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YOU CAN NOW bring the Dáil and Seanad, as well as Oireachtas committees into your front room, with the official launch of the Oireachtas TV channel.
The service, already available online, was first launched in 2011 as a pilot channel on UPC.
Following on from its success, with claims that as many as 55% of viewers watched it regularly, the Houses of the Oireachtas moved to roll it out further.
It’s now available free of charge on UPC 207 and Sky Channel 574.
A statement today said it will soon be provided on the Eircom TV platform.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Barret said that the service is inspired by BBC Parliament.
“I have been determined that every household in Ireland has access to a channel whereby they can tune in when they want and judge for themselves through a first hand account of our political system live on their TV,” he said.
In that sense, today is an important day for Irish democracy, at it brings the business of our national parliament closer to the citizens we serve.
Saorview is yet to follow in the path of UPC, Eircom, and Sky by offering Oireachtas TV.
RTÉ defended this move in a statement issued when the channel was first announced in July.
The station said:
“As a public service broadcaster, [RTÉ] has for many years provided extensive coverage of the proceedings of the Oireachtas across all of its services on television, on radio, and online.
RTÉ commits significant journalistic staff and technical resources to its Oireachtas coverage to provide impartial and informative programming to its viewers as well as in-depth analysis from its political staff and correspondents.
It also notes that RTÉ is unable to offer discounted rates on the Saorview service.
A TheJournal.ie poll, while unscientific, showed an even split between whether people were going to watch the channel, occasionally watch it, and not watch it all.
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You do know that all this article is going to do is bring to the forefront the classic Android/iOS debate of which no clear winner can be had?!
Let the flaming of each device by its devoted fans begin!
That’s generally the idea of a comments section
This is my view anyway David. I have a SGS2 and the wife has the iPhone4. Both brilliant phones in their own way. The Apple Store is WAY better than the GooglePlay Store with obviously more apps, some alot better than android equivalent.
I love the freedom the SGS2 gives me, the OS and the screen size. I have a 64GB microSD in it and can view any website I want including flash. I can download any link onto the phone (MP3, avi, mkv etc.)
This cannot be done on iOS as it’s all locked down. Everything has to be downloaded from iTunes. It is VERY restrictive. But she loves the simplicity of it.
Both excellent phones (Android/iOS) with pros and cons. I would love to have both concept all bundled into one phone, that would be the perfect phone!
/end comments :D
@ ƒR()§†H@X
Have you considered jailbreaking?
Yes David. The iPhone is Jailbroken with all the essential repos. This does take some of the restriction away of course but still nothing like Android. Still can’t download files to the phone but definitely gives alot more freedom.
I still hate the fact you have to do this ;)
You can actually download files to a Jailbroken iPhone and use a program called iFile to access the file system and the file in question. There are tweaks in Cydia for Safari and now the Chrome app (I’d stick with Safari for now) in which you can download and upload files. I think the app is Safari Downloader (might be wrong but it’s close) there is also a download manager. You’ll find loads more info on Google :-)
Wanted to be able to properly access Flash content…
Can you safely jailbreak an Apple 4 with iOS 5? If so what prog do you use? Also…any way to transfer recordings made on TunIn Radio Pro to your PC?
Can you safely jailbreak an iPhone 4 with iOS 5? If so what prog do you use? Also…any way to transfer recordings made on TunIn Radio Pro to your PC?
Yes John this is possible on any version of iOS version with the iPhone 4, I’m sure you can also transfer tunein radio files from the iPhone using ifile once it’s jailbroken.
@prot0type
Thanks for that, must look that up.
@John
This link should sort you out
http://lifehacker.com/5771943/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-jailbreaking-your-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-%5Bios-511%5D
Thanks for replying to my query folks..
Not looking to get into the debate, but all of the movie files you mention can be played on a non-jailbroken iPhone using an app called “It’s Playing” which is available on the app store for a nominal fee. Download links are picked up too, so there’s no messing about.
If the iPhones and iPads had adobe flash player then they would be the ultimate devices!!
HTML5 will replace it as Adobe flash is clunky, cumbersome and old now and Adobe have also stopped supporting it for mobiles I believe
Get out of that with you’re old school technology would ya??? iPhone doesn’t come close to high end android devices.
That only applies to the USA.
I changed network for a good deal on Android but the main reason I went for it was because of apples controlling methods. Android is more open source.
I was unhappy with the amount of control Apple exercise, ie, only being able to go through Apple store and hassles with putting my own music, photos, etc on their devices. I chose Android becuase it allows me to view photographs and videos on a microSD which is also compatible with my cameras. I can also listen to my own mp3′s on a microSD card and change the content whenever I wish with far less hassle. (I have owned an iPod in the past.)
I love my iPhone.
During the mac vs pc battle, there was a clear cut difference, the mac had exclusive high end software, the OS looked cooler, and the hardware itself looked like something from the future.
Whereas with the iphone vs android battle, the iphone doesn’t offer anything more than android these days. It has become a victim of its own success.
With the Mac the price looked like something from the future too. A dark future of rampant inflation.
When comparing like with like macs aren’t that much dearer.
Big plus with mac is the os, far better.
Have parallels but very few reasons to open windows now… Every time I do, is reminder not to go back to pc…
I think people have also warmed up to the fact that the iPhone is not the best phone anymore, maybe the iPhone 5 will be the best again but only briefly as another phone will come out shortly after. At the rate phones are advancing people are going to want the latest handset.
