A new advertising-free television station which will go live today is to focus on programming made by, about and for Dublin communities.
Dublin Community Television (DCTV) was awarded Ireland’s first community television licence in May 2006 and has been broadcasting on a pilot basis since September 2007.
It was formally launched at 1pm and will broadcast 24 hours a day at Channel 802 on the Chorus NTL digital cable network, reaching 200,000 homes in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford.
Programming on the channel will include drama, documentaries, arts shows, current affairs and adult education programmes. Some will made by experienced producers, others by community organisations working in the medium for the first time.
The station is run by a not-for-profit co-operative, of which membership is open to all – both individuals and not-for-profit organisations. The station is controlled by its members and most of the programming is created and produced by members.
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan welcomed the new channel.
"I am particularly pleased to see that the channel will be an additional outlet for programming made with the assistance of the Sound and Vision fund, providing increased viewing options to the people of Dublin,” he said.
“The use of innovative digital technology to assist the station's low-cost operation is remarkable and I have no doubt the channel will be a success.”
DCTV chairman Seán Ó Siochrú said the channel was “a much-needed and radical new departure" in television in Ireland.
“The channel is part of an growing global movement that brings media closer to people and communities, using new technologies to create more varied, alternative and community-focused broadcasting," he said.
Mr Ó Siochrú told an audience at the New Theatre in Dublin's Temple Bar that greater choice in television programming would only come with greater diversity of programming, especially from marginalised groups in society.
"Television appears to be getting more homogenised - more of the same stuff repackaged in different ways," he said.
He said commercial broadcasters were taking a "risk-free and formulaic approach" to television in trying to sell their programming to as wide as possible an audience internationally. "The question is do we want to let it get to a stage where broadcasting is entirely driven by commercial interests or can we get to a stage where we can re-balance it against the public interest?"
Chief executive of the Broadasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) Michael O'Keeffe said it was very important that Ireland supports three strands of broadcasting - the public sector model, the commercial sector and the community sector.
He said the Broadcasting Act due to come into force later this year would "copperfasten" that community strand.
Mr O'Keeffe also said the BCI hoped to sign a contract with a Cork community television station soon.