RT TELEVISION LAUNCHES NEW SEASON

RT TELEVISION LAUNCHES NEW SEASON 8th August 2013: New Channel Controllers for RT One, RT Two and RT jr unveil new schedules for Autumn/Winter 2013/14

RT Television today launched the New Season of programming across RT One, RT Two, and RT jr.

Speaking at the launch Glen Killane, Managing Director, RT Television, said: In a highly competitive and dynamic media landscape, RT Television is taking a more targeted and focused approach to ensure that each channel delivers a more distinctive, yet complementary, service to better serve the range of people that make up the diverse Irish audience.

To refresh and reinvigorate our primary channels, we have recently appointed George Dixon as Channel Controller for RT One and Bill Malone as Channel Controller for RT Two. Informed by better research into our audiences, the aim is to create a clear identity for each of the channels and to provide distinctly different, yet complementary content to ensure that the best possible service is offered to the Irish public.

The New Season on RT One builds on its reputation for delivering high-impact drama, documentaries and entertainment series along with news and current affairs programming which brings people together to share in moments of national significance.

RT One remains the most popular channel of choice among the Irish public and I look forward to building on that success with the quality, range and diversity of programming on the schedule this season. As RT One evolves, our focus will be on ensuring that we stay relevant to all our audiences with programmes that enrich, entertain and surprise, said George Dixon, Channel Controller, RT One.

RT One Factual will be offering viewers a wide range of powerful one-off documentaries which promise to stimulate debate around important topics such as class, education, and surrogacy. These include the Sundance Award-winner The Summit, about the deadliest day in modern mountain climbing history; My Lockout which gives a unique insight into the most famous labour dispute in Irish history and, as the legal debate around surrogacy plays out in our courts, Surrogacy goes beyond the constitutional debate to tell the human stories behind the headlines.

Landmark drama continues to be at the heart of the RT One schedule, featuring the best in Irish talent both on-screen and behind the camera. IFTA award-winning Love/Hate is back for its fourth season under King Nidge's reign and Ireland's favourite home-grown soap Fair City enters its 25th season with a catastrophic event that has devastating consequences for Carrigstown. New series Amber, starring Eva Birthistle (Waking The Dead) and David Murray (Raw), tells the story of a family's desperate search to find their teenage daughter. Also new to our screens is atmospheric thriller Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne as chief pathologist-turned-detective in 1950s Dublin. This season will also bring network premieres of the award-winning, indigenous movies What Richard Did and The Guard, both of which have been co-produced by RT .

In new Entertainment series for RT One, Hector hEochag in crosses the border into Northern Ireland for the very first time and Des Bishop ventures to China in an attempt to deliver a successful comedy show through a language he doesn't yet speak. Sinead Kennedy joins Marty Whelan as the new presenter of Winning Streak. Plus Ryan Tubridy and Brendan O'Connor return with The Late Late Show and The Saturday Night Show and this season also sees the return of the hugely-popular The Voice of Ireland and Irish Pictorial Weekly.

On RT One Lifestyle, Mairead Farrell is looking to find Ireland's Fittest Family and the all-new Design Doctors are here with practical tips and inspiring ideas to help us make the most of our homes. A new medical series, Doctor on Call, sees Dr Johnny Walker use the latest cutting edge technology to diagnose and treat communities around Ireland and ine Lawlor re-traces the steps of her journey to overcome breast cancer.

The focus in Arts this season is on creating major events which bring the public and artists together to generate debate and discussion around Irish culture. The Play Next Door is a major three-part series which challenges three well-known writers to deliver a television play under unusual circumstances. Other documentaries include profiles on Myrtle Allen, Pauline Bewick and John Boorman along with the return of The Works and The Bord Gais Energy Book Awards.

RT News and Current Affairs looks to provide world-class coverage of major news stories and, in particular, events that have a direct impact on Ireland and Irish people. RT News and Current Affairs delivers a wide range of quality programming including Morning Edition and Prime Time which feature award winning in-depth analysis, topical reports, debate and investigative journalism. With a comprehensive range of bulletins and programmes in both Irish and English, RT News is available 24-hours-a-day on the RT News Now channel, on the RT News Now app and at www.rte.ie/news.

In a country of great storytellers, RT One's Cl racha Gaeilge bring viewers some of the very best. Scann l looks back at more of the scandals that shocked, outraged, amused and incited the nation and Cloch le Carn remembers Maeve Binchy and Ciar n MacMath na.

RT One continues to feature a broad range of religious expression from all the major Christian denominations and Ireland's minority faith communities through its religious programming. Bl thnaid Ni Chofaigh is back with The Moment of Truth and Gay Byrne's The Meaning of Life returns with more interviews from major figures from all walks of Irish and international public life.

Launching the new season for RT Two, channel controller Bill Malone said: Serving the public is key to RT Twos identity, whether it is

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2013/0808/46709...
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