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Saturday 10 October 2020

The History of Irish Pirate Television

 


The following is an extract from the forthcoming book on Irish television history outside the broadcasts and programming of the State broadcaster RTE. The book 'The Flickering Images Beyond Montrose' will be published in late 2021 and will explore the history of television reception in Ireland, community television such as Cork Community Television and NVTV, Irish satellite broadcasters like Buzz TV and Setanta Sports, regional stations like the City Channel network in the early 2000's, internet stations like An Lar TV and Scrogall TV and of course pirate television. 


There has been some interest recently online regarding pirate television stations that have gone on air in Ireland. For those viewers hooked on satellite television, Netflix or Amazon boxsets, pirate television broadcasting on analogue seems to be from a forgotten era but in 2021, we will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the first broadcast from a pirate television channel in Ireland. This is part one and will concentrate on the brief but eclectic history of pirate television in Ireland. RTE began broadcasting on December 31st 1961 and for nearly two decades the fledgling station dominated the airwaves alone. Cities like Dublin were being cabled removing the thousands of rooftop aerials that doimated the skylines. Dublin with its population of almost a million people was the location of RTE’s main studios but the stations served an entire nation and as pirate radio stations were now clearly leading the airwaves battle for ratings and generating millions of pounds in advertising revenue, the next logical step was for a television channel. The first attempt at providing a community television channel for Dublin began as an official channel but fears from the Government of the time that it would break RTE’s monopoly and that they could not control an independent media. 

 

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BALLYFERMOT COMMUNITY TELEVISION

 

In 1973 Phoenix Relays the TV cable company negotiated with the Ballyfermot Community Association prior to installing their piped TV system in the area. They agreed that they would provide the means to establish a local community television channel. At that time there were over 5000 houses in the Ballyfermot area so it was of a significant size and highly organised as a working-class community. The main directors and owners of Phoenix Relays had worked previously in RTE and were directly involved in establishing the national station. They left the state company with the intention of cabling the wider Dublin area. This provided a unique opportunity to establish an alternative TV channel and this was clearly part of their intentions at the time. They almost achieved this ambition in the mid 1970’s and the participation of the Ballyfermot Community Association provided the basis for this attempt.


The installation of the piped system took approximately one year to complete. Incidentally, the initial cost of the piped TV service was £12.50 for a year in 1973 compared to £100 now. The local television station was inaugurated for community week in September 1974. An out side broadcasting station was hired by Phoenix Relays for the week with full colour and editing equipment. A studio was provided in the main shopping area over the Phoenix Relays office. The technical crew was made up by staff from Phoenix Relays. All of the production, presentation, research, interviewers, make up and programme control was provided by local people. Phoenix ensured that the programmes were recorded and broadcast but had absolutely no involvement in determining the content or scope of the programmes produced. The station was organised and run through two local groups, the Ballyfermot Community Association and the Ballyfermot Arts workshop. Both had core full time staff of three people and hundreds of voluntary activists. The area was organised on the basis of local street committees with about twenty-six different street committees at that time. These provided the local promoters of the service and the news and information for broadcast.

 


The BCA also formed a TV sub-committee who provided the day-to-day monitoring of the station. All of the committee were also involved in the production so had direct participation in the activity. Among the local people involved in the central team were John Sweeney who was president of the BCA and chairman of the TV sub committee, Maureen Gaffney studio controller, Mary Farrell producer, John Hammond presenter, Pat Callen research, Willy Kane entertainment, Marie MacCowan make-up and Gerry Fitzgerald MD of Phoenix Relays The first broadcast was of the opening parade for the community week. Over two thousand local people took part in the parade with a wide selection of floats from the street committees and sports, leisure and cultural groups from the area. The President, Erskine Childers officiated. The inaugural broadcast was at 8pm on Saturday 3rd September 1974. The highlights of the opening day were broadcast. In order to alert people to the broadcast Phoenix cut in to the advertising breaks on UTV.

