Minister for Communications Denis Naughten TD has officially opened a state-of-the-art studio at TV3 headquarters. Originally built in 1998, studio one at the TV3 TV centre in Ballymount has been refurbished with high definition (HD) technology and new transmission equipment, including cameras, vision and audio desks and graphics suites.
The studio’s modernisation is part of an investment programme in TV3 by Virgin Media. The investment, which has already seen the upgrade of studio two and the installation of a new transmission system, supports the development of 3News Ireland, TV3’s centralised news hub. TV3 also has plans to open a regional news studio in Limerick.
Situated at Virgin Media’s National Contact Centre in Roxboro, the studio will provide a base for 3News mid-western reporter, Eric Clarke, to cover Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and nearby counties. The new Limerick studio, combined with TV3’s facility in Cork, means the south and mid-west are now fully covered by regional reporters and news corrs.
From the May 6th weekend, news will return to TV3 with 3News bulletins broadcast at 5.30pm every Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays. TV3 group managing director Pat Kiely said: “We’re growing our TV channels business, increasing our content production and future-proofing our distribution to reflect the growing platform opportunities we now serve.”
TV3 is owned by Virgin Media, which, in turn, is part of John Malone’s Liberty Global.
TV3 news anchor Colette Fitzpatrick with Communications Minister Denis Naughten TD
