Channel 6 goes on air

Ireland’s newest national television station, Channel 6, goes on air for the first time today offering a blend of music, comedy and film in its bid to take a chunk of the under-35 audience.

Guaranteeing no news, no sport and no kids, station backers hope its entertainment-only style will draw in viewers from rival broadcasters E4, Sky and RTE 2.

Michael Murphy, director and founder of Channel 6, urged people to tune in for the first night.

“We are urging everyone to tune in at 8pm for what promises to be a really exciting first night’s viewing on Channel 6,” he said.

“We are offering viewers a pure entertainment alternative to existing programming and we look forward to attracting large numbers of viewers tomorrow evening.”

From 8pm the station will air homegrown shows Take Six and Night Shift before showing award-winning comedies, American Office and House, both of which are being aired in Ireland for the fist time.

Movie show Take Six hosted Tara Loughrey-Grant has promised to take an intelligent look at cinema and DVD releases with reviews of the Top 10 box office releases each week.

Home-produced Night Shift, an interactive music programme presented Michelle Doherty, will cover all aspects of the alternative music scene.

The hit movie Get Shorty will also air.

The Dublin-based station, aimed at the under 35 audience, is available on the NTL and Chorus digital and analogue platforms.

The channel will be offering special themed evenings featuring a girl’s night in showing Sex and the City and movies while the boy’s night in will include My Name is Earl, the CSI series and crime nights.