'Coronation Street' and 'Emmerdale' to move to UTV in Ireland
UTV has secured the rights to air Coronation Street and Emmerdale in Ireland.
The channel has unveiled plans to go head-to-head with RTÉ and TV3 in the ratings through its new station based in Dublin.
Channel bosses have stated that they will begin airing the ITV soaps by 2015, after signing a deal with the British channel for exclusive rights.
UTV Media's group chief executive John McCann said that the new station hopes to employ 100 people.
"It's as simple as that - we were able to do a deal with ITV," he said.
TV3 - which currently airs the ITV soaps in Ireland - recently claimed that they were losing money through the shows.
David McRedmond, TV3 chief executive, said: "We were losing money on the soaps. Every year we were paying millions and millions to ITV in London for this programming while starving independent producers and TV3 producers of budgets.
"The good news here for the independent sector and TV3 producers is all that money now goes into production in Ireland."
UTV Ireland will be based in Dublin's Docklands, near to where the company already runs several local radio stations.
