In UPC areas Emmerdale and Corrie viewing used to be split between UTV NI and TV3, so that may explain some of it.
Last night was an extra Eastenders which RTE 1 showed at 7.30pm, clashing with Corrie, which does not usually happen.

That's true, Corrie seems to be going through a bad patch in the UK at the moment with ratings down there but it doesn't seem to have an effect on audiences in Ireland, North or South of the Border. Once Irish Audiences become loyal to a soap it can take a lot to shift them, Fair City would be another that seems to have outstanding ratings for frankly poor material at times (then again I'm not the audience they're aiming for)

UTV really seem to be giving news a go down South with their new channel - I'm very impressed with it. Flicked over to UTV live on UTVNI and the difference in quality was very noticeable - it seem very parochial while UTV had live reports from Paris and around the country.

While weather output on UTVI is OK and very much acceptable it's brilliant compared with UTVNI - they don't even have weather charts up north... Today it was reported that UTV Media are looking to sell up local radio stations in the UK - I just wonder do they see their long term future in Dublin rather then Belfast.

UTV Ireland utilises CCTV (China Central TV) journalists for international news. Is it a good idea to work with the state broadcaster of a communist country?

Their presumably relatively expensive news output is not getting many viewers though.


http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/t...-30893525.html

Well they are journalists - just because they work for different broadcasters from around the world doesn't make them bad journalists.

It will in time imo - still finding their feet.

You're right - they still seem to be professional.

True, but it's always ideal to be judged on the quality of your programming, and in that regard, the 5.30 has always seemed just the minimal obligatory requirement, whereas UTV I's more analytical effort will already have been noted by Montrose. Meanwhile, after TV3's strong schedule this week, they seem to be reverting to type, with Jackie Lavin and Amanda Brunker "starring" in the next seven days.

That misinformation has popped up one or two places. I think one of the journalists is freelance, but the others that have been on in international reports all work for Feature Story News. They supply pieces to camera for loads of stations such as

Channel News Asia, CCTV News, SABC, RTÉ (Ireland), France 24, PBS NewsHour, E News Channel, Al Jazeera America, Al Jazeera English, Fox News, Rudaw (Iraqi Kurdistan), Radio New Zealand, Vatican Radio, LBC Radio, Classic FM, Televisa, Telesur, and Estrella TV.

They are a well respected Organization but one that has to make money to survive.

I wouldn't pass judgement on any figures until Next week when they become more widely available. Figures in the papers have been very wrong at times for all stations. Comparing Peak figures for one show against average figures for another.

The UTV news bulletins are excellent and not aimed at the TV3 audience at all. It's definitely a shot across the bows at RTE. However, I don't think we have seen as much news and current affairs on TV3 in prime time in the last 7 or 8 years as we have over the last five days.

Well then you haven't been paying much attention to TV3's schedule over the last year.

Slightly lower ratings than I was expecting, but should build a bit over time. Still think those suggesting they will get upwards of 140,000 are being highly ambitious, they're a long road off reaching that.

Well I don't know if I'm correct but did TV3 have a news special at 7.30 tonight (second hand info so I don't know) Add that to all the Vincent Browne and I'm in the ballpark by saying that there has been an increase in Current Affairs after 6.

As for the Ratings quoted, I would like to see the figures myself, If TV3 News at 5.30 has been at 187,900 that would be the big news story of the week as it's a jump of over 33 or more percent in 8 short weeks. Normal rating last year for the 5.30 was between 100,0000-130,000 appox and usually closer to the 100,000. (which are good figures and something TV3 were foolish enough to ignore)

Again I would take newspaper reports with a pinch of salt, some of them were comparing Red Rocks Peak figure with Emmerdale's Average figure. Did TV3 release the figures for last nights episode like they did for Wednesday Nights?

TV3 did have a news special tonight, given what's happening, it's not that shocking. And you say add to that all the Vincent Browne stuff?? What stuff. Yes there has been an increase in news and current affairs on the channel, but that has been ongoing for over a year now. I don't know how accurate that quoted figure for the 5.30 news is, I do know that in the first week of December 2014 it averaged 162,400, so that figure may not be too far off the mark, even if it's a peak. I haven't seen any figures for last nights Red Rock, I should imagine it would have been down slightly on the launch.

