TG4
TG4, formerly known as Teilifís na Gaeilge (TnaG), launched on 31 October 1996, as the third national station in Ireland. TG4 was created with a distinct mission to promote and preserve the Irish language and culture, by making it accessible and relevant to modern audiences and fostering a sense of cultural identity. It operates as a public service broadcaster, offering a wide range of programming entirely in the Irish language (Gaeilge). This focus on Irish language content sets it apart from other mainstream Irish television channels. The most recent available figures have the channel's audience share at 1.96%.
The implementation of Teilifís na Gaeilge (later TG4) was agreed in the programme for government put forward by the Fainna Fail and Labour coalition government (1993 – 1994), which was led by Albert Reynolds. Responsibility for broadcasting was given to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht when TG4 was being established, which was headed by Labour Minister Michael D. Higgins. Michael D. Higgins continued in this role during the tenure of the Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael, Labour and the Democratic left (1994 – 1997), which oversaw the launch of the channel in 1996.
After being launched by the Irish government in 1996, the channel was for a long time connected to the state broadcaster RTE, although organisationally and editorially independent. However, on 1 April 2007, an independent statutory corporation, Teilifís na Gaeilge was established to manage the channel. Teilifís na Gaeilge is managed by a board, which includes a chairperson (Cathaoirleach) and a director general (Ardstiúrthóir). These positions are currently filled by Anna Ní Ghallachair and Alan Esslemont respectively.
A large part of the station's funding (slightly over €48 million in 2022) still comes in the form of grants from the Irish government, much of which goes towards supporting the creative arts in Ireland. In 2022, TG4 spent €31.1m on creative services in Ireland. Of this €31.1m, €25.608m was spent with independent production companies.
TG4 broadcasts a diverse range of programs, including news, current affairs, drama, documentaries, sports, entertainment, and children's programming, in a mixture of Irish and English, with most Irish-language programming receiving English subtitles. TG4 does not dub live action film or television programming into Irish, although some reality television programming have the English voice over replaced by Irish-language voice over (which is also subtitled in English). TG4 have re-dubbed a number of Hollywood children's films and feature animation into Irish most notably the Harry Potter films. TG4 has also created Cine4 (formally TG4 Film) a film department which invests in Irish-speaking films and mainstream Irish films such as the Oscar nominated Room and An Cailín Ciúin.
Audience Share
1.96%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free content
Media Companies / Groups
TG4
Ownership Structure
Teilifís na Gaeilge is a public service broadcaster, and was created on 1 April 2007 in order to independently manage the Irish language television station TG4, which had been managed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann since 1996 when broadcasting operations commenced. The corporation is managed by a board, which includes a chairperson (Cathaoirleach) and a director general (Ardstiúrthóir).
Voting Rights
N/A
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1996
Affiliated Interests Founder
Has been the President of Ireland since 2011, and is heavily invested in the promotion of the Irish language and culture.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
In 1995, Alan Esslemont was appointed to the senior management group of Teilifís na Gaeilge which launched TnaG in October 1996 and was appointed Director of Television for TG4 in 2000. In December 2007 Alan moved to Scotland to help set up BBC ALBA, the Scots Gaelic television channel, where he was Head of Content for nine years. In October 2016 Alan came back to work in Ireland to undertake the chief executive role as Director General at TG4.
He was a founding board member and treasurer of the Irish Film and Television Academy (1997-2000) and in 2019 he was elected to the position of Chair of the Celtic Media Festival. Alan is a non-executive Director with CREW, Creative Enterprise West.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Editor of Nuacht, RTÉ's Irish language television and digital news service. Joe previously held the role of Deputy Managing Editor, Nuacht, and has also produced a range of programming for RTÉ and broadcaster TG4 including documentaries, election coverage, as well as bilingual series Pobal and Seachtain.
Contact
TG4, Baile na hAbhann,
Co. Galway, Ireland
H91 X4T0
Telephone: +353 (0) 91 505050
Website: www.TG4.ie
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
Audience share figure for 2022 taken from TG4 website.
Within the media industry in Ireland reporting on income levels are generally at group level rather than individual title level. On top of this, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are unavailable. Due to these factors it is not possible to report accurately on market share for individual titles or groups.
