Categories: Web

Free live TV from Magnet WebTV available to stream on 99% of devices

Live TV streaming service Magnet WebTV have recently extended the availability of their service to 99% of all devices. Launched in January of this year, Magnet WebTV have upgraded their streaming service to support HTML5 video, effectively enabling a plethora of new devices that don’t support traditional Adobe Flash video, including the Apple iPhone and iPad.

The streaming service, provided by Magnet Networks, a dublin-based digital telephony and broadband company, allows free online streaming of five Irish free-to-air channels from within the Republic of Ireland – RTÉ ONE, RTÉ TWO, TV3, TG4 and 3e, as well as live feeds from the Irish parliament. Commenting on the recent enhancements to the service Mark Kellett, CEO of Magnet Networks, stated,

“There’s no denying the fact that smartphones and tablet PCs stand poised to redefine the way we consume media in 2011.  As well as a live TV service that can be watched anywhere in Ireland with a reliable broadband connection, we wanted to make Magnet WebTV available to all, regardless of device.

“With the iPad 2 selling out within an hour of launching in Ireland last Friday, and smartphones steadily replacing older phone models, we expect strong interest in the service amongst this user base.  No other TV service in Ireland can offer immediately accessible live news and entertainment on the move.”

Research by Magnet