Not so long ago, the idea of any more than two Irish channels seemed like a bit of a joke.
An Irish Times report in 1992 referred to the "deep-rooted scepticism within the broadcasting and advertising industries that a third channel is viable". The consortium proposing that third channel, TV3, worked for years to clear the way for a broadcasting licence.
But the tenacity paid off. Less than a month ago, Ireland's first independent television station was launched with the intention of winning 6 per cent of the Irish market, to "deliver it to the advertisers".
The initial figures from AC Neilson, the ratings people, indicate that TV3 has already achieved its target figure. While it could hardly claim to have clawed over an astonishing number of viewers, it has done well to get anyone to bother to tune in. Think of all the times when you couldn't find the remote control and sat mindlessly watching Barney with the volume down too low because you couldn't be bothered to walk all the way over to the television set and manually change the station. Given this widespread form of TV watching, who is making the inordinate effort involved in tuning in a whole new station? And why have they made that effort?
The consortium behind TV3 includes Can West, an unashamedly commercial operation which has been successful in countries such as Canada and Australia where competition for audiences is significantly tougher. Like TV3, its far-flung stations deliver potential consumers to advertisers, the advertisers are happy and continue to buy ads, the stations make money. The TV3 consortium has identified a demographic gap in the Irish market - 15- to 45-year-olds. Just under half the Network 2 audience is under 25, while more than half of RTE 1's audience is over 45.
The others either don't watch telly, or they watch a non-Irish station. TV3 is banking on the latter, and its intention has been to provide an indigenous commercial service for people who have been watching British commercial stations such as Sky.
Their other niche lies in two-channel households. It's not a huge niche: only 28 per cent of Irish households are dualchannel homes - but if TV3 is a half way decent service, chances are those households will be only too happy to have what amounts to 50 per cent more choice of English-language programming than they get from RTEland.
Who exactly has tuned in is hard to say yet, and whether they will continue to watch once the novelty has worn off, is another matter.
But undoubtedly TV3's initial marketing has been pretty clever. While TV3 hasn't invested widely in buying the rights to sports events, soccer fans are promised the Republic of Ireland's away matches in the European Championships. (In fact, the postponement of last Saturday's game in Yugoslavia meant TV3 missed a chance to garner its biggest audience yet.)
And remember all that hype last month about the sexual tension between the newsreaders? There was a distinct promise of something new and exciting - more than just Sky with Irish accents.
Yes, of course, we should really watch the news to stay abreast of scandal and corruption in the financial sector; but come on, the prospect of a bit of sex is somewhat more enticing. According to the station's public relations department, TV3 news is certainly being watched - and by a third of all those teenagers who bother to watch the news at all.
However, it has to be said, the predicted lustfest is a bit more Victorian than might have been anticipated. There is very little evidence Grainne Seoige even fancies her colleague Alan Cantwell, never mind fantisises about ripping his clothes off during the ad break. In fact, you would be hard pushed to find a huge difference between the delivery of most of the 6 p.m. news on RTE 1 and the same news slot on TV3. Was there an unexpected glitch in the "chemistry" - or was the sex-talk a clever ploy? After all, new and challenging stuff is great - for a few minutes. Tried, tested and familiar is really what most people crave - especially for news - on a knackered evening in front of the telly.
TV3 is being sold as fresh and different, but in news as in other areas, it is mostly the same old thing, - the thing viewers already know and love. Which should mean that once we have tuned in, we are more likely to snuggle down and keep watching.
Whether or not this pays off remains to be seen. The competition for viewers is set to explode with the imminent arrival of digital terrestrial television (DTT). In accordance with a new broadcasting bill due for publication this year, each Irish channel will have access to the DTT infrastructure. Essentially each channel will be able to develop a number of new services. At the same time, many British services will become available to Irish homes for the first time.
Meanwhile RTE, conscious of the possible competition TV3 represents, has been reinventing itself over the past year, and audiences seem to be quite happy with the improvements - particularly the "re-branding" of Network 2 and programmes such as The Premiership, which will ensure many RTE watchers don't flip that dial. The ongoing effects this competition will have on RTE's programming - the danger of "dumbing down" - will be watched by people across the political spectrum.
The main concern seems to be for the quality of broadcasting, and a fear that competition might lead to many stations providing a staple diet of soaps, American sitcoms and raunchy news.
Then again, it might actually improve the standard, as people begin to expect more and more from their televisions.
