As a gaelgóir, I give TG4 a big thumbs up. It's not the best channel on tv, but for a small channel…read morebased mostly in rural gaeltacht of Co. Galway, they do pretty damn well. They have a lot of home produced shows, produced both on their own and in connection with RTÉ and they have big series'like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, shows that RTE don't even have. They've been on the air since Halloween night 1996, and it continues to go from strength to strength.

The only Irish-language TV channel in Ireland, TG4 spreads it's net pretty wide - sports, drama,…read moresoaps, news...they kind of have it all...and predominantly as Gaeilge too. Actually, that's my main gripe with them - they do show US dramas such as CSI and that, but don't even bother to subtitle them. Now, I realise that if they didn't have some of the big name programmes that they could well go under, but at least put up a front of keeping up the Irish end of things. On the other hand, and this is by far their redeeming feature...there's nothing like listening to Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh ag déanamh a rud leis an CLG...priceless...

All the other reviews here seem to be writing about the actual TV station but nobody mentioned its…read morelocation or what RTE the building/site looks like. As your driving up the N11 nearing donnybrook you will see the huge mast and satellite dishes that sit just inside the grounds of RTE. I have been inside the gates of this place lots of times. one of my first visits to RTE was when i was in school, i was coming back from something in the RDS with about 4 friends, we were in our school uniforms and decided to take a short cut through the grounds of RTE. the first thing we came across on the Donnybrook side was the set for Fair City, this looks like a normal street until you notice that the shop faces are just that, there is nothing behind them at all, if you look at the other side, they look like huge big billboards propped up with sticks. you can actually see this without going inside the grounds, how? you ask? well sit upstairs on the 46A as it drives past and look over the wall of RTE and youll see it! its kind of interesting! After our walk through carrickstown (the fair city set) we managed to walk in behind some of the studios and other sets. this is where i got to spin the wheel from winning streak! yes i did! it was just sitting there in a corridor behind a studio. we were actually approached at this stage and asked what we were doing there, we told them we were on a school tour and our uniforms kind of helped with that lie! we decided that our adventure had come to an end though so we left, walking past all the radio trucks and the RTE canteen with all the TV people having lunch inside. I have been an audience member inside RTE aswell and i can confirm that they do this better than TV3, you get booze before you go in and the whole set up is very professional. It is definitely worth applying for tickets to go see some show being filmed, its something different to do and its interesting getting to see what goes on behind the camera!

RTE is the best Irish television channel and it's a non-profit organisation, meaning that it is…read moreowned by the city. The content, in my opinion, is more intelligent than TV3's or 3e's. RTE has the right mix of local, national and international shows that are interesting to a wide audience. The channel covers different topics like news, sport, lifestyle and entertainment. One of my favourite things about RTE is Reeling in the Years. For a news junkie like me, this show is the best way to learn about Irish affairs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, I'll explain it. The half-hour episode picks a year, say 1983, and uses TV clips from that year to show what was happening back then. The show also plays music from that year to reel in the year. It explores the headlines that had people talking.

DCTV is Dublin's one and only public access tv station. Not many people know anything about DCTV,…read moreas it's only broadcast into about 200,000 homes. It also might have something to do with the fact that its channel number 825 or thereabouts, beside the no mans land of Eorunews Italia and Euronews Francais. DCTV is actually a great initiative because it supports non-profit production companies such as NEAR productions and for 15€ a year they'll give you the facilites to make programs yourself. Which is deadly. I'm glad that the government has actually backed DCTV because it puts cameras into the hands of the inexperienced, which will hopefully lead to an entire generation of young innovative film-makers. Or knackers selling stolen Handycams.

Yes it's the tabloid of TV stations, and the ads are really long, but I have a certain fondness for…read moresome elements of TV3. They do love their over sensationalised reality TV/ docudramas, which can be something of a guilty pleasure depending on the topic. And they've recently introduced more talk-tv with midday, and Nightly News. Unlike David I really like Martin King (the bloke from the weather), although I'm kind of in favour of meteorologist in general... clearly for no apparent reason living in this country. Their news team annoy me a bit, particularly that guy Alan Cantwell. TV3 is a bit of a guilty pleasure station, although I will not stoop to Jeremy Kyle!

I see TV3 as kind of veg viewing! It has Corrie and a lot of American sitcoms, not to mention the…read moreIrish version of The Apprentice, which I love. It has its downsides of course. I wouldn't be the biggest fan of its showbiz show - Xpose - and it also airs the oddest documentaries with even odder titles. You could flick onto TV3 and find yourself watching a programme about a woman who was so overweight her plastic surgeon cut her in half. Or something equally insane!

After my complaining about the repeat episode of 'Wild at Heart' being aired instead of the next…read moreepisode I followed it up with an email and a phone call. I got a reply to my email and today a phone call from Clare who explained how the problem happened and then called back to say that all being well the correct episode will be aired on Sunday. The problem was that the wrong episode was 'pulsed' to them from ITV and they only knew there was a problem after being inundated by phone calls. 5 stars for their service and getting back to me so quickly.

As much as I hate TV3, their sister station 3E (formerly channel 6) is actually pretty good. Even…read morethough they show mainly American imports, it still broadcasts some of the best comedy available on terrestrial viewing. It's all about Friends, The Office and Family Guy on 3E, which no-one is going to watch devoutly, but always good if you come by them on a channel surf.