2006 in Irish television

The following is a list of events relating to television in Ireland from 2006.

Events

6 March – TV3 begins broadcasting in widescreen format on Sky Ireland.
27 March – Veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne is appointed as Chairman of the Road Safety Authority.
March – Launch of Channel 6, replaced by 3E in 2009.
March – Launch of City Channel Galway.

26 May – At its annual general meeting in Belfast Ulster Television plc formally changes its name to UTV plc, taking the decision because it believes that the existing name no longer reflected the full scope of the company's business.

23 August – ITV secures a deal to sell its 45% stake in TV3 for £70m.
29 August – Scottish Media Group – owners of the STV network – officially rejects a merger offer from Northern Irish ITV franchise holder UTV. The merger approach from would have given SMG shareholders a 52% stake in the combined company.

31 October – [British British Sky Broadcasting|Sky Broadcasting|Sky] announces plans to end its nightly Sky News Ireland broadcasts from 30 November.

3 November – Ray Kennedy presented the final Sky News Ireland programme at 10.00pm. No further Sky News Ireland bulletins were broadcast after this because the staff walked out.
24 November – An edition of The Late Late Show is briefly interrupted by an intruder who makes his way onto the stage to hurl abuse at host Pat Kenny. An individual is arrested and released, but re-arrested on 2 December for driving his car into the entrance of RTÉ's Donnybrook headquarters.

4 December – The UK's Channel 4 becomes available to viewers in Ireland via Sky.

Launch of Setanta Ireland, a channel dedicated to sport, showing both local and international sporting events.

Would You Believe