Ireland’s first international channel, Irish TV, has launched its autumn season which will feature over 1,000 hours of home-produced programming. Over 40 new programmes will be delivered every week on local and international channel Irish TV, which commenced broadcasting in May.
‘On the Road with Lisa’ will see female artist Lisa McHugh take Irish musical legends out of their comfort zones as they learn new skills. New eight-part travel series ‘Kenny Wild’ will see journalist and author Dave Kenny embark on the road trip of a lifetime along the Wild Atlantic Way, taking on a series of challenges along the way. Killarney chef and YouTube sensation Paul Treyvaud will also take viewers out into the wild for his unconventional show, ‘Cooking with Treyvaud’, which will see him in culinary action in lakes and trees as well as his kitchen.
Country music legends Foster and Allen will be linking in with current artists such as X Factor winner Shayne Ward on their new weekly show. ‘Storytime’ is a new, educational children series which sees acclaimed Irish author Emma Heatherington share some of her favourite childhood stories. ‘The Fashion Sisters’ Anita and Donna Ross will ensure that viewers are up to date with the latest fashion trends and beauty tips. ‘Hypnovision’ will see Adrian Knight hit the towns and villages of Ireland in a comical hypnosis show, while ‘Grassroots’ will be launched as Ireland’s first 32-county farming show.
Irish TV will also be providing live coverage from the National Ploughing Championships as well as a series of live programmes leading up to the All-Ireland finals. Along with the scheduled new series, Irish TV produces a half-hour County Matters programme for each of the 32 counties once a week. The series has expanded to California, New York, Cleveland and Chicago to connect with the Irish communities in each of the locations.
“It has been a very exciting year for Irish TV as we have watched our programming and viewership grow since our launch in May,” said Head of Broadcast Malachi Cush. “A recent RED C Poll carried out for the station shows that 20% of the Irish population have watched Irish TV and 51% are aware of us, which is an extremely successful result in such a short time.
“We are extremely proud of all of our teams who work tirelessly throughout this country and farther afield to bring local stories to a global audience. We are creating a new platform for Ireland to talk to the world, with the added advantage of enabling advertisers within Ireland to talk to rural Ireland – both through the county programmes and our range of specialised offerings such as agriculture, food, fashion and music.”
Households in Ireland have access to Irish TV on Sky TV 191, Freesat 400, eircom eVision 191 and online at irishtv.ie. Irish TV is currently in negotiations with the UPC platform, while the channel will also be available throughout the USA, Asia and Australia.
