Annual Reports - RTÃ
Annual Reports - RTÃ
Annual Reports - RTÃ
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ANNUAL REPORT & GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2007<br />
Since its inception in 1988 over €42.5<br />
million has been raised through the RTÉ<br />
People in Need Telethon; RTÉ supported<br />
the Telethon across all output platforms<br />
in 2007.<br />
Diarmuid’s Pony Kids enjoyed strong<br />
audiences and was nominated for an<br />
IFTA in the Factual Entertainment<br />
Category.<br />
RTÉ Diversity, Irish Language and Education<br />
Programmes covered many aspects of Irish<br />
life during 2007, and also gave the viewer<br />
an insight into a diversity of stories abroad.<br />
During the year Scannal, Oileán and Níos<br />
Gaelai gave some new perspectives on life<br />
in Ireland. No Place Like Home and Faraway<br />
up Close, as well as Storybook, Tall, Dark<br />
and O’ hAilpín and The Turkish Wives Club<br />
all covered differing aspects of the diversity<br />
theme both at home and across the world.<br />
The Festival of World Cultures returned with<br />
a different style and gained new audiences.<br />
With over 650 hours of home-produced<br />
programmes made especially for younger<br />
viewers, RTÉ’s Young People’s programming<br />
brings a wide range of stories and<br />
experiences from across the country to<br />
youngsters living in Ireland. Last year saw<br />
the successful introduction of a range of new<br />
series including WE:TV, Kazoo, Ice and The<br />
Once a Week Show.<br />
RTÉ Entertainment produced a strong mixture<br />
of returning series and innovative new shows<br />
in 2007 with The RTÉ People in Need<br />
Telethon giving the viewers a special night of<br />
live television which attracted huge audiences<br />
and raised over €6 million for Irish charities.<br />
RTÉ Drama highlights in 2007 included<br />
Damage and the critically acclaimed<br />
Prosperity, with Fair City and The Clinic<br />
retaining huge audiences.<br />
RTÉ Regional continued an increased focus<br />
on programmes from outside of Dublin with<br />
popular series such as Beyond Endurance,<br />
following armchair explorers as they<br />
endeavoured to follow in the footsteps of<br />
Shackleton in the Antarctic and Consuming<br />
Passions which showcased seemingly ordinary<br />
people with unusual obsessions. Feud was<br />
a dark and challenging series which told the<br />
story behind the infighting of some of Ireland’s<br />
deadliest gangs.<br />
2007 also saw the return of a number of<br />
previously successful programmes including<br />
Vets On Call, Animal Rescue, Cracking<br />
Crime and Ear to the Ground. One-off<br />
documentaries included The Green and the<br />
Gold, profiling the history of Kerry football<br />
and Sign Magic, featuring the work of artist,<br />
Tomas Tuipear, who transformed towns in<br />
west Cork with his work.<br />
Sport<br />
RTÉ Sport produced 700 hours of Television<br />
programming in 2007, a year of several firsts<br />
for sport in Ireland.<br />
The GAA opened Croke Park for rugby and<br />
soccer internationals, all were shown live<br />
on RTÉ. The historic Ireland versus England<br />
game broke all previous records for a rugby<br />
match on Irish television, with an average<br />
audience of 1 million viewers, peaking at 1.2<br />
million, making it the second highest rated<br />
programme of the year on television. (Source:<br />
AGB Nielsen Media Research).<br />
In the GAA Championships RTÉ Television<br />
produced 52 live matches along with weekly<br />
highlights and the popular magazine show<br />
The Road to Croker. Audience figures for<br />
both live matches and The Sunday Game<br />
showed significant increases.<br />
In soccer, 2007 brought a conclusion<br />
to Ireland’s unsuccessful European<br />
championships campaign, with ten of Ireland’s<br />
twelve matches shown live on RTÉ. On the<br />
domestic front RTÉ’s coverage of the Eircom<br />
League doubled to ten live games along with<br />
three matches in the FAI Ford Cup and Derry<br />
City’s Champions League qualifiers.<br />
Coverage during 2007 also included<br />
Champions League; an unprecedented 30<br />
days of live horse racing from Irish courses as<br />
well as coverage from Cheltenham, Aintree<br />
and Ascot; the World Rally Championship,<br />
hosted in Ireland for the first time; highlights<br />
from the World Athletics Championships in<br />
Osaka, with Sonia O’Sullivan joining our team<br />
of analysts; and the European Indoors Athletics<br />
Championships, where David Gillick won a<br />
gold in the 400m. In September, highlights<br />
from the Special Olympics in Shanghai,<br />
brought back memories of 2003, when Ireland<br />
became the first country outside of the US to<br />
host the event.<br />
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