TV3 will be launched on Monday, September 24th, with an entertainment-led programme mix aimed squarely at the 15 to 44 age group. Potential viewers will be impressed that it has scooped the Irish rights to Eastenders, but advertisers will know that it takes more than one good soap to hold an audience.
There are no firm figures for the size of the TV advertising "pot". However, it is reckoned to be about £100 million per annum. RTE, with around 30 per cent of the audience, attracts about 80 per cent of the advertising revenue.
The price offered to advertisers will be "competitive" and TV3 chief executive, Mr Rick Hetherington, is confident that, as well as taking business from RTE and UTV, the advent of TV3 will expand the market.
TV3's sums are based on it attracting some 6 per cent of the TV audience, which it believes will translate into around 18 per cent of the revenue.
Its pitch to the advertising agencies is a simple one. RTE 1, TV3 will argue, is increasingly attracting an older audience, with figures showing that more than half its audience is aged 45-plus, an older profile than any of the other main stations. Network 2, on the other hand, is skewed in the other direction, with close to 60 per cent of viewers aged 34 or less, according to AC Nielsen figures.
TV3's strategy is to attack the middle and target the key, high-spending 15 to 44-year-old audience with a mix of programmes ranging from Ireland's away matches for the next European Championship qualifying rounds to Eastenders.
As well as CanWest Global the Canadian station which owns 45 per cent TV3's others investors include the original Windmill Lane group James Morris, Ossie Kilkenny and Paul McGuinness who own 20 per cent. And its commercial pitch yesterday is also important not only to advertisers, but also because the remaining 35 per cent shareholding is currently being placed with other Irish investors and looks destined to end up in the hands of a number of the major investing institutions.
A detailed analysis of what 15 to 44-year-olds in the Irish market watch, together with CanWest Global's international experience in running TV stations, is behind its programming plans.
Its news service will be important taking 14 of its weekly 99 hour total and, according to Mr Hetherington, will attract an older audience. Overall he is confident TV3 can "over-deliver" on the audience figures it is promising advertisers, arguing that their projections were on the conservative side.
TV3 expects to exceed its commitment that initially 15 per cent of its programming will be sourced domestically, rising to 25 per cent after five years. As well as news, it will kick off with four domestically-produced series commissioned from independent producers, one current affairs, one music, and two light entertainment programmes. Eight hours per week of prime-time movies, series such as Eastenders and The Professionals and a nightly sports news half hour at 11.30 p.m. will also feature in the package.
Childrens' programmes will be aimed at "tweens" aged between about eight and 14, in another move to give the station a distinctive appearance.
Mr Hetherington is confident that, commercially, the numbers will add up. TV3 is not revealing its start-up investment thought to be around £20 million. But it is confident it will start to deliver operating profits in year three.
TV3 will strive to keep its cost base tight, operating from a modern building in Tallaght with about 160 staff in an operation very different in philosophy from RTE.
"The days of product-based broadcasters are long gone," Mr Hetherington says, and while TV3 will invest in its Irish news service, it will buy in most of the rest of its programmes from home and abroad. Bought-in programming is very much the philosophy of CanWest Global, the Canadian station which owns 45 per cent of TV3 and for which Mr Hetherington worked. Buying the right product abroad will be crucial for TV3 as excluding news, more than 70 per cent of viewing goes to foreign broadcasters.
The bulk of TV3's target audience will have access to the new station, as 85 per cent of the 1.13 million homes will be able to receive it. Its primary 15 to 44year-old audience accounts for around half of the TV population.
TV3's early years will be vital. Mr Hetherington says it will take time to get the mix right. But with the digital era almost upon us, TV3 will want to quickly establish itself as a player in the market before the advent of this new technology leads to a further mushrooming of the choices available to the viewing public.
