BBC Northern Ireland

Last updated

BBC Northern Ireland
TV stations BBC One Northern Ireland
BBC Two Northern Ireland
Radio stations BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Radio Foyle
HeadquartersBroadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Area Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Launch date
15 September 1924;100 years ago (1924-09-15)
Official website
 www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland
LanguageEnglish
Irish

BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Contents

BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Scotland and BBC Cymru Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content. BBC Northern Ireland currently employs 700 people, largely in Belfast.

BBC Northern Ireland has two TV channels - BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Two Northern Ireland; and two radio stations - BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle.

Television

The logo of BBC Northern Ireland between 1988 and 1997. BBC logo (pre97; Northern Ireland).svg
The logo of BBC Northern Ireland between 1988 and 1997.
Broadcasting House, Belfast, Headquarters of the BBC in Northern Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland Belfast.jpg
Broadcasting House, Belfast, Headquarters of the BBC in Northern Ireland.

BBC Northern Ireland operates two television stations: BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC Two Northern Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland funds an opt-out service with the majority of this output made in the independent sector. Some output that originates in London (so-called 'network' programmes) are time-shifted to create appropriate slots for programming that is more appealing to the BBC audience in NI.

Prior to 27 October 2006, BBC Two NI was a digital only service while BBC Two Northern Ireland was available on analogue transmission. Since 28 October 2006, BBC Two Northern Ireland has been the on-air name for both services which have been merged.

BBC Northern Ireland has its own team of continuity announcers which introduce the vast majority of programmes on BBC One and BBC Two in Northern Ireland.

Regional television

Network output

As well as programmes intended purely for an audience in NI, BBC Northern Ireland also funds or often co-funds output for pan-UK consumption on both the player and other BBC channels. in 2021 network output is principally in drama. [1]

It was announced in June 2019 that the BBC quiz show Mastermind would now be produced from BBC NI. [2]

BBC Northern Ireland is also involved more occasionally in co-productions with other broadcasting networks, most notably with the Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Republic of Ireland

Radio

BBC Northern Ireland operates two radio stations:

BBC Northern Ireland takes part in the 'Regionalisation' of some of the BBC's national radio output. From the late 1990s until 2012, for example, Radio 1 split the home nations on Thursday morning from midnight to 2 a.m., with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland broadcasting their own shows to showcase regional talent. The Radio 1 session from Northern Ireland was last presented by Phil Taggart from Omagh.

Online

BBC Northern Ireland's online service provides News, Sport, Schools, Learning and Programme information for television and radio programmes. It provides a streaming audio service for Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle as well as every programme on demand for up to a week after transmission. bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ is part of BBC Online and operated from the Belfast base. It also provides multi platform interactivity for TV programmes including the annual Schools' Cup Rugby union and Gaelic Athletic Association finals.

Programmes

Radio

Television

Television news bulletins

Selection of network programmes

Sports

BBC NI has, at various times, over the last decades of the 20th century and the early decades of the 21st, provided live and pre-recorded coverage of all three major male sports in NI - Irish League soccer, Ulster Rugby and GAA. In the increasingly expensive world of sports rights and contracts the regional output has never covered all three concurrently but covers the sports extensively in radio news bulletins.

Languages

BBC Northern Ireland broadcasts almost exclusively in English, but there is some output in Irish and Ulster Scots. Radio Ulster carries a daily programme in Irish and there is an Irish language section on BBC Northern Ireland's website. Northern Ireland Screen helps co-fund television output in both Irish [6] and Ulster Scots. [7]

Technical

BBC Blackstaff House Blackstaff House, Belfast.jpg
BBC Blackstaff House

The BBC television and radio stations are broadcast primarily from the Divis (500 kW), Limavady and Brougher Mountain transmitters. Both transmitters receive the BBC stations via a satellite feeds and each transmitter has a wealth of relay transmitters to provide analogue service to areas not served by their respective main transmitter.

TV Studios

BBC Northern Ireland has three main television studios located in Belfast. There are two small studios located in the BBC Broadcasting House in Belfast. These are home to BBC Northern Ireland's regional news and current affairs programmes. They are around 2,000 sq ft (190 m2) each and are called Studio B and Studio 1.

The largest of the studios is called Studio A which is located in the BBC Blackstaff House on Great Victoria Street in Belfast. The studio measures 6,000 sq ft (560 m2). Studio A has been home to the award-winning local sitcom Give My Head Peace . Nolan Live for BBC One NI airs live from Studio A.