 

It was too risky to interfere with RTE broadcasts as the BCA TV was an illegal broadcast. On the following day, Sunday, we recorded and broadcast an interview with the local Fine Gael TD Declan Costello who was also Attorney General. This was intended as an extra security, if the Government or the Department of Posts and Telegraphs decided to take action against us. Among other interviews of people taking part in the community week activities we interviewed a local Sinn Fein representative who had arranged a visit from a GAA team from Ballymurphy and a band from Turf Lodge in Belfast . Although this was in contravention of Section 31 of the Broadcasting act we decided that we should not censor local community activity. Very many of the events organised during the week were filmed and broadcast each night from the studio on Ballyfermot Road. These included traditional concerts, variety shows, make and model competitions, darts competitions and coverage of local street events. An hour long programme was prepared and broadcast each night at 8pm. There was an immediate impact on participation in the daily events as local people began to watch the nightly programme. Each of the pubs were asked to switch to the local channel at 8pm, although this caused some tension when sports events were on the TV. Very quickly people learned to re-tune to the BCA channel. Every house received a copy of the programme of events for community week with details of the events that would be filmed for broadcast. The final Saturday there was a live broadcast from the community centre of a local chat show with John O’Donohue of RTE as guest presenter. This proved technically very difficult with limited equipment but was very successful.

 

After the opening week it was decided to continue to broadcast on a weekly basis each Wednesday night at 8pm. The OB unit had to be returned, so initially black and white equipment was rented by Phoenix Relays. The basic equipment allowed us to use our local studio where the programmes were recorded on the Wednesday evening for broadcast at 8pm. Within six months Phoenix Relays had obtained good quality colour equipment. There was no shortage of news items of interest locally as many groups and street committees provided information and participants for the programmes. The local community newspaper the "Ballyfermot People" was also produced through the Arts workshop, so there was local experience in news production and research. The television station also provided a great boost to the work of the community association in highlighting important local issues and helping to organise the area. Different programmes covered local houdsing issues, protests against the planned motorway, the forced closure of the corporation refuse dump by local residents, the elections, demands for a new community college, the scale of unemployment in the area and important community issues. The weekly programmes also provided a stage for local musical talent and invited guests. A wide range of local musicians were presented. These included artists such as the Keenans and Furys as well as Christy Moore, Brendan Grace, Dana, Alvin Stardust, Sonny Knowles and any other well known names that we could get for free. However the main thrust always was to run the station as a local community based activity.

 

The weekly broadcast also allowed the BCA to introduce a very successful non-stop draw for fundraising purposes. This was organised on a street basis with the street committees acting as sellers and keeping part of the proceeds. The weekly draw was carried out live on BCA TV at the beginning of each programme by picking numbered balls from a drum. This draw enabled the association to clear all debts within a year and continued for ten years as a main source of funds with thousands of members. While the channel proved very successful locally it proved difficult to obtain publicity in the national media. This was illustrated when President Childers died shortly after the Ballyfermot community week and RTE declined our offer to allow them to broadcast the tape of one of his final public appearances. RTE only once covered the fact that a second channel existed, in a "Seven Days" programme on access to public broadcasting. The Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Conor Cruise O’Brien TD refused to issue a broadcasting licence and the Department took a legal action against Phoenix Relays for illegal broadcasting. This went to the high court and was defeated by the barristers for Phoenix Relays with the help of the Ballyfermot Community Association. Our defence was that Phoenix Relays were using a micro wave receiver dish which was hidden on the roof of the church with the assistance of the local clergy. We won on the technicality that the charge was for broadcasting illegally when we were actually receiving in the area. We campaigned locally in a bye-election in 1975 for two basic demands- a new community college and a public broadcasting license. With the help of our local television and newspaper, and the level of organisation of the street committees, we were able to ensure that everywhere the Government candidates and ministers went in the area they were confronted by these two demands. The Minister for Post and Telegraphs, C. Cruise-O’Brien announced the licence two days before the election and the Minister for Education Dick Burke announced the new college on the day before the election. With the new license Phoenix Relays attempted to interest advertisers in the second channel which had the capacity to be broadcast throughout the Dublin area. Our weekly programmes were put on the wider network and could be viewed in any area where the Phoenix cable system had been installed. The facility to broadcast was extended to other communities in Dublin. It proved almost impossible to obtain steady advertising revenue that was needed to sustain the TV channel. The costs to Phoenix Relays of providing the facilities in Ballyfermot proved too expensive and we ended our broadcasts in 1976 over two years after the introduction of the first and only community television station in Ireland. We had insisted that the new community college when it was built should include a fully equipped television studio. This provided the basis for the development of media education in Ballyfermot community college. There was a subsequent attempt by the college to re-start the Ballyfermot television channel but this was without the participation of the local organisations and community activists who had been involved in the original station and proved unsuccessful. The overall experience of introducing and developing the first local community television channel in Ireland was very positive. It achieved a significant impact on the community in Ballyfermot. Hundreds of local people participated in the production of programmes. It helped in developing community solidarity and provided the means to promote a positive image and identity in the area. It proved that local broadcasting had significant potential. The fact that the national media and especially RTE were antagonistic to the idea and our achievement is a serious reflection on their attitudes and on their capacity to ensure local control and participation in broadcasting and other media. Unfortunately for Phoenix Relays they were almost twenty years too early in promoting the idea of an alternative to RTE and the possibility of a sustainable Dublin channel. The Flood tribunal investigation into the issuing of the national broadcasting licences is providing us with some insight as to why this lucrative area was kept so firmly under central political control.

