RTÉ News Now
RTÉ News Now is an Irish free-to-air news television network operated by Irish State-broadcaster RTÉ. The channel launched as RTÉ News Now available exclusively online on 12 June 2008. The channel began broadcasting as a free-to-air channel on 29 October 2010 on Saorview.
| RTÉ News Now | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Launched | 12 June 2008 |
| Owned by | Raidió Teilifís Éireann |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English Irish Irish Sign Language |
| Broadcast area | Ireland |
| Headquarters | Donnybrook, Dublin |
| Sister channel(s) | RTÉ One RTÉ2 RTÉjr |
| Website | rte |
Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Saorview | Channel 21 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Ireland | Channel 521 |
| Astra 2E (28.2°E) | 11914 H 27500 5/6 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media Ireland | Channel 200 |
| IPTV | |
| eir Vision | Channel 517 |
| Streaming media | |
| RTÉ News | Watch live (Worldwide) |
| UPC Horizon | Watch live (Ireland only) |
| Aer TV | Watch live (Ireland only) |
| RTÉ Player | Watch live (available depending on rights) |
The channel broadcasts free-to-air and commercial-free.[1] It is available in Ireland and globally online, on mobile phones and an iPhone/iPad application is also widely available free.[2][3] It is operated by RTÉ's department RTÉ News and Current Affairs and broadcasts in the Irish, English and ISL languages.
History
RTÉ News Now was originally available only to online users of the RTÉ website and on mobile phones when the channel launched on 12 June 2008.[4] Availability of the channel improved during test trials of Saorview in December 2009. The channel has been made available since May 2010 on train services within Dublin city and surrounding regions under a special agreement between CIÉ and RTÉ.[5] Previously, Sky News provided such a service. Since October 29, 2010 the channel is available free-to-air to 98% of homes throughout the Republic of Ireland through Saorview. Upon the announcement in February 2011[6] that RTÉ News Now would become a permanent fixture to the Saorview line-up a number of media organizations criticized such a move claiming RTÉ would continue to have a monopoly over news output within Ireland.[7]
In 2017 Head of News and Current Affairs at RTÉ Jon Williams has suggested he could discontinue RTÉ News Now to save money.
Advertising
RTÉ News Now is currently one of only two RTÉ channels that does not carry advertising. The other being RTÉjr. In January 2015 it was reported that RTÉ intend to ask the Minister for Communications to allow them carry advertising on RTÉ News Now as part of an overhaul of the service. The broadcaster has put forward a proposal to add advertising to the channel in the near future, such a proposal needs government sanction.
Format
- The channel regularly simulcasts live news bulletins and current affairs programmes as they are broadcast on RTÉ One and/or RTÉ Two. The remaining programming on the channel serves as a replay service of the most recent news, sport and weather bulletins, the streaming of raw feeds of breaking news stories and 'filler' programmes such as 'news headlines'. The channel also airs the latest breaking news stories from Ireland and around the world.
Scheduling
The channel airs live news programmes such as Six One, as they are broadcast on other RTÉ channels, along with weather forecasts. During other periods, live current affairs programmes such as Prime Time are shown. Outside of these hours the most recent show is repeated, looped, unless interrupted by live feeds of breaking news stories. Up-to-the-minute financial data and weather are also broadcast on-air. As with many other stations, a live ticker is provided, across the bottom of the screen, providing headlines sourced from content on the broadcaster's website.
RTÉ have a number of bulletins on the channel that do not air on RTÉ One or RTÉ Two; they also provide a live Irish language news bulletin at 17:00 each weekday. They provide special reports from different news and current affairs programming, this is identified as RTÉ News Now Highlights. News2Day also appears on the channel.
RTÉ have proposed some other changes to the RTÉ News Now schedule:
- Television news bulletins at 08:00 and 09:00 during Morning Ireland
- Sporting events that RTÉ have rights to but cannot currently provide coverage due to scheduling conflicts
- Extra sporting analysis that currently runs on RTÉ's live Internet service[8]
Programming
The channel broadcasts a mix of news and current affairs shows.
News
The channel airs the following RTÉ news programmes live:
- Morning Ireland
- RTÉ News: One O'Clock
- RTÉ News: Six One
- RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock
- RTÉ News @ 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 15.00, 16.00 & 23:00
- Nuacht RTÉ at 17.00 and at 17.40 (Irish language) (including RTÉ News with Signing)
- News2day (Children's news bulletin)
Regular news bulletins and weather forecasts shown on RTÉ One and Two throughout the day are also simulcast on RTÉ News Now.
Typical Weekday Schedule
As of April 2019, the following is a typical weekday schedule currently broadcast on the channel:
- 7.00am - Morning Ireland: Live simulcast of the RTE Radio 1 morning news programme, broadcast from their studio webcam
- 9.00am - Euronews Good Morning Europe: Live simulcast of Euronews
- 10.00am - RTE News followed by a live simulcast of RTE Radio 1's Today with Sean O'Rourke
- 11.00am - RTE News Bulletin at 11, repeated through on a loop for the rest of the hour
- 12.00pm - RTE News Bulletin at 12, repeated through on a loop for the rest of the hour
- 1.00pm - RTE News: One O'Clock. Live simulcast of RTE One's lunchtime news bulletin
- 1.30pm - The One O'Clock News is repeated on a loop until 3.00pm
- 3.00pm - RTE News Bulletin at 3, repeated through on a loop for the rest of the hour
- 4.00pm - RTE News Bulletin at 4, repeated through on a loop for the rest of the hour (includes live simulcast of News2Day at 4.25pm)
- 5.00pm - Nuacht RTE le TG4, repeated on a loop until 5.40pm
- 5.40pm - Nuacht RTE le TG4 and News for the Deaf: Live simulcast with RTE One
- 6.01pm - RTE Six One News: Live simulcast of RTE One's flagship early evening news bulletin
- 7.00pm - Euronews Raw Politics: Live simulcast of Euronews
- 8.00pm - RTE Six One News repeated
- 9.00pm - RTE News: Nine O'Clock. Live simulcast of RTE One's main evening news bulletin
- 9.35pm - Depending on the day of the week, RTE News Now simulcasts live RTE One current affairs shows such as The Late Debate, Clare Byrne Live and Prime Time. If any of these shows are not on the air, RTE News Now simply repeats the Nine O'Clock News.