BBC NI broadcasters

Current BBC NI broadcasters

Former BBC NI broadcasters

Related Research Articles

Television in the Republic of Ireland is available through a variety of platforms. The digital terrestrial television service is known as Saorview and is the primary source of broadcast television since analogue transmissions ended on 24 October 2012. Digital satellite and digital cable are also widely used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TG4</span> Irish-language television network

TG4 is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UTV (TV channel)</span> Television channel in Northern Ireland

UTV is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc and is responsible for the regional news service and programmes made principally for the area by the UTV production team. It currently uses the network ITV1 channel with an opt-out service for local advertising and on-air promos for local programming.

<i>BBC Newsline</i> Television series

BBC Newsline is the BBC's national television news programme for Northern Ireland, broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland from the headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland in Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio Ulster</span> Radio station in Belfast, Northern Ireland

BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Nolan</span> Northern Irish radio and television presenter

Stephen Raymond Nolan is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 Live. Nolan is the highest earning BBC broadcaster in Northern Ireland. In the 2023–2024 financial year he earned a salary in the range of £405,000-£409,999 for his work on Radio Ulster, Nolan Live on BBC One and The Stephen Nolan Show on Radio 5 Live.

William Crawley, MRIA, is a Belfast-born BBC journalist and broadcaster. He is the presenter of Talkback, a daily radio programme on BBC Radio Ulster, and he is a presenter of Sunday on BBC Radio 4. He has also made several television series for BBC Northern Ireland.

<i>BBC Look North</i> (Yorkshire and North Midlands) British TV news programme (since 1968)

BBC Look North is the BBC's regional television news service for West, South and North Yorkshire and northern parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The service is produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre at St. Peter's Square in Leeds with district newsrooms based in Bradford, Sheffield and York.

Q Radio is a Northern Irish radio station. It broadcasts to Greater Belfast on 96.7 MHz FM and on DAB Digital Radio across all of Northern Ireland. From 5 April 2007, Citybeat became available on 102.5FM for North Belfast, Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus. On 2 November 2007, Citybeat launched a third FM transmitter also broadcasting on 102.5FM for Bangor. Citybeat reaches a weekly audience of 127,000 listeners in Belfast, around 22% of the adult population. It has won both Arqiva 'Station of the Year' and Sony Awards. The station was rebranded as Q Radio on-air at 6pm on Sunday 9 August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Traynor</span> Irish television journalist

Donna Traynor was born in October 1964 and is a journalist and broadcaster in Northern Ireland. She is best known as the former main anchor of BBC Newsline.

Evening Extra is the BBC's drive time news and current affairs radio programme in Northern Ireland. It is broadcast live on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Sounds on weekday evenings, from 4pm to 6pm. It is presented by Richard Morgan, Tara Mills and Declan Harvey. The programme provides a daily round-up of the day's main news and sports stories, as well as the latest breaking news.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadcasting House, Belfast</span> Headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland

Broadcasting House, Belfast is the headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland and operates many of its broadcasting services. The building is located on Ormeau Avenue in Belfast city centre, at the junction with Bedford Street. Public tours of the building are available.

The media in Northern Ireland are closely linked to those in the rest of the United Kingdom, and also overlap with print, television, and radio in the Republic of Ireland.

<i>The Nolan Show</i> Radio show

The Nolan Show, hosted by Stephen Nolan, airs on weekdays on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle from 9:00 am – 10:30 am.

Television in Northern Ireland is available using, digital terrestrial, digital satellite and cable.

The Crown dependency of the Isle of Man does not have any television channels of its own but receives United Kingdom television channels.

Sarah Jane Brett is an Irish radio presenter, who broadcasts on BBC Radio Ulster's breakfast show.

This is a timeline of the history of Ulster Television. It provides the ITV network service for Northern Ireland.

This is a timeline of television in Northern Ireland.

This is a timeline of the development of radio in Northern Ireland.

References

  1. ↑ "Bloodlands airs on BBC One from Sunday 21st February". Northern Ireland Screen. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  2. ↑ Carrigan, Christine (7 February 2019). "Quiz show Mastermind is relocating to Northern Ireland". BelfastLive. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Saorview Combi Channels". Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Saorview/ Freeview Overspill Advice". Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  5. ↑ BBC Northern Ireland Drama bbc.co.uk
  6. ↑ "Forléargas | Overview". Northern Ireland Screen. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Overview". Northern Ireland Screen. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  8. ↑ Media, P. A. (28 April 2024). "Tributes paid to veteran Northern Ireland journalist Stephen Grimason". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Donna Traynor quits BBC NI amid 'ongoing legal proceedings'". 15 November 2021.
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