 

According to the Dáil Éireann records - Volume 290 - 28 April, 1976 

Written Answers. - Community TV.

51. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that the Ballyfermot community television programme will shortly cease to operate because of conditions imposed by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Dr. Cruise-O'Brien): I am not so aware. The position is that about 12 months ago I approved the relay on the local cable system of programmes produced by the Ballyfermot Community Association subject to certain conditions. There has been no change in those conditions. Some time ago the association in common with a number of other community associations asked for permission to have their programmes relayed over a large area of Dublin city and suburbs and that the venture be financed by commercial advertising. I was not prepared to agree to this pending detailed consideration of its implications for the future of community television, which I was the first to encourage, and for Irish public service broadcasting. On hearing this, the cable company who had been providing production facilities for Ballyfermot Community Association announced that they were not prepared to continue to do so as from the end of April.

My Department pointed out to the firm in question that the notice given for cessation of production facilities—a little more than a month—was far too short to enable the question of alternative methods of servicing community television to be explored. The company have now intimated that they are prepared to continue to service community television but only on a modified and considerably less costly basis. I understand that a meeting between the interests concerned is being held on 30th April. I hope that these discussions will result in an acceptable solution.

52. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs why, apart from the commercial aspect, the editorial rights of community associations which he has licensed to make television programmes are less than those conferred on ITV and BBC in respect of programmes on the cable system.

53. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the proposals, if any, he has to allow open cable television in the same way as he has allowed open broadcasting.

54. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (a) when the study group will be set up to examine community television (b) how the group will be selected (c) its terms of reference (d) when is it likely to report and (e) why he has waited so long to have the study group set up.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Dr. Cruise-O'Brien): I propose with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 52, 53 and 54 together.

I do not propose at present to allow open cable television if by that phrase the Deputy means permitting the wide distribution over cable networks of programmes produced by local community associations for their local areas.

No editorial rights have been conferred on ITV and BBC in this State. Licensed cable television operators are, of course, permitted to relay all television services which are available off air in the area they are serving.

Community television is still at the experimental stage. The present approved arrangements were settled on the basis that community programmes would be confined to programmes originated locally and acquired material of an educational and informational character only. The associations are required to comply with the same standards as regards objectivity and impartiality as RTE.

I hope to set up a study group soon to consider what research would be desirable in the field of community television, who should undertake such research and how it might be financed. The composition of the group has not been decided yet. I cannot say at this stage when a report can be expected. The Department had already carried out a certain amount of research, particularly in regard to developments in community television elsewhere. After it received the views of a number of community associations it consulted the Departments of Education and Local Government and the Dublin Corporation on the matter. Consideration of their replies indicated the desirability of setting up a special study group of the kind referred to above. Because of the recent request by the community associations for a radical change in the existing arrangements, I have decided to set up the study group and to ask them to report at an early date.



There were two follow ups to Ballyfermot Community Television when Harold’s Cross Television and Tallaght Community Television came on air through the capital’s cable systems.

 

In 1981, pirate radio was becoming mainstream, exiting bedrooms and attics in to Georgian houses and flooding the airwaves with music, local programming and community news.

CHANNEL D



Channel D was Ireland's first pirate television channel when it began broadcasting on April 25th 1981 under the title Channel 3. The station changed name to Channel D and much of its programming consisted of broadcasting movies except on Saturday when it broadcast local programmes. The station was originally located in the Camelot Hotel, Malahide but under Garda pressure moved to the State Cinema in Phibsboro.

