A NEW “low cost, high quality” film channel for Irish television is due to be on air by the end of 2009, it was revealed yesterday.
The planned Irish Film Channel will have an estimated annual budget of €3-4 million.
As well as showing Irish and world cinema, it will screen films designed to complement primary and secondary school curriculums and third-level studies
A Department of Communications spokeswoman said the channel would be funded by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, and would have no impact on the licence fee.
James Morris, chairman of the Irish Film Board, which will operate the channel, said the morning and afternoon schedules would have material to aid various categories of student.
Each feature film will have a pre-recorded introduction by a well-known Irish or international film critic, director, actor or industry personality.
Mr Morris said that because the station “is about showing films that have already been made and released and not about funding new productions, it will, by any standards, be a low-cost operation”.
Minister for Arts Martin Cullen said he regarded the new film network as another example of the Government’s “ongoing support” for the domestic sector.
Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan said digital broadcasting developments had paved the way for the “exciting new possibilities” provided by the film channel and Oireachtas TV.
Both niche public service stations were officially unveiled this week as part of the new Broadcasting Bill.
The new free film channel will not carry advertisements and is expected to be available to digital viewers by the end of next year, before a full digital platform is fully developed by 2012.
It will air seven days a week and will include three features a day, involving Irish, European and world cinema.
The IFB said Irish-made movies are likely to have completed their commercial cycle through theatrical, DVD and mainstream TV outlets before appearing on the new television channel. Speaking at the launch of the channel, Oscar-winning director Jim Sheridan expressed his desire to make a new television drama series about the Troubles.
The Dubliner said getting funding for such a project would be difficult but “I think there’s a need for a [television] series to put a coffin nail on the way you think about what the North became.
“If we could get six-inch nails and hammer them into the coffin so that particular vampire never came out again, we would be doing a service.”