The Barry family, which owns Barry's Tea, and a company with links to aircraft leasing are two of the main investors behind the new television service Channel 6.

The service aims to launch in the first half of the year and has now raised €14 million. The other main backers are the Gowan motor group and two venture capital funds, ACT Venture Capital and Delta Partners.

Of these it is understood the biggest investor in the project is ACT Venture Capital, which is believed to have a stake of about 25 per cent. The Barry family is thought to have a much smaller stake.

Claret Capital, an investment vehicle linked to private investor Domhnal Slattery, was only incorporated about a year ago. Mr Slattery is chairman of the aviation leasing company Lombard Aviation Capital. He is already an investor in other media projects via the Clare People, which is a competitor to the Clare Champion.

Lombard Aviation Capital is a well known name in Irish aviation circles, having managed leasing deals for companies like low cost carrier Ryanair.

Other investors include the original promoters of the project, Pat Donnelly, former chief executive of Carat Ireland, the advertising group and Michael Murphy, a former Eircom executive with experience in the television industry.

Mr Murphy said yesterday that Channel 6 was delighted with the amount of money raised. "We look forward to offering viewers a vibrant programming schedule that showcases the best of international and local talent and, critically, offers viewers an attractive Irish choice. Details of Channel 6's schedule will be released in the coming weeks."

Walter Hobbs, representing ACT Venture Capital, said his fund was persuaded by the huge depth of experience of the management team in the television and advertising industries. He said the team was clearly going to serve the 15-35 age group.