The station's directors were Don Moore, who had been a founder and stalwart of the pirate radio station ARD (Alternative Radio Dublin and Michael Tiernan who led the National Independent Broadcasting Organisation and they claimed in newspaper reports that they had secret financial backing for the station.  


Some of the first films shown on the station were 'Silent Night, Bloody Night', 'Joe Panther' and 'No. 1 of the Secret Service'. The local produced programme was originally called 'Weekend Dublin' but this was changed to 'Dublin Profile' and was presented by Brian Dick and Joan Lowe. All programmes were pre-recorded on video and fed through the transmitter.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076475/ (No 1 of The Secret Service)

When launched first the station was only available in colour within a three mile radius of the transmitter but with the installation of an ex-BBC transmitter in July 1981, the stations radius was extended to fifteen miles.

The transmissions were in vision on 61.75mhz and sound on 67.75mhz. As transmissions progressed the channel planned Breakfast time programmes, the first in British Isles to provide such a service but technical problems and authority haressment curtailed these plans. 'Dr Don' Moore once said that he got word that the station was about to be raided one particular night so he sneaked up to a nearby corner and peaked down at the State Cinema (TV TX and video player location) to see some suspicious cars parked across the road waiting for him to go in and turn on. He decided not to bother and the station never broadcast again.

From the Video The Irish Era

There were immediately rumours of pirate television channels opening in big cities like Limerick, Cork and Galway but it was the County Louth town of Drogheda that would see the arrival of pirate television and RTE would do everything in its power to starve the station of success.

 

BOYNESIDE TELEVISION

Boyneside Television began broadcasting on November 2nd 1981 from studios located in Donaghty's Mill, Drogheda, Co. Louth. The station was operated by Boyneside Communications and Eoghain McDowell who were the parent company of Boyneside Radio. The channel broadcasted entirely locally produced programmes, as they feared to break copyright laws.

 Initially the station broadcasted at weekends only but expanded to go on air every night. The first programme to be broadcast on the station was a report on a local religious festival. Boyneside Television received excellent reviews from the local press for their coverage of the 1982 General Election. In 1982, while broadcasting on Channel D, the stations signal was jammed by a RTE transmitter based in a plain van in a public carpark near the station but public pressure forced RTE to stop the jamming.


 https://pirate.ie/archive/northeast-series-boyneside-television/


CAPITAL TELEVISION


Capital Radio was a Dublin pirate station broadcasting from the Milltown area of the city and in 1982 they began pirate TV Test transmissions broadcasting on UHF Channel 23 and these tests consisted of an on-screen clock. These tests lasted five days.

 RADIO TELE DUBLIN

 


The next attempt to get onto the television airwaves was by the long running pirate radio station Radio Dublin from its headquarters on Sarsfield Road in Inchicore, this station went on the air with test card transmissions on March 8th 1983. The test card consisted of the Radio Dublin logo and the radio stations programming piped on the sound channel. Broadcasting on UHF, the station never passed the test card stage and disappeared from the airwaves.

 

MALLOW TELEVISION

 For rural Ireland, unable to take advantage of cabling though companies like RTE Relays and later Cablelink, entrepreneurs and technicians began setting up receiving stations on high grounds around town and villages and rebroadcasting via pirate transmitters signals from British channels including BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Because of the porous law, the 1926 Wireless Telegraphy Act, which pirate radio had exposed loopholes allowed these pirate deflector systems to proliferate.  But not alone did these community deflector systems carry British programming, they produced their own programmes and interupted the broadcasts of Channel 4 to carry local programming, thus becoming pirate television channels in their own right. There were many of these illegal rebroadcasters, one such being Mallow Community Television in County Cork.

The issue was at the heart of local politics to the extent that in Donegal Tom Gildea was elected a member of Dail Eireann (Parliament) on the back of the issue of deflector TV.

The arrival of satellite broadcasters including SKY TV spelt the end of these systems and they closed one by one and in 2012 the introduction of the digital Saorview service meant multi-channel TV reception was now accessible to the vast majority of the country.


Mallow television began broadcasting in November 1983 to five hundred homes in the Mallow area of County Cork. The station was run by Alan Wilson and together with recorded programmes from the four British channels, BBC 1 & 2, ITV and Channel 4, the station broadcasted live locally produced programmes. The transmitter was located at the top of a nearby mountain and the station survived on local donations and subscription as no advertising was carried.

