It has been an exciting eight months for Westport couple Pierce O’Reilly and Mairead Ni Maolchiarain, as their television station, Irish TV, continues to grow steadily.
The founders of Ireland’s newest television station, which is headquartered in Westport, announced this week they are creating 20 new jobs at their Munster office.
They are also hoping to be available on Saorview by March.
The Minister for Diaspora, Jimmy Deenihan, opened Irish TV’s new Munster office at the Kerry Technology Park on Monday.
The new jobs will be in a range of skilled media disciplines as the channel expands its range of locally-produced programming from the six Munster counties through its new regional office.
As well as expectations that the channel will be available on the Saorview platform in March, station management is also in negotiations with a range of overseas networks.
Mr O’Reilly said it has been a very exciting first eight months for Irish TV.
“We have watched our programming output and viewership grow since our launch in May,” he said. “A RED C Poll carried out for the station showed that 20 per cent of the Irish population have watched Irish TV and 51 per cent are aware of us, which is an extremely successful result in such a short time.”
The station is launching a new sports show this spring, called Jimmy’s Heroes, hosted by broadcasting legend Jimmy Magee. Irish TV is also launching a new agricultural programme called Grassroots.
Irish TV is available on Sky 191, eVision 191, Freesat 400, free to air boxes, and online at irishtv.ie
