Oireachtas TV

Oireachtas TV is a public service broadcaster for the two houses of the Oireachtas, The Seanad and the Dáil, providing a similar function to the UK’s BBC Parliament or the US’s C-Span. The channel was created under the Broadcasting Act 2009 for broadcast on Irish Digital Terrestrial Television. The channel broadcasts in the Irish and English languages.

In November 2007 the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced in the Dáil that he favoured an Oireachtas channel stating that "compared with a lot of tripe that is on TV, the Oireachtas channel would be far better and very interesting." A proposed structure and function of such a channel were outlined in the Broadcasting Act 2009.

On 15 November 2011, Oireachtas TV began broadcasting initially as part of a trial initiative for a period of six months. Oireachtas TV made a “strong start”, with a reported 150,000 homes across the nation tuning in during this period. UPC claimed that around 20,000 homes watched the channel on a daily basis. The channel formally launched on September 22, 2014 and is now available on UPC Ireland, Sky Ireland, Saorview, Virgin Media Ireland and Vodafone Ireland, with Vodafone dedicating two separate channels to Dáil and Seanad committees.

Oireachtas TV also produces a range of programmes including documentaries, studio debates on important parliamentary issues and historical talks.

Oireachtas TV is generally not included in publicly available lists of audience reach or share, and viewership appears to be rather low. An Irish Times article from July 2023 notes that “In normal circumstances, a screening of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would attract 29,000 minutes viewed. This equates to approximately 240 people watching a PAC hearing if it lasted two hours (120 minutes).”

However, viewership can also spike significantly at times, particularly during committee hearings concerning political scandals that are being covered in the mainstream. That same Irish Times Article, written in response to record viewership of Oireachtas TV in the aftermath of the July 2023 RTE scandal, and the widely anticipated depositions by Ryan Tubridy, Noel Kelly, and Kevin Bakhurst among others, goes on to note “The total number of minutes watched on Oireachtas TV last Tuesday was 9.1 million - a 300-fold increase on normal. It is the equivalent of 150,000 hours, 6,250 days or 17 years of total viewing.”

The channel is funded by the Irish Taxpayer, with the channel production and presentation costing approximately €200,000 annually, and distribution costing a further €250,000.

Key facts

Audience Share

MissingData

Ownership Type

Public

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

Free content

Data Publicly Available

ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

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Ownership

Ownership Structure

The proper management of Oireachtas TV is ultimately the responsibility of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, a governing body which oversees the delivery of services to the Houses of the Oireachtas, their Members and members of the public by the Houses of the Oireachtas Service.

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has 11 members and is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle, who is chair of Dáil Éireann. Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission serve in a corporate capacity and do not represent their parties.

Voting Rights

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Individual Owner

Facts

General Information

Founding Year

2011 (Pilot); 2014

Founder

The Irish Government

Affiliated Interests Founder

N/A

Affiliated Interests Ceo

Peter Finnegan

Joined the Houses of the Oireachtas Service in January 1997 and was appointed Clerk of the Dáil on 13 January 2016. He is responsible for Oireachtas Committees, Broadcasting and Communications, and Library and Research Services in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Peter previously served in the Department of the Taoiseach, Department of Education and Skills, Department of Finance, Department of Social Protection, and Office of Public Works

Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief

Donnacha Mckeon

Has been the Channel Manager of Oireachtas TV since Jan 2016.
He had previously worked at Paddy Power, where he produced and directed “screens” and audio content. Prior to this he worked at Setanta sports as a TV Director and producer.

Contact

Houses of the Oireachtas

Leinster House

Kildare St, Dublin 2

D02 XR20

Ireland

 

Phone: +353 (0) 1 618 3000

E-mail info@oireachtas.ie

Website: www.oireachtas.ie

Financial Information

Revenue (in Mill. $)

N/A

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

N/A

Advertising (in % of total funding)

N/A

Market Share

N/A

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    Global Media Registry
  • In cooperation with
    EUROMO
  •  
    Co-funded by European Union