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.
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.
ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a claim now held by its sister service ITV3 both of which are freely available to a majority of households.
ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9pm, replacing Plus (Granada). ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel by audience share and the largest after the five main terrestrial services, the position which was previously held by its sister station ITV2. The channel is known for repeats of ITV dramas, and including sequential reruns of Agatha Christie's Poirot, Classic Coronation Street, Classic Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Inspector Morse and A Touch of Frost, amongst others.
Chorus, officially Chorus Communication Limited, was a communications provider in Ireland offering internet, television and telephone services. It was owned by Liberty Global Europe and ultimately controlled by John C. Malone's Liberty Media.
FashionTV is an international fashion and lifestyle broadcasting television channel. Founded in France in 1997, by its Polish-born president Michel Adam Lisowski, FashionTV is a widely distributed satellite channels in the world with 31 satellite and 2,000 cable systems. As of 2014, it had 400 million views all over the world.
Virgin Media Two, also called Virgin Two, is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by Virgin Media Television.
More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, and it also shows dramas and comedies, though often late at night.
NTL Communications (Ireland) Limited was a cable television and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) company in Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by Liberty Global Europe, having been divested by NTL. It was rebranded as UPC Ireland.
Outside TV is a sports-oriented cable and satellite television network based on Outside magazine. The network features programming related to various outdoor activities and the lives of those who engage in them. High-definition programs appear on the company's cable, satellite, telco and broadband providers’ sports and entertainment offerings.
Bubble Hits was an Irish-owned digital television music channel owned by Creative Sounds. It broadcast two channels, one for Ireland, and a Pan-European feed which covered the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Germany. On 13 February 2009, Bubble Hits went off air and was removed from most of TV EPGs. The websites, including the official one and social networking versions on MySpace and Bebo l, were also removed. The closure of the channel was due to the current downturn in advertising revenue.
Channel [V] Australia was an Australian subscription television music channel that was available on Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar satellite and cable services. It was also previously available in New Zealand on TelstraSaturn's cable TV service in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch, until a channel shake-up occurred under new owners TelstraClear in 2002.
Virgin TV is a digital pay cable television service in the United Kingdom, owned by Liberty Global (50%) and Telefónica (50%) after the merger its UK businesses to form Virgin Media O2. Its origins date from NTL and Telewest, formerly two of the UK's largest cable operators, which merged on 6 March 2006. All NTL:Telewest services were rebranded as Virgin Media in February 2007. Since the acquisition of Smallworld Cable in 2014, Virgin is the sole national cable TV provider in Great Britain. Currently about 51% of UK households have access to Virgin's network, which is independent from BT's Openreach network.
Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital (VoIP) telephony to 1 million customers. Until 4 May 2010, Virgin Media Ireland traded under the name Chorus NTL and UPC Ireland until 5 October 2015. Its main competitors in the Irish pay TV market are Sky Ireland, Eir and Vodafone Ireland.
The Box Plus Network was a British television company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation, it specialised in music programming.
UPC was the largest cable operator in Switzerland with around 1.1 million residential and business customers and was formed in 1994 through the merger of several cable operators. UPC has been a subsidiary of Liberty Global since 2005.
MTV Live is an international 24-hour high-definition live music pay television network that is operated by Paramount International Networks' subsidiary Paramount Networks EMEAA. The channel is currently available in Europe, Latin America, Oceania, Middle East and North Africa and Asia.
UPC Nederland was the second largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers.
Virgin Media Player is a live streaming and on demand video service available in Ireland, provided by Virgin Media Television, a subsidiary of Virgin Media Ireland, for programmes broadcast on the company's television channels.
The distribution of cable television around the world:
