TV3 have decided against pitting their new soap Red Rock head-to-head with Coronation Street when it starts in the New Year.
The station have revealed the first episode of the sea-side set series will be broadcast on Wednesday, January 7 at 8.30pm.
This will be an hour later than when new station UTV Ireland broadcasts Coronation Street at 7.30pm, while Emmerdale goes out at 7pm.
And they will also miss out on taking on Fair City, which RTE is broadcasting at 8pm – but will be going against Operation Transformation.
Star: Game of Thrones’ Jane McGrath is on Red Rock | TV3
UTV Ireland’s exact schedule has yet to be confirmed, but they are likely to be showing Midsomer Murders, which is going out at ITV at that time.
TV3 had held the rights to Corrie and Emmerdale for years until the upstart station stole them ahead of their launch in the Republic.
They are hoping that investing the money into Irish programming – including €7 million soap Red Rock – will boost their ratings.
They also lost a number of other shows to UTV Ireland such as Jeremy Kyle, but have kept the rights to Downton Abbey and the X Factor.
