Edelman PR

Grainne Seoige has been joined by her sister Sile as the new co-presenter on what was the Seoige and O’Shea Show, following Joe O’Shea’s departure at the end of last season. The Irish Independent has more on RTE’s new schedule. In related news, the Irish Times reports on comments by RTÉ Director General Cathal Goan that 2009 could be the “most financially challenging year RTÉ will experience for many years.”

The Irish Independent points out that “Today FM is gearing up to launch a radically revamped website, including integrated podcasting, blogs, video content and pictures.”

TV3 has purchased Channel 6 in a deal reportedly worth €10 million. The Irish Examiner has more on the story.

The Irish Independent reported that eircom is set to end its League of Ireland sponsorship at the end of the current season, but is set to retain its sponsorship of the national team.

The Irish Times reports that “election and referendum posters could be the subject of tougher regulations under measures to be considered by Minister for the Environment John Gormley…Submissions are invited from all interested individuals and organisations by September 15th, 2008, either by e-mail to electionposters_at_environ.ie or by post to Election Poster Consultation, Environment Policy Section, Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Ardcavan Business Park, Wexford.”

The Irish Times points out that “Boxer DTT, a consortium 50 per cent owned by Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp group, has won the three national digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplex licences.” However the rollout of DTT is already expected to be delayed.

While there is a lot of focus on public sector spending on advertising and PR, the other noticeable effect of the recent economic downturn is the struggle to fin sponsors for high profile shows. The Irish Independent reports that “Advertising executives at RTE are searching for new sponsors for its two flagship chat show programmes just weeks before they are due to return to our screens. Despite delivering some of the strongest viewership figures for the station, neither ‘The Late Late Show’ nor ‘Tubridy Tonight’ have found new sponsors ahead of their return in September.”

The Times points out that “YouTube’s advertising revenues are falling short of expectations because of concerns about intrusiveness, fears among corporate advertisers about copyright infringement and an inefficient sales operation.”

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