2006 in Irish television

List of years in Irish television (table)
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The following is a list of events relating to television in Ireland from 2006.

Events

January

  • 16 January – Canwest announces its intention to sell its stake in TV3.[1]

February

  • No events

March

April

  • No events

May

  • 26 May – At its annual general meeting in Belfast Ulster Television plc formally changes its name to UTV plc, taking the decision because it believes that the existing name no longer reflected the full scope of the company's business.

June

  • No events

July

  • No events

August

  • 23 August – ITV secures a deal to sell its 45% stake in TV3 for £70m.[3]
  • 29 August – Scottish Media Group – owners of the STV network – officially rejects a merger offer from Northern Irish ITV franchise holder UTV. The merger approach from would have given SMG shareholders a 52% stake in the combined company.[4]

September

  • No events

October

November

  • 3 November – Ray Kennedy presented the final Sky News Ireland programme at 10.00pm.[6] No further Sky News Ireland bulletins were broadcast after this because the staff walked out.
  • 24 November – An edition of The Late Late Show is briefly interrupted by an intruder who makes his way onto the stage to hurl abuse at host Pat Kenny. An individual is arrested and released, but re-arrested on 2 December for driving his car into the entrance of RTÉ's Donnybrook headquarters.[7]

December

  • 4 December – The UK's Channel 4 becomes available to viewers in Ireland via Sky.

Unknown

  • Launch of Setanta Ireland, a channel dedicated to sport, showing both local and international sporting events.

Debuts

RTÉ

TV3

TG4

Channel 6

BBC

Changes of network affiliation

Shows Moved from Moved to
Little Monsters TG4 RTÉ2

Ongoing television programmes

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Ending this year

See also

References

  1. ^ "Canwest to sell share in TV3". RTÉ News. 16 January 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  2. ^ Welsh, James (28 March 2006). "Surprise government posting for Gay Byrne". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  3. ^ Wray, Richard (24 August 2006). "ITV sells £70m stake in Irish broadcaster TV3". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  4. ^ Day, Julia (29 August 2006). "SMG turns down UTV merger bid". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
  5. ^ "Sky News Ireland operation cut back". RTÉ News. Rte.ie. 31 October 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  6. ^ "Ray Kennedy presents the final Sky News Ireland programme". YouTube. 3 November 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  7. ^ Murphy, Cormac; Nolan, Larissa (3 December 2006). "Late Late intruder in second RTÉ arrest". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2012.