TV channel for Irish emigrants is put on hold
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Thursday November 06 2008
A NEW TV channel for Irish emigrants has been shelved due to cutbacks in RTE.
'Diaspora TV' was due to be on air in the UK by St Patrick's Day, providing programming from the national stations to the 850,000 Irish-born people living there.
However, yesterday, it emerged that the channel, which would cost €2m a year to operate, had been pushed back until later in the year amid cost cuts in RTE.
Labour's Liz McManus said she was disappointed at the move and would write to Communications Minister Eamon Ryan about the matter.
"The importance of such a service is beyond dispute. There is strong demand for Irish TV abroad, particularly in Britain. Our emigrants want to keep in touch with home and things that are happening here," she said.
A spokesman for RTE said the launch would be "later in 2009". This channel is to be a hybrid of RTE One and RTE 2, with some additional programming from TG4. All news bulletins would be carried live. It would also carry a range of home-grown Irish programming. It is due to be broadcast on the new Freesat service in Britain.
- Shane Hickey