- 11.00pm - After a late live RTE News Update at 11.00pm, the channel hands over to Euronews, which is then simulcast through the night until 7.00am.
- Up-to-date changes in the schedule of the channel are outlined on the official schedules website of RTE.
Raw Politics
euronews' Raw Politics broadcasts on the channel each day since November 2018 airing separate to the Euronews channel.
Breaking news
RTÉ News Now provides detailed analysis of breaking news stories domestically and internationally.
Overnight and special simulcasts
RTÉ News Now simulcasts Euronews from 23:00 to 7:00 every day.
RTÉ Weather
RTÉ Weather provides the channel with weather updates, some updates are a re-broadcast of what has previously aired across RTÉ television or updates produced specific to the channel. Due to commercial advertising being prohibited from the channel weather updates have no sponsorship unlike other updates across RTÉ television and radio.
RTÉ TEN
RTÉ TEN (The Entertainment Network) provides viewers with up-to-the minute showbiz news from music reviews, interviews, film premieres and more. The show airs daily and hosts a weekly round-up show each weekend.
Current affairs
It broadcasts these current affairs shows:[9]
SportsRTÉ News Now broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics, they also have a special highlights programming for the duration of the games provided by the Olympic Broadcast Services. They also broadcast some live sport for the 2016 Summer Olympics. They also broadcast the Camogie finals along with RTÉ Two. RTÉ News rebrand The RTÉ News Studio in 2009 On 9 February 2009 RTÉ News received a major revamp, with a new 'walk-around' studio, new music, titles and graphics. The new look also lead to the revamp of RTÉs New's Now on-screen rolling tickers. Weather forecasts form of a core of the news bulletins, like much of RTÉ's news. During commercial breaks a new RTÉ News Now ident is shown. On 25 May 2011 RTÉ News Now revamped its on-screen identity giving viewers more detailed content. In late 2014, RTÉ News Now is set for another rebrand.[10] On 30 November 2014 RTÉ News Now revealed its new on-air identity inline with RTÉ News rebrand in early 2014.[11]
RTÉ News and Current Affairs not available on News Now
AvailabilityThe channel is available nationwide as of 29 October 2010 on Saorview, Ireland's national digital terrestrial service. On 2 October 2012 it also launched on UPC Ireland.[12] On 18 January 2016 it launched on Sky Ireland. The channel is available online throughout the world, without restriction. The service is available through a special iPhone application.[13] Currently, the service is available in Windows Media Player and RealPlayer formats,[14] and in Flash H.264 format on the Ireland-only RTÉ player.[15] On 19 January 2010 RTÉ announced a new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.[16] It was announced on 19 May 2010 that RTÉ News Now would begin appearing on Transvision digital screens in the main Dublin Bus and Train stations (Heuston, Connolly, Pearse and Busaras).[17] In November 2010, the service became available, free of charge, on Android smartphone customers through the app store, Android Market for use over 3G networks and wi-fi, regardless of service provider. RTÉ News Now AppOn Thursday 17 April 2014[18] RTÉ News Now launched a new app for both iPhone and Android. With over 1 million downloads the service is the most used news app in the Republic of Ireland. The next generation News Now App provide users with an expanded range of content, new features and an innovative, market-leading app experience. The service will eventually be made available on iPad and other tablets.[18] RTÉ News Now Strategy: 2012 to 2017 and Possible ClosureOn 16 September 2013 RTÉ management announced its Strategy:2012-2017. Under the strategy RTÉ confirmed its commitment to the 24 hour news channel.[19] It is hoped that the channel will broadcast live bulletins from 07:00 - 00:00 with fewer repeats. Over 80% of the channels existing content is made-up of repeats with exception to live news broadcasts and breaking news stories.[20] RTÉ want to drive the channel towards becoming "the driver of the 24-hour news cycle.” By 2018, due to the lack of revenue available for the channel and low viewing figures, RTÉ's Dee Forbes confirmed her intention to close the channel by early 2019 following a review by the government and broadcasting authorities. An internal review within RTÉ will also determine the stations closure. As of April 2019 no decision has yet been announced on the channel's future and it is still on air. With early morning news bulletins discontinued on RTE 1, the only morning news coverage on RTE Television is now provided on RTE News Now with the live simulcast of RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland web-stream and short news updates at 10.00am and 11.00am.[21]. AwardsIn October 2008, RTÉ News Now won the award for Business Services at the Inspired IT Awards in Dublin.[22] In November 2010, RTÉ News Now iPhone app won Best Media app, Best Apple App and the Grand Prix awards at 'The Appy's 2010 with The Carphone Wareshouse'.[23]  RTÉ News Now Logo 2009-2014 See also
References
External links
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