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TV3 is probably the longest case, ever, of a gap between a channel recieving its licence and actually going on air. In 1989 the Windmill Lane Productions company applied for the sole independent television contract for the Republic of Ireland from the IRTC and was the winner. James Morris was Chief Executive and the station promised to be on air by early 1991. It would be nine years before the station finally went on air.

In the meantime the station ran into trouble over a lack of funds. The company went to a number of ITV companies around Britain, Yorkshire and Granada were known to be interested. Eventually the then Ulster Television came on board in 1992. Under the deal TV3 would have become an ITV company, broadcasting the network schedule in sofar as it could (certain programmes were held by RTE), with its own programmes broadcast in the timeslots normally allocated to regional programming. UTV would appoint some of the board and arrangements would be made for TV3 to replace UTV on cable companies. This latter proved a sticking point as cable companies refused to voluntarily drop UTV - the station was just too popular. In addition the IRTC was very unhappy about the stake UTV would take in the company - it was impossible for "foriegn" companies to own controlling stakes in IRTC contractors (at least, until now...read on) - and also had competition concerns. UTV and TV3 parted ways by 1995, oestensibly over the matter of who would appoint the chairperson.

Meanwhile TV3 had its licence withdrawn (its not like it was providing a TV service or anything) and had to go to the courts to get it back. This done, by early 1997 TV3 were looking for new partners. They found one in CanWest Global, a Canadian entertainment company which took a large minority stake in the station as well as a 29% stake in UTV, giving it a foothold in commercial television on both sides of the border. TV3 finally went on air at the end of September 1998. By now the station had re-invented itself as a youth-orinted station, a "cross between Channel 5 and Sky 1" as one commentator put it. Although the station as rather downmarket, in my opinion it has never been as downmarket as either of the above.

September 2000 saw a further change in the fortunes of TV3. Finally it got its investment from an ITV company - newly spun off Granada Media plc. Under the deal, a new Granada-CanWest joint venture will take a 90% stake in TV3 - the original investors cutting their stake to 10%. TV3 gets access to all the output of Granada Television, London Weekend Television, Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Productions, and United Productions, with simultanious transmission rights with ITV. This gives it access to the vast majority of the ITV Network's output. Since it will broadcast any Granada programmes simultaniously with ITV, the station's status as the new Irish wing of the ITV Network will be no doubt soon established. And finally, November 2000 saw the appearence of the offical TV3 website!

TV3 Digital
TV3 will have access to half-a-multiplex on the Digital Terrestrial TV system. This will allow it to run its existing service and one other service. It is possible that TV3 may sell its spare space for cash, or lease it to Granada or ITV-2.