50% of Irish terrestrial TV is in breach of EU directive

HALF of all mainstream Irish TV stations are in breach of an EU directive for failing to broadcast a majority of programmes made within Europe.

New figures show RTÉ2 and TV3 are not meeting the EU standard of devoting at least 50% of their broadcasting schedules to such programmes. Combined, the four main Irish channels — RTÉ1, RTÉ2, TV3 and TG4 — have the second worst record within the EU after the Czech Republic for using European programmes.

Just over 52% of all programmes broadcast by Irish TV stations in 2004 came from within the EU.