Just been watching some of utv's live at ten. Alison Comyn is a brilliant anchor and an inspired acquisition, still needs to lose the tablet!! However some of their reports are awful and amateurish. They need to sort out the delays to camera asap, ok on the first broadcast but not a week later. The report from Paris was one of the worst I've ever seen. I missed the girl's name but she hadn't a clue what was going on or what she was talking about. She kept stumbling and stopping and at one point said, 'eh eh well, eh eh'. Stops and looks at camera. 'eh what I'm trying to say is, eh eh'.
Just terrible stuff from a station trying to establish itself as a serious news rival to RTÉ.

Thanks for that. I made an erroneous assumption about the affiliation of those journalists.

http://jackparrock.blogspot.ie/

In fact that's not the case, they've cut back on news and current affairs with the loss of Midweek, and Vincent is normally the only show in town after 6, excluding their documentaries which have questionable value to say the least. This wouldn't be a criticism of the journalists at TV3 who could produce something decent after 6 if they were let do so. I don't like relying on December/first few days of January figures as they generally aren't a fair reflection on any channel. However, if TV3 really can keep up 180,000 plus average over the month that would be the big story because it would be almost a 20% year on year increase and one of highest rated shows.

At least there is a bulletin on at 10 on a Friday Night. Unlike TV3 or indeed even RTE which seems to shut up it's TV News shop at 9.35 every night. The late bulletin on RTE News Now is disgraceful compared to what was available on RTE2 a year or two ago.

There are bulletins on the hour through the night on RTÉ Radio 1. Furthermore, the News on Two bulletin was practically the same in terms of content as the 9 o'clock bulletin and probably didn't have many viewers anyway.

As UTV will discover there isn't an audience for it on Friday nights, it will get half of it's usual audience, if lucky. Watched ten minutes of its sports section, awful and won't see six months without mega changes. Friday nights are still all about the late late (and their very fancy new looking American set) in Ireland.

Yes that's why I put down TV News. The News on Two Bulletin had a lot of the same content but it was very useful for sport and indeed later breaking news. Most other public service broadcasters around Europe that are funded by the license fee would have a late bulletin. As for viewers it was one of the higher rated shows but that would not be hard on RTE2. It's very Likely that it wouldn't be dropped if TV3 had kept it's 11 O'clock Summary. It's also very likely to reappear in the next few months because of the UTV situation. Competition is good.

You said there's been more news and current affairs on primetime TV3 over the past week than there has been over the past 7/8 years. I said that's simply not true, as it's not. Your above remark does nothing to back up what you said. I don't know your background, but it seems to be very anti TV3.

Apologies. I didn't read your post properly.

At least RTÉ has news bulletins at weekends and on bank holidays, unlike TV3 and UTV Ireland.

I'm not anti-TV3. Just not happy with the station. I would stand by the past 7/8 years comment, roughly 2008 onwards to be honest. I don't count most of the Docs as most people I know don't (as they're poor and generally lowest common factor)

I have a issue with a company that has received over 140 million in write offs for loans and such like, plus I pay for it out of my own pocket, as do you on a day to day basis thru the licence fee.

I do think UTV coming down here is good generally for the industry, but I wouldn't be pro UTV either, they've made a lot of mistakes over the last week. However they're only on air a week.

You appear to be very anti UTV, except for their female news anchor you've hardly a good word for them. People I work with in the industry almost all have good things to say about the operation.

I do work in the media industry but not TV. I have little interest in any of the stations to be honest but I do enjoy looking at ratings, Management and Marketing. I have a distaste for Press Releases, not because Companies release them, but because Newspapers and News Organizations don't seem to ask Questions any More. When I trained as a Broadcaster 30 years ago we were supposed to question everything.

I also have a problem with campaigns that Certain established stations are running on Social Media. A lot of the Negative comments on Facebook and elsewhere come from Dublin 4 and Dublin 24