TG4

TG4 (pronounced tee-gee cah-hur) is a public service broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland. The station is available via the analogue and digital terrestrial networks. Its headquarters are in Baile na hAbhann, located in the Gaeltacht (Irish-language speaking areas) of County Galway.

It first went on-air on 31st October 1996 as Teilifís na Gaeilge, as the third national television network of the Republic of Ireland. The channel changed its name to TG4 in 1999, a year after TV3 went on-air. When it was established, TG4 was run by an authority board with representatives from RTÉ, the Department of Communications and Údarás na Gaeltachta (the Irish-language social and economic development agency).

The station has been an independent statutory entity, with its own board separate from RTÉ involvement, since 2007. In the same year, it became a member of the EBU, and in 2008, it was a founding member of the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network. Since its launch, TG4 has used the “publisher-broadcaster” model like the UK’s Channel 4. Although its corporate links with RTÉ have been severed, RTÉ still provides TG4 with its news service as part of 365 hours of programming a year at no cost, a condition of the 2009 Broadcasting Act. It receives funding from the Department of Communications via a share of the licence, in addition to grants from the Broadcasting Commission Ireland’s “Sound and Vision” project, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund administered by Northern Ireland Screen and advertising revenue.

TG4 is available to viewers in Northern Ireland via Sky Digital (as part of the Bonus Pack) and Virgin Media (as part of the M package). The channel also broadcasts on a low power from the Divis transmitter outside Belfast, and its analogue and digital broadcasts from the Republic of Ireland’s transmitter networks can be picked up in various parts of Northern Ireland. Provision will be made for TG4 to be broadcast as a free-to-air service, in addition to the RTÉ channels, on all platforms following the digital switchover in Northern Ireland in 2012.