RTÉ One (Irish: RTÉ a hAon) is the Republic of Ireland's oldest and most popular television channel, operated by Irish state broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann. RTÉ One is almost universally available on the VHF and UHF bands on the island of Ireland (though VHF has mostly been phased out), and is available on the Sky Digital satellite service in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as cable and MMDS, including the Virgin Media digital cable service in Northern Ireland. The channel technically broadcasts 24 hours a day. The network's headquarters are in Donnybrook, Dublin.
Programming
RTÉ One carries both Irish made programmes, consisting of News, Current Affairs, Lifestyle programming and Drama together with imported acquired programmes. The channel's flagship programme is The Late Late Show, aired on Fridays at 21:30 WET/IST. The channel carries most RTÉ News and Current Affairs programmes. During breaking news events, news specials may be aired on the channel. RTÉ One also airs certain television shows from America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and UK although the majority of imports are broadcast on RTÉ's sister station RTÉ Two. Most of RTÉ's home produced drama and reality shows are broadcast on RTÉ One and the station is seen as the flagship of the RTÉ network.
On-air identity
- See main article: RTÉ One On-Air Identity
Throughout the years, RTÉ One has gone through many changes to its on-air identity, mostly in tune with the changing of the statutory logo of the cooperation that operates it. The average life of an RTÉ One ident is around three years, with minor modifications and changes along the way.
History
The station began life in 1961 as Telefís Éireann until they went 24-hours. It was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, upon the renaming of the Radio Éireann Authority to RTÉ, and became RTE1 upon the launch of RTÉ2 in 1978. Originally the station broadcast in black and white using the 405-line television system, but began 625-line PAL colour transmissions in 1969. The first Outside Broadcast made in colour for RTE Television was Ireland's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971. The BBC provided RTE with an OB Unit which could broadcast in colour, for the event. The first studios in RTE's headquarters in Donnybrook, Dublin were equipped for colour in 1972, this was followed by the news studios in 1974, drama studios in 1975 and finally Studio 1 in 1976, then the largest studio in RTE, were originally The Late Late Show came from.
RTÉ's Six-One main evening news bulletin.
RTÉ One was also the sole Irish TV channel until 1978, when RTÉ2 (also known for many years as Network 2) was created. Since 1998 RTÉ One also competes with TV3, RTÉ One today not only competes with the other Irish TV channels, but also with the UK TV networks and other satellite and cable channels that are widely available across Ireland through cable, MMDS and satellite subscription services.
It took a while before RTE One began broadcasting at hours similar to most other television networks at that time. From the 1960s until the mid 1970s, RTE Television would only broadcast from 5:35 pm until around 11:30 pm during the winter and only from 6:00 pm during the summer. In 1975 this changed slightly with transmission starting at around 3:30 pm/4:00 pm and concluding around midnight. In 1988 RTE One launched a new schedule with a new news bulletin at 1:00 pm. This meant daytime television finally came to RTE that year. It took another 8 years before RTE would broadcast in the mornings and finally 24 hours in 1996. To this day RTE One still does not have a proper breakfast television programme, compared to other national broadcasters around the world, they have left this to Ireland's commercial channel TV3 which has broadcast Ireland AM since 1999. RTE One instead shows repeats of different home produced shows such as The Afternoon Show, and imports such as Are You Being Served?, Allo allo, Neighbours, Dallas etc. Euronews provides RTE One viewers with early morning news coverage, with RTE One's first news bulletin of the day only airing at around 10:00am. However during the Olympics and special breaking news or election coverage, RTE One would provide a special bulletin in the morning.
Online content
From March 2007, content from RTÉ One (and its sister network RTÉ Two) has been available online on its website www.rte.ie. The shows are played in conjunction with RealPlayer. All add breaks are cut out and sponsorship in generally not followed through from the television. Certain shows, such as imports, have not been made available online as of yet, although there are plans to make them available online. Those imports that are online are not available to those outside the Republic of Ireland due to first run and licensing issues. There is also a move to diversify the content so it will be available for viewing on other platforms such as windows media player.
RTÉ in High-definition
RTÉ HD is a forthcoming channel to be launched in the very near future on the Sky+ HD service which currently covers the Republic of Ireland and soon to be on the new Digital terrestrial television service. The new HD network will be a simulcast of the RTÉ One and RTÉ Two network, and will be based on the BBC HD concept in the United Kingdom. The channel will mainly consist of programs from the RTÉ One network and will, in the beginning, broadcast programs such as sporting events and highly popular programs which are already filmed in high definition such as RTÉ News, The Late Late Show and You're A Star. It is also said that foreign imports already recorded in HD will also be bought in and broadcast simultaneously in HD.
RTÉ One Main Analogue Transmitters
- Main article: RTÉ Network Limited
- Source: [2] (Accessed 18 October 2006)
Typical RTÉ One evening schedule
Monday to Sunday
Note: News and Current Affairs are in Grey; Drama is in Blue; Sitcoms, Animation and Comedy are in Purple; Lifestyle programs are in Green; Factual programs and Documentaries are Yellow; Reality, Game shows and Talk shows are in Red; Sport is in Orange; Movies are in Pink.
Source
- ”Irish Viewers to get a '6' Sense Soon.” (9 February 2006). The Irish Independent Business p10
See also
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