Why isn’t ‘Prefer Android OS” one of the options?
iOS isn’t an operating system – it’s a user interface. Best bloody thing I ever did was getting rid of my iPhone.
Not an operating system? Apple seem to disagree…but what would they know?
http://www.apple.com/ios/
Do you really think you needed to post that for me?
What in the name of God do you think I thought the ‘OS’ in iOS stood for before your revelation?
Christ on a bike. I despair sometimes.
Let me spell it out for you — in my opinion, the functionality on an iOS device is so limited and the ux is so tightly controlled, it’s not an operating system – it’s a user interface.
po-tay-to, po-tah-to
iOS is derived from OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix operating system….With the iOS GUI on top…!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS
Android is a Linux-based operating system primarily designed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers utilizing ARM processors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29
However it does not pretend to be anything other than a Linux system, which is why it will drive the Apple iOS into the ground…!!!
I wouldn’t go with iphone for several reasons… first, its made out of glass and I wouldn’t like to spend money to get it fixed each time it falls on the ground. second, u can’t change battery on the go, and that’s a good thing if u can. third, small screen, I know its brilliant, but it is just too small. finally itunes, I want to be able to throw any file format at my phone, and I expect it to work as it should.
never had iphone, and I don’t think I will buy one, simply, I don’t like to pay more for something that doesn’t meet my expectations.
and don’t get me wrong, I know android has issues, but still… suits me best.
I think the SG3 is the best, i have an iphone 4 but no longer use it.
can i have it?
I love apples . Ummmm apples .
Its horses for courses isn’t it? The iPhone is great if you want a reasonably simple interface, the safety of the sandbox, are not really that tech interested and like Apple’s design culture. Android is more customisable and has a greater range of hardware. Neither is better than the other they just reflect different schools of thought.
I agree totally, and we all know which school of thought is better. :-D
iPhone mania in a months time !!!! can’t wait
There is no clear winner really, they are both class phones in their own way!
Why are people still using the flash argument ? Adobe officially killed support for it on android. They are actually removing it from the google play store tomorrow for good. It’s an archaic standard that’s extremely resource heavy. HTML5 is the way forward.
Android eating away at iOS marketshare, according to survey
Won’t be long before the iPhone goes the way of Nokia…!!!
Android Rulez…!!!!
Well android OS is on a lot more phones. So marketshare is obviously in their favour.
But the Galaxy S3 on it’s own is the fastest selling device in history, with over 900 million pre-orders. The iPhone 5 needs to be REALLY special or it’s game over for Apple, and even then I can’t see many users of high end android devices like the Galaxy S3 wanting to switch; I can’t in all honesty think of anything that would make me switch. Apple devices are far too tightly locked down. I was a fan of their laptops, but now they’ve decided to apply the same principles to them I guess my next laptop will be a windows machine.
….maybe holographic video calling, that might convince me to switch.
All this talk is redundant until we know the figures of the new iPhone sales, as sales of 4 and 4s have dropped in anticipation. Apple will be far from finished, even if the new iPhone will be a dud. It will give apple the kick up the backside to change whatever was the reason. iPhone sales although huge are not apples only business, and I can’t see them letting go of any products.
I love apple products, They do what I want them to do. I’ve not used a Samsung s3 but iv used a galaxy ace and honestly I hated it. But if that’s the phone people want, I’m not going to loose any sleep cos it doesn’t effect me. It is after all….a JUST a Phone lol
lol, OK, but the Galaxy ace is on a par with the HTC Legend, 800mhz processor and that. It’s a small phone with limited power, doesn’t come close to the Galaxy s3 with it’s 1.4Ghz quad core processor.
Anyway, I agree, I hope Apple knock it out of the park to be honest, more advanced tech = more competition = more advanced tech :-D All good for the consumer in the end.
Apple had the lead for a long time, it’s nice to see Samsung and HTC offering some competition, lets just hope it’s neck and neck with all these mobile companies for the foreseeable future.
Reason #9 – I enjoy an absolute dog’s dinner of an OS.
*runs for cover*
It’s clearly because the slightest knock to an iPhone results in a broken screen and many pitying looks on the luas when people spot it. Apple are desperate for leaks
a/ it’s cheaper
b/ more range of free apps
c/ and the clincher. ABA anyone but Apple
DJ Hickey you are right on the money with that comment ;)
Dj hickey for CEO of apple!!
because flash is still very heavily used all over the internet, not least by rebroadcasting sites.
I currently have a Galaxy Note. However i had an iphone (3 and 4) as well as an ipad. For me Android as an OS allows more freedom, but iOS is more polished.
I have a Macbook Pro, but I prefer running Windows 7 under boot camp on it. Generally Apple is far more expensive to own (initial cost on bill pay plus special Apple Tariffs). All in all its down to preference not fan boys.
For my next phone, I’m holding out for flexible screens.
You would think they would all make a battery that lasts longer though..
I have a SamGal2..Love it..Battery not great though.
SGS3. With it’s always up to date Sat Nav. is the one for me.
You’re comparing Apples with Oranges. I’ll get my coat…
Oh that apple pun takes the pip.
Does android not have a lot of issues with receiving wifi?
Android has no problems with wifi. I’ve owned two android devices over the past three years and I can say I have never had a wifi problem on any of them, nor have I heard of any particular android related wifi difficulties anywhere.
have your say