TV3, the State's first commercial television station, made a loss of £8 million (€10 million) on a turnover of £8.4 million in its first 11 months in operation, according to figures released by its major shareholder, CanWest, the Canadian broadcasting company. CanWest, which has a 45 per cent share in TV3, said the station now had a solid base of 10 per cent of prime time viewing for the network's target audience "and has been rated by independent analysts as one of the most successful launches in recent western European television history".

The company has previously stated that it expects TV3 to go into profit in 2001. It said startup losses "should be significantly reduced" next year. Its losses amount to an average weekly loss of £163,000.

TV3, which passed its first anniversary on September 20th, contributed £1.9 million to CanWest's revenues.

Its other shareholders are the original consortium - Windmill Lane Pictures; U2 manager, Mr Paul McGuinness; and showbusiness accountant, Mr Ossie Kilkenny - which holds 20 per cent.

The remaining 35 per cent is held by ACT Venture Capital. In the fourth quarter, from June to August, TV3 had a turnover of £1.8 million and made a loss of £2.1 million. This compares with a loss of £1.98 million in the third quarter and £2.1 million in the second quarter.

TV3 said its audience had grown by 19 per cent in the fourth quarter and its £8 million loss was "less than previously projected". "Revenues continue to exceed expectations, with continued growth in audience and advertiser uptake," the company said.

CanWest made a broadcast operating profit of 28.6 million Canadian dollars (€18.6 million) for the year, compared to Can$41.2 million in 1997. "The results absorb the anticipated and normal start up losses incurred by our three new television operations - the Global Prime cable network in Canada, the TV4 network in New Zealand and the TV3 network in Ireland," the group said.

These losses came to Can$21.8 million "arising primarily from the start-up of TV3 Ireland".

Ulster Television, in which CanWest has a 29.9 per cent stake and which made an operating profit of £11.3 million sterling (€17.6 million) last year, contributed a once-off special dividend to the Canadian shareholder of more than £5 million sterling.