MCD Promotions and Tyrone Productions are to co-operate in staging a week of specially produced concerts at the Point Theatre, showcasing Irish music. The concerts will then be shown on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States and Canada, which is received in 93 per cent of homes.

The staging of the concerts will cost £1.2 million and the two companies expect to generate "significant revenue" by producing a video and CD based on the shows, mainly for sale in the US.

Although neither company will say how much they expect to make, anything over £1.2 million will be a profit and will mean "sizeable" royalties for the artists involved. They include, Sinead O'Connor, Christy Moore, Mary Black, The Chieftains, Brian Kennedy, Clannad and the Riverdance Irish Dance troupe.

The concerts, which go under the name Gaelforce, will be recorded for initial transmission on PBS as an 80-minute special Pledge concert and then be available as a series of one hour programmes. Previous Pledge broadcasts have featured the Three Tenors, Les Miserables and Riverdance.

According to Mr Denis Desmond, of MCD Promotions, the theme of the concerts will be Celtic.

"Irish music is huge in the US at the moment. Bands like The Chieftains and Altan are packing venues out all over the place. The launch of a compilation of live Irish music on video and CD will push it even more." PBS is paying MCD and Tyrone Productions, which is owned jointly by Mr John McColgan and Ms Moya Doherty, about £250,000 for the 80minute special. PBS will do the promotion for the show in the run up to Christmas.

Up to 15,000 tickets will be sold for the week of concerts and the Point Theatre will be all-seater for the shows.

A number of the artists involved do not currently have a record label and the promoters are also confident the concert will raise US interest in more established artists such as Christy Moore.