 

In February 1984, the station was raided by The Department of Posts and Telegraphs and the Gardai and over £2,000 worth of equipment was confiscated putting the station off the air.

According to a newspaper report at the time,

‘The country's first private television station was closed down last week by gardai and post office officials. The station, with live broadcasts and videoed programmes taken from the four English channels, beamed to 500 householders in the Co. Cork town by video expert Alan Wilson and his wife Margo for the past four months. "It was solely, a community television station giving Mallow people the chance to see multi-channel programmes they have no opportunity of seeing now, Alan said last night. "we weren’t doing anyone any harm since we didn't look for advertising. We weren't taking any revenue away from RTE. "We also did live broadcasts of local community interests, such as interviews with councillors and other well-known figures in the area. "As we didn't want to hurt the local cinema, we didn't show any films." said Alan. "Local people loved the station and they are very angry now that we have been closed down. There is talk of a petition to allow us to continue." For years Alan Wilson was general manager of an oil drilling company in the Middle and Far East and Australia. Re returned_, to Mallow, where his wife comes from, last year and they decided to start their community station. "We had a transmitter on a nearby mountain, beaming programmes from Mallow to the mountain and back to the town. There are 1,800 households hi the town and nearest cable is 20 miles away," he said. Six men called with a warrant last week and confiscated £2,500 worth of television equipment. Said Alan ‘We’ll certainly be applying for a local TV community licence when they are seeking applications."

 



L.T.V. 1 & L.T.V. 2


 

In February 1984, in the West Cork town of Macroom, Local Television (LTV) made its first broadcast. Their first broadcast was of a Corpus Christi procession through the town. The broadcast was well received and the station went from strength to strength and began twice weekly regular broadcasts on Wednesday's and Sunday's. The station covered a variety of local events from religious events to soccer matches. LTV produced their own six part drama serial 'Strangers'. LTV was the brainchild of Dan Kelleher who launched the station on borrowed equipment but as the station blossomed, he was able to purchase new equipment. The station had a radius of fifteen miles and could be received on the outskirts of Cork City.

LTV's last broadcast was its first live broadcast when they broadcasted midnight Mass live from Kilmurray Parish Church on December 24/25th 1988. The station closed in accordance with the introduction of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1988.


 
While LTV served the community of Macroom with local programmes, a new serve originated from Millstreet and was called LTV 2. Sean Radley led the team that covered events in an around Millstreet and they continued to broadcast through their mountain based transmitter until 2018 when the station moved to online broadcasting.



 NOVA TELEVISION



 The most audacious attempt at pirate television and one that threatened the authorities more than any other was Nova Television. Radio Nova from the time it began its illegal radio broadcasts in June 1981 revolutionised Irish radio. Within a year it was reaching forty percent of the Dublin listening public daily as opposed to the national pop channel RTE 2’s 15 percent. In May 1983, as station owner Chris Cary threatened to expand onto longwave and aim its programming towards the UK, it was raided but was quickly back on the air after a brief absence.  With advertising revenue rolling into his two stations Radio Nova and Kiss FM, television was the next media to be conquered. Nova Televsiion or NTV went on the air on Sunday December 4th 1983 broadcasting on Channel 60 with a power of 100watts and located in studios at 19 Herbert Street, Dublin 2. Following a bar test card on that day, programming began at 9p.m. when Sybil Fennell came on the air to introduce the station. Following the introduction, a Jane Fonda workout video was aired and the station reverted to their test card. The following night the station was back on air with Ms. Fennell informing its viewers of the aims and future plans for the station including plans for franchising Breakfast and Afternoon programming.

 

On Tuesday December 6th, following pressure from RTE and the Government, station owner Chris Cary pulled the plug on the station. On Friday December 9th, Gardai and Post Office officials raided the station and seized equipment worth an estimated £170,000. For what was to be an experiment in independent television in Ireland it was short lived with the Government fearing that such a pirate station could have found the same success as Radio Nova.

 

Nova owner Chris Cary always believed that there was an opening in Ireland for Independent television as there had been for independent radio. In December 1981, barely six months after launching his commercial radio venture he announced plans to set up a cable television station in Dublin. The station he announced was expected to broadcast from seven p.m. to midnight. The signals from the station would be scrambled with a decoder costing the viewer initially sixty pounds and a further thirty pounds per month for the service. He had planned to show movies that were currently showing in Irish cinemas but the cinema owners objected fearing lost revenue and job cuts and this was one of the main reasons that this service never got passed the planning stages.

