Headford, Co Galway, is a sales hub to Europe and Asia for some of the top shows from the giant US television corporation, CBS. They are marketed from here to places as far away as Kazakhstan or Ukraine.
The man spearheading the sale of shows, such as the David Letterman Show or Dr Quinn - Medicine Woman, is Mr Gerald Noonan, who has made his home near Headford.
Born in New York, Mr Noonan is a veteran of the television and movie business with Paramount Pictures and latterly with CBS. He and his wife Suzanne had intended to retire to a new home outside Headford.
But with the advent of email, the Internet and modern computerised communications, the CBS Corporation convinced him he could remain working with the company and have access to a large slice of this side of the world from Headford.
His employers had at first suggested he should work in the CBS International Media Sales Office in London, but he declined as he did not want to live in England.
His planned move to Ireland left the option of working from home via the Internet and commuting to and from CBS's London operations.
"Email is amazing and the different time zone here to that in the US allows me to work at strange times. For example I could be working from my home here via email to America at 9 o'clock at night but that is still only the afternoon back home," he said. "I might spend 130 to 140 nights per year here now, about 70 in America and the rest of the time in places such as London, Paris, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf or elsewhere in Europe."
In a custom-built upstairs office Mr Noonan can scan and download film clips, images and data to those with whom he is doing business.
With a shrug of his shoulders the 62-year-old executive says, "Kiev is an interesting market for some of our shows and so also are some of the Scandinavian countries."
Sitting back in Co Galway he talks about doing deals with people in foreign countries in the same tones as if he were speaking about doing business in Kilcoona or Shrule a few miles down the road.
The type of packages he sells to the television stations incorporate advertising on, or around, some of the programmes. In some instances where the shows are being sold on to smaller states of the former USSR the currency fluctuations can prove to be a problem.
But deals are sometimes done with major international companies which are selling their products in those places. The firms purchase the programmes and incorporate their own advertising campaigns into them before they are shown in the former Soviet Union countries.
This ensures that some cash-strapped stations can get the top US shows in a barter system as the major firms which have purchased the programmes get prime-time TV coverage in those countries via their advertising incorporated in the shows.
"The companies know that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of eyeballs will watch these programmes and also see the advertisements incorporated into them. This sells products irrespective of where they are shown, as long as the goods advertised on the shows are in the shops in these countries," says Mr Noonan. He says Irish stations are less likely to buy American shows which may be available on satellite stations, such as Sky.
That is why many of the shows he sells are to cable channels, especially in Scandinavia and, more recently, Russia. "France and Scandinavia are good markets for us and of course coming from Ireland to do business with people in those countries helps me, too.
As an American, he has ancestral affinity with Ireland anyway, as his parents came from here. His father came from Tuamgreaney in Clare and his mother from Kiltimagh in Mayo.
When Gerald first came to visit it was on horse-riding and hunting holidays in Donegal but as that area was too far away from a major airport he decided Headford should be his home.
He has found a haven of rest in Headford where he relaxes and enjoys walking and fishing and takes in some of the local drama and music.
"You are listening to the traditional Irish music of Matt Cunningham from Headford," he said, as he pointed to the CD player in the corner of his office.
