Media · Baile na hAbhann

TG4

The third national television station in Ireland broadcasts from a village on the coast road west of Spiddal. TG4 went on air as Teilifís na Gaeilge on 31 October 1996, after RTÉ One in 1961 and RTÉ Two in 1978, was renamed in 1999, and is watched by about 1.2 million people a week in the Republic and 650,000 a day, with a 2 per cent share south of the border and 3 per cent in the North. Its core is seven hours a day in Irish.

Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.

TG4
Darren J. Prior, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

TG4 on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.

Sit down and be counted

In 1969 Lelia Doolan, Jack Dowling and Bob Quinn published Sit Down and Be Counted, the book of their campaign for a separate Irish-language television service; Quinn, the director of the first Irish-language feature film, Poitín, proposed small temporary studios in each Gaeltacht broadcasting a few hours a night. Raidió na Gaeltachta came in 1972, and the television channel followed in 1996. The on-screen look draws on the original slogan Súil Eile, another view.

What is on

Ros na Rún, the soap filmed in Spiddal, runs 35 weeks a year on Tuesday and Thursday at 20.30 with an omnibus on Sunday and is in its 24th season. Children's programming began in 1996 as Cullabulla and became Cúla4. Early hits were C.U. Burn and Gleann Ceo, followed by Teenage Cics in 2006, Aifric, The Running Mate and Seacht, and the Amú travel series launched Hector Ó hEochagáin; the Lasair fund backs short films. Most Irish-language programmes carry English subtitles, and the TG4 Player, launched in 2003 as TG4 Beo, streams the channel worldwide. Sport brings the biggest audiences: on St Patrick's Day 2009 the club finals gave TG4 a quarter of afternoon viewers and third place in the national daily table for the first time.

Questions people ask

Where is TG4 based?

At Baile na hAbhann in the Connemara Gaeltacht, west of Spiddal.

When did TG4 start?

On 31 October 1996, as Teilifís na Gaeilge; it became TG4 in 1999.

When is Ros na Rún on?

Tuesday and Thursday at 20.30, with an omnibus at 22.30 on Sunday, for 35 weeks of the year.

Written from Wikipedia, "TG4" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.