With the arrival of UTV Ireland much of the programming that UPC customers enjoyed on UTV is available across a number of broadcasters. TV3 and RTÉ both hold some rights to ITV programming, hence why UTV Ireland doesn't carry those shows. UTV Ireland we imagine took the decision not to air the UK General election debate which aired on UTV, STV and ITV. RTÉ took the decision to air the debate on their dedicated digital news channel RTÉ News Now, but they also took the decision to interrupt that live broadcast for the RTÉ Nine O'Clock News, but why?

RTÉ2's decision to air Friends in prime time seems like the easy and simplest way for the channel to schedule during those Soap Opera hours. The stripped schedule for niche broadcasters has been the backbone to most cable services of the past 25 years and is largely over looked by Mainstream TV particularly in prime time. Niche TV seems to be slowly dying away with reports that Viacom (and other owners of niche TV stations) showing their stripped schedules are being replaced by on demand viewing such as Netflix. On demand viewing will eventually hit Mainstream broadcasters and as Netflix begin producing more and more of their own content it will see growth for its on-demand service. But you have to question RTÉ2's decision on Friends.