Strong Audiences as People at Home and Abroad Follow State Visit

Strong Audiences as People at Home and Abroad Follow State Visit The first day of the historic State Visit by President Michael D. Higgins to the UK saw audiences turning in significant numbers to RT s coverage.

The top three most watched television programmes across all channels in Ireland last night were on RT One, and featured extensive coverage of the President's State Visit and the State Banquet (1. Nine O'Clock News, 2. State Visit of President Higgins to the UK, and 3. Six-One News)*.

RT One's special programme on Tuesday night featured live coverage of the State Banquet with speeches from President Higgins and Queen Elizabeth II. It saw an average of 480,000* viewers watch throughout the programme with 34,000* viewers watching it on RT One + 1. Over 800,000** people tuned in to the live transmission at some point during the 30 minute broadcast. RT .ie/news and the RT News Now App received a total of just under two million page impressions*** for the first day of the visit and over 62,000 views of online news coverage of the State Visit of President Higgins.

RT is providing audiences, both at home and abroad, with a range of six special programmes in addition to detailed news coverage across Morning Edition, One O'Clock News, Nuacht, Six-One News, Nine O'Clock News and News on Two. RT is at locations in Windsor and London, and in the coming days will be at Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford and Coventry to provide viewers with coverage of the President's engagements over the course of his four-day visit.

As Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster RT is combining resources with British broadcasters BBC, SKY and ITV to provide live pool coverage of the major events on the State Visit. This live pool coverage is also available to other Irish broadcasters free of charge. In addition, RT News' online feed is being provided free to the Irish Independent, The Irish Times, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Post and Newstalk to carry live on their own websites.

Following incorrect reports issued today, RT wishes to clarify that it is sending a core team of 30 staff members from across the organisation to provide coverage across TV, radio, online and mobile, in Irish and English, for the duration of the visit. In addition 18 supplementary staff will be travelling at various times for periods of two days or less to provide additional programme coverage, including the transmission of the Ceili radh concert, which is being broadcast across three platforms on Thursday night.

The core team includes a technical team of 13 staff members, including camera, sound and satellite truck unit operators. Two presenters, two correspondents and five reporters are providing on-air coverage across television, radio and online, with an editorial team of five staff behind the scenes. In addition there are three staff members from Nuacht providing daily Irish-language news programmes to both TG4 and RT .

Today RT broadcast a special TV programme from London featuring coverage of several of the day's events, including the President's meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street. This evening RT News Now will feature live coverage of the President's speech at the banquet hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London at Guildhall from 9.45pm. Earlier today Morning Ireland and Today with Sean O'Rourke broadcast the final programmes of their two days in the UK to mark the historic occasion.

On Thursday evening, RT will broadcast live coverage of Ceili radh (Celebration), a special evening of music, spoken word and dance at the Royal Albert Hall in honour of the President's visit. The event will be streamed live worldwide on the RT Player (www.rte.ie/player) from 8.25pm and will also be live on RT Radio 1 with John Creedon coming from inside the Royal Albert Hall from 8pm to 10.15pm. In addition television coverage of the event will be broadcast on RT One at 10.15pm. The concert takes its inspiration from the Irish session where each artist contributes towards the creation of a unique and intimate evening. The line up of artists to perform in the presence of President Higgins include Imelda May, The Gloaming, Paul Brady, Lisa Hannigan, Glen Hansard, Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, The West Ocean Quartet, Joseph O'Connor and Fiona Shaw, along with some surprise guests.

On Friday, the President will visit the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and then travel to Coventry. RT will broadcast live coverage of an event at St Mary's Guildhall in Coventry, where the President will meet members of the Irish community and deliver his final speech of the State Visit.

On Saturday 12th April RT Radio 1's Countrywide will feature a special report by Damien O'Reilly on the President's visit to the Food Animal Initiative (FAI) Farms in Oxford during his trip.

Looking back on what is due to be an historic trip, Tommie Gorman will reflect on the special moments and talk to some of those involved in the first Irish President's State Visit to the UK, in The President in Britain, Monday 14th April at 7.30pm on RT One.

The first day of the historic State Visit by President Michael D. Higgins to the UK saw audiences turning in significant numbers to RT 's coverage. The top three most watched television programmes across all channels in Ireland last night were on RT One, and featured extensive coverage of the President's State Visit and the State Banquet (1. Nine O'Clock News, 2. State Visit of President Higgins to the UK, and 3. Six-One News)*.

RT One's special programme on Tuesday night featured live coverage of the State Banquet with speeches from President Higgins and Queen Elizabeth II. It saw an average of 480,000* viewers watch throughout the programme with 34,000* viewers watching it on RT O

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2014/0410/60803...
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