 

Despite his failure to get a cable station on the air he pursued the idea of independent television. Nova Television went on air on Sunday December 4th 1983. Broadcasting via a one hundred watt transmitter, the station broadcasted on Channel 60. The channels studios were located at Nova Park along with the transmitter. A coloured bar test card appeared with the sound channel carrying Radio Nova. At 9p.m. Sybil Fennell came on the air to introduce the station. The Jane Fonda Workout Video was then aired before the station reverted to a test card with the letters 'NTV' written across the bottom of the screen.

 

The following day the channel was back on the air again with the test card followed at 9p.m. with Sybil Fennell who read the news and continued by introducing the station to the Dublin viewing public.

 

"NTV is expected to start broadcasting a full programme schedule in time for Christmas. We are a local station for the greater Dublin area. We have a radius of about fifteen miles and we don't expect to increase our power to broadcast to areas beyond that. A number of music videos will be included in the programme schedule. We are basically a channel of family entertainment. There will be no pornographic or video nasties. NTV is broadcast from the Nova studios. NTV is on Channel 60, it can be received on any television with an outdoor aerial although pictures nearby maybe received with rabbits ears but the reception won't be as good as with an aerial. We are not available on cable TV, the pipe, at the moment but in the near future that may change. To tune your television, simply select a clear channel on your television perhaps your video button because we have not got a time base corrector although we shall have one within the next seven days. Tune your television set to Channel 60 VHF and that is it. When full broadcasting commences programmes will be transmitted from 6p.m. in the evening to 2a.m. in the morning and the broadcasts of course will be in full colour.

           

We are open to franchise offers at the moment for the breakfast time and afternoon programmes. Broadcasts will be in full colour and full broadcast standards. We are entirely funded by Radio Nova. The normal responsibility for any company making progress is to expand, diversify and employ more people and that is exactly what we are doing at Nova Media Services. Staff numbers will initially be twenty and we hope to increase that to one hundred in the near future. We will be adhering to full copyright laws. For the first time in Ireland a teletext service with up to one hundred pages will also be available as will a full news service provided by  the Independent Radio News team. You do need a television licence although we do not receive any of the licence fees. We don't interfere with any of the television station at present on the air. We are using a channel with an Irish allocation. Our transmitter power is one hundred watts. Our broadcast range is approximately fifteen miles according to reception reports we have received so far. Many of the presenters you know and love from Radio Nova will also be on the air from time to time. The staff will be mostly Irish. local advertising will be accepted in due course at rates proportionate to viewing figures. We are trying to give local advertisers an opportunity. The whole name of the game is accessibility for the general public of the greater Dublin area. We won't have the cosmopolitan flavour of Radio Nova because we are as we say a local community station with no plans to increase power.

           

NTV is not really expected to make a profit, we don't even know if we are going to break even at this stage, the overheads, the equipment and the staffing are very costly. Our aims are to allow for a local experiment in local television, the first such experiment in Ireland. The afternoons will be available to the Irish language groups who we are hoping will take up the franchise option.

           

We will be broadcasting music videos, news and local current affairs programmes, Irish programmes, religious programmes, we will also be showing local Irish talent shows as well as educational programmes, quiz shows, chat shows and at the weekends children’s programmes which we hope will be presented by the children themselves. Basically our idea is to provide family entertainment on a local Dublin community station. If you are receiving this test transmission our    phone number for reception reports is 603228. Amateur video groups may like to send us their tapes once they own the copyright to them. That is it for now. I'm Sybil Fennell and this has been a test transmission for Nova Television broadcasting on Channel 60."

 


Pressure on the Government from R.T.E. and pressure from the Government on Nova led to Cary's decision on Tuesday morning December 6th, to close the station until further notice. This did not seem to satisfy neither R.T.E. nor the Government. On Friday December 9th, Radio Nova and Nova Television were raided. Equipment estimated as valued at £170,000 was taken in the raid along with the television transmitter. As in the May court case, Nova was fined for broadcasting without a licence and contravening the Wireless Telegraphy Act. Having been fined and the fine paid, the equipment was returned to Radio Nova. Cary did not use the television transmitter again and it is believed that the transmitter was sold to some businessmen from Northern Ireland.

 

For what was to be an experiment in independent television in Ireland, it was short lived mainly because neither R.T.E. nor the Government could allow such a professional operation like Radio Nova with a proven track record in illegal radio to branch out into television and perhaps repeat the success that they had on the radio airwaves. R.T.E.'s paronia about such a television station was obviously in a reply to a question directed at Deputy Director General Vincent Finn when asked how would fight the television pirates he replied that,

            "R.T.E. could take a number of measures on a legal front, commercial front, financial front and technical front."

When asked if that last 'front' would include the jamming of Nova's signal, the Deputy Director General was non-committal.

 

TELIFIS NA GAELTACHT

 


Operating from the community hall at Rosmuc, Co. Galway, Telifis Na Gaeltacht broadcasted programmes solely in the Irish language. The station went on air on Friday October 2nd 1987 and on that opening weekend broadcast programmes specially made for the station by filmmaker Bob Quinn. On opening night a gala concert held at the Community Hall was broadcast live on the station. That first Sunday saw the transmission of a special Mass from the local parish church dedicated to the memory of the late musician Sean O'Riada.

 

The stations transmitter was built by Dublin man Norbert Payne and had a radius of fifteen miles. The idea for a pirate station dedicated to the native language came following a visit by some locals to the Faroe Islands off the coast of Scotland. This Danish controlled territory set up their own illegal television station Gothab TV following Copenhagen refusal to give them a station. Telifis's operators had hoped to emulate the success of Saor Radio Connemara which led to the setting up of a legal Irish language station, Radio Na Gaeltachta.

 

Irish language television did not finally arrive in Ireland until 1996 when T na G (Telifis Na Gaeltacht) was launched.

 

RADIO LIMERICK ONE TELEVISION (RLO TV)

 


When Radio Limerick One lost their franchise from the IRTC, the station continued to broadcast via satellite and then relayed around Limerick City and County on an illegal FM transmitter network. In 1999, station owner Gerard Madden decided to launch a television channel RLO TV. The station began broadcasting television programmes originally via Sirius 2 but in late 1999 transferred to Eutelsat Hot Bird at 13* via Globecast transponder 94.

 

The following is a schedule for two days in 1999.

 

Tuesday October 26th 1999

 

7a.m.               Dr. John's Diary (Featuring Petals, Destiny & Ellen Street Antiques)

7.45a.m.          Play (Alone It Stands)

10a.m.             Repeat of  7a.m. - 10a.m.

1p.m.               U 14 Football. (Capermore v. Adare)

1.45p.m.          Hurling (Old Christians v. Drom \ Broadford)

2.30p.m           Dr. John's Diary

3.15p.m.          Mid West Report

4p.m.               Repeat of 1p.m.

7p.m.               Repeat of 1p.m. & 4p.m.

 

Thursday October 28th 1999

 

7a.m.               GAA (September GAA Awards)

7.45a.m.          Soccer (League of Ireland, Limerick City v. Home Farm)

8.30a.m.          Mid West Report (Markets Artists at TSB Bank)

9.15a.m.          Let's Talk Sport (Interview with former World Heavyweight Champ, George Foreman)

10a.m.             Repeat of 7a.m.

1p.m.               Mid West Report (Nurses Strike)

1.45p.m.          Hurling (Croom v. Patrickswell)

2.30p.m.          Basketball (Limerick v. Notre Dame)

4p.m.               Repeat from 1p.m.

7p.m.               Repeat from 1p.m. & 4p.m.




After ending transmissions on Satellite, the station was rebroadcast on UHF through a deflector system installed for the Limerick area. The ODTR granted the deflector system licence in 2000 to the following,

COMPANY

 

Cliffmount Ltd,

TX SITES

 

1. Newcastle West

2. Knockfeerina

3. Woodcock Hill Clare

 

LICENCE

AWARDED      

14th March 2000

CONTACT

 

Cliffmount Ltd,

RLO TV,

Norwich Union Hse,

17 Patrick Street,

Limerick

After a raid by the Irish authorities in 2001 the radio and TV equipment of RLO were seized and the channel never returned.

 

BBSEE TV




BBSee Television was a local pirate television station that aired during the Ballinamore Batchelor Festival in the County Leitrim village. The station broadcast from 2000 – 2003 for two weeks per year.