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In Northern Ireland, the main newspapers are The Irish News , seen as pro-Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Unionist-leaning Belfast Newsletter . The Belfast Telegraph is the main evening newspaper in Northern Ireland. In January 2005 Daily Ireland , which was somewhat supportive of Sinn Féin was launched. It contended (in line with its politics) to be an all-Ireland newspaper; however, its sales were far stronger in Northern Ireland and Dublin than the rest of the island, and it closed in September 2006.
Magazines include Fortnight, a monthly political and cultural magazine, (now defunct.) The Ulster Tatler is a lifestyle and society magazine, alongside sister publications Ulster Homes and Ulster Bride.
Regional newspapers are also published by Alpha Newspaper Group, Belfast Media Group, Johnston Publishing, North West of Ireland Printing and Publishing Company and others.
Opinion on Northern Ireland is as diverse as that in the general public, ranging from the strongly anti-Republican line of the Sunday Independent to the more sympathetic Sunday Business Post .
Radio
- Category: Radio stations in Northern Ireland
The first radio station to broadcast in Northern Ireland was 2BE Belfast, owned by the then British Broadcasting Company. Today, Northern Ireland has two national radio stations: BBC Radio Ulster , operated by the BBC, and the Ofcom-licensed Downtown Radio . The BBC also operates a local radio station in Derry, BBC Radio Foyle.
A number of local commercial radio stations (licensed by Ofcom) are also broadcast, including Q101.2 FM West in Omagh, Q102 in Derry and Cool FM- based in Newtownards and Q Radio 96.7 and 102.5 FM (Part of the CN Group) in Belfast. The five UK wide BBC Radio radio stations, as well as the three UK-wide Ofcom radio services (Classic FM, TalkSport, and Absolute Radio) are also available in Northern Ireland.
Independent radio includes Downtown Radio and Cool FM owned by Bauer Radio. The Alpha Newspaper Group operates six radio stations throughout Northern Ireland. News Broadcasting owns the Greater Belfast station U105.
There are also numerous part-time and community based stations throughout Northern Ireland.
Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began 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.
ITV1 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for the central and northern areas of Scotland where STV provides the service.
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.
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 other programmes made principally for the area.
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.
A UK Restricted Service Licence is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofcom.
There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has a large broadcasting, film, video games and book publishing industries.
Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the United Kingdom's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television set. The majority of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, including the five former analogue channels, are broadcast free-to-air, and a further selection of encrypted pay TV services are also available.
News UK Broadcasting Limited, trading as News Broadcasting, is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and 18 in the United Kingdom. The company was formerly known as UTV Media, owned by UTV Television. Its television broadcasting services were sold to ITV plc in February 2016 and its radio, sales services and websites were spun off into a new company, Wireless, later purchased by News Corp.
Analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was originally the method by which the significant majority of viewers in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man received television. Analogue terrestrial television broadcasts have fully ceased in the UK with Northern Ireland being the last region to have ceased transmission analogue terrestrial television broadcasts. Northern Ireland switched off the last analogue television signals, making all of the United Kingdom only capable of receiving digital television, in the early hours of 24 October, 2012. It has been completely replaced by digital terrestrial television and other non-terrestrial means as of the end of 2012.
There are four major forms of digital television (DTV) broadcast in the United Kingdom: a direct-to-home satellite service from the Astra 28.2°E satellites provided by Sky UK, a cable television service provided by Virgin Media ; a free-to-air satellite service called Freesat; and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition, an IPTV system known as BT TV is provided by BT. Individual access methods vary throughout the country. 77% of the United Kingdom has access to HDTV via terrestrial digital television. Satellite is the only source of HDTV broadcast available for the remaining 23%.
NVTV, also known as Northern Visions Television, is a local community television station based in the city of Belfast. It is operated by the Northern Visions media and arts project, and although some staff are employed by the station, most involved are volunteers. NVTV is now the only local community station in Northern Ireland.
High-definition television in the United Kingdom is available via cable, IPTV, satellite and terrestrial television. The first high-definition broadcasts began in late 2005 and since then the number of channels available to view has grown to a maximum of 87 that can be viewed on pay-TV service, Sky.
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.
STV Group plc is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and radio; after completing a restructuring in 2010, STV Group is active in broadcast television, video-on-demand and television production. The company is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
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.
