its programming available on the internet to subscribers. The soap opera Ros na Rún is one of its most popular programmes, and the station has a developed a reputation for ground-breaking independently produced documentaries.
TG4 is operated by Serbhisi Telefis na Gaelige Teoreanta, a subsidary of Radio Telefis Eireann. It also has a seperate advisory council, Comhairle Telefis na Gaelige. It however operates completely seperately from the rest of the RTE corporate structure, though RTE does provide one hour of free programming a day, and Nuacht TG4 is produced by RTE News. Under the Broadcasting Act 2001, the assets of TG4 can be transferred to a new public corporation independent of RTE, called Telefis na Gaelige. However this portion of the act has yet to be commenced. Current speculation is that it may come into affect in 2006.
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