30 January – Former
Channel 5 Director of Programmes Jeff Ford has been hired by
TV3 to become their new Director of Content, a position he will take up in February.[4]
31 January – Figures published by TAM Ireland/Nielsen indicate viewers in Ireland watched an average of 3.35 hours of television per day (25 hours a week) in 2012.[5]
5 February – Launch of Irish Horse TV, Ireland's first TV channel dedicated to horse racing and other equine sports.[8]
7 February – The
Irish Film and Television Network website reports that pre-production has begun on An Bronntanas, a five-part Irish language thriller set in
Conamara that will air on
TG4 in 2014.[9]
25 February – Telecommunications giant
BT, which bought the rights to some
Premier League matches in 2012 expands its investment in sports broadcasting with the purchase of
ESPN's channels in Britain and Ireland.[10]
March
4 March – Online retailer
Viking Direct says it cannot fulfil orders placed for a 51-inch 3D television that was incorrectly priced at €6.49 instead of €649. Thousands of orders were placed during the two days the offer was available, but customers will not receive their purchase, nor will they get an automatic refund.[11]
11 April – TV3 criticises new regulations that ban radio and television journalists from expressing an on-air opinion on news and current affairs issues as "a draconian extension of the State's control over media".[15]
21 May – Justice Minister
Alan Shatter apologises to
independent deputy
Mick Wallace in the
Dáil Éireann after he divulged that Wallace had been excused from receiving
penalty points for using a
mobile phone while driving during a debate about people escaping penalty points on an edition of RTÉ's Prime Time. Shatter had previously admitted receiving his information from
Garda Commissioner
Martin Callinan but claimed he was not "in the business of collecting secret files on politicians".[17][18]
30 May – Three international deals are announced by Dublin-based Network Ireland Television that will see 50 Irish-made short films aired on television channels in the Americas, Europe and Middle East.[19]
June
3 June –
AerTV, an Irish-owned online television service launched 18 months previously reports a 130% year-on-year increase in viewership for the first quarter of 2013.[20]
5 June – Food manufacturers criticise
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland plans to introduce new regulations banning television and radio advertising of foods with high fat, salt, and sugar content during children's programmes.[21]
25 June –
Setanta Sports signs a deal to make their BT Sport channels and ESPN available in the Irish Republic from 1 August.[22]
July
11 July –
Fine Gael Teachta Dála
Tom Barry, who had been drinking in the Dáil bar, provokes international headlines after pulling party colleague
Áine Collins onto his lap on live television during a late-night Dáil debate. Fine Gael later describe the incident was "silly" and "horseplay". However, the event sparks a national discussion about the treatment of women by men in Irish politics.[23][24]
August
5 August – In a Sunday Times interview, journalist and businessman
Vincent Browne criticises programmes about
Travellers broadcast by his employer
TV3, saying, "To say it was embarrassing doesn't begin to describe it. I squirmed and I railed against it. The Travellers stuff is appalling, absolutely appalling." He also says that when he complained to TV3 executive Ben Frow, the latter was "just amused at my indignation, which meant I couldn't get anywhere with it".[25][26]
22 August – TV3 announces plans to commission its first soap opera, and invites companies from Ireland and the UK to put forward ideas. Submissions will be invited from September.[27]
25 August – Research by
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland shows most viewers are still watching television on traditional sets; only 4.6% view content online.[28]
26 August – The latest figures from
UTV Media show its half yearly profits fell by 10%, with its radio advertising revenue in both Britain and Ireland continuing to decline.[29]
27 August – The
Government of the 31st Dáil publishes plans to replace the
television licence with a Public Service Broadcasting Charge on all primary residences, and certain businesses.[30] Holiday and second-home owners are likely to be exempted from the charge, with the onus to pay it on the occupier.[31]
September
11 September –
Aertv launches the first
app that enables viewers to receive free streamed content of all Irish broadcast material.[32]
20 September – Fifteenth anniversary of the launch of TV3.[33]
October
18 October – RTÉ Gaelic football pundit
Joe Brolly says that it is "nobody else's business" if
GAA clubs or tournaments are named after dead republican paramilitaries, after some
Unionist politicians criticised the practice as glorifying terrorism. The comments come in the wake of
First Minister of Northern IrelandPeter Robinson's attendance at a
Co-Operation Ireland dinner held the previous evening to acknowledge the efforts of the GAA in building better community relations.[34][35]
6 November –
UTV Media announces plans to launch
UTV Ireland, a television channel targeting audiences within the Republic of Ireland. If given the go-ahead by the
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the channel will be on air from 2015, and will show some ITV content currently broadcast by TV3.[37]
7 November – A total of 16 production companies have submitted ideas to TV3 for a twice-weekly soap, including
Lime Productions, which produces
Channel 4's teen soap Hollyoaks, the Irish Times reports.[38]
14 November –
Saorview relaunches its website in order to encourage viewers who have not done so yet to switch to digital television.[40]
December
8 December – The Sunday Independent reports that
James Bond will return to terrestrial television at Christmas after RTÉ signed a deal with
MGM and
Sony to air the
films, and the expiry of
BSkyB's exclusive rights to the franchise.[41]
9 December – Joe Mulholland, a former managing director of RTÉ expresses concerns about the effect of cutbacks on the quality of programming produced by the broadcaster, warning they are in "dangerous times".[42]
18 December – Chief executive of the
Irish Film Board, James Hickey reports that Ireland's film, television and animation industry generated €168 million worth of activity in 2013, an 18 per cent increase on 2012 and its best year to date.[44]
28 December – Ratings for 25 December indicate that comedian
Brendan O'Carroll's show Mrs. Brown's Boys achieved the highest Christmas Day viewing figures in both Ireland and the UK. With a viewership of 832,000, it topped the Irish ratings for the third year in a row, while in the UK the episode, titled Buckin' Mammy achieved an audience of 9.4 million.[46]