TV3 has completed its acquisition of UTV and is poised to rebrand the station as it consolidates it into the one group with three free-to-air TV channels.
According to some reports, UTV will be rebranded as B3 and an announcement is likely to be made next week.
TV3 has also said that as part of the consolidation process, some redundancies are likely. Currently UTV has 61 staff and TV3 says that it has 40 open vacancies which it hopes most of which will be filled by UTV Ireland staff.
The company will enter into a 30 day consultation period with effect from December 5 and it is expected that the various steps associated with this plan will be substantially completed by January 2017.
According to Pat Kiely, managing director of TV3 the acquisition “strengthens independent television broadcasting in Ireland by bringing together great channels and great content under the one roof. The combined TV3 Group business is now better equipped to compete against significant local and international broadcasters. We can now also play an increasingly bigger role in the development of Irish originated production and broadcasting. I am confident that our new three channel structure will drive the future potential and long term growth of the business.”
