4 January – Freeview announces details for the launch of ITV1+1, together with the possibility that both STV and UTV will launch their own timeshift services, STV +1 and UTV +1 in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.[1] UTV later confirms it will launch UTV+1 at 8pm on 11 January 2011.[2]
February
21 February – British-Irish sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys begins airing for the first time in the UK on the BBC.
23 May – Helen O'Rahilly, a former director of television at RTÉ launches a scathing attack on its flagship programme, The Late Late Show amid criticism that standards on the programme have slipped since Ryan Tubridy took over as host in 2009. In an online blog, O'Rahilly says, “If I was back in charge of RTÉ, you wouldn’t see this utter shite on Friday night”.[6]
25 May – RTÉ News Now revamps its on-screen identity, giving viewers more detailed content.
6 October – BBC Director GeneralMark Thompson announces that BBC HD will close to be replaced by a high definition simulcast of BBC Two. This BBC Two HD will work much the same way as BBC One HD.[9] This move allows the corporation to save £2.1 million, used to count towards their budget deficit following the freezing of the license fee and the additional financial responsibility of addition services.[10]
8 October – TV3's Video on Demand (VOD) is relaunched as 3Player.[11] It replaces the original TV3 Catch-Up service previously available at tv3.ie and through its iPhone/iPad app. The new service was revealed at a press call the previous day1. It is estimated by the TV3 Group that the service will be worth about €7.5 million by 2015. 3Player is in HTML5 format which makes it available on the majority of operating systems.
19 December – Eugene Heary wins the fourth series of The Apprentice.[15]
26 December – Launch of TV50, a series of special events throughout 2012, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launch of RTÉ Television, then known as Telefís Éireann, on 31 December 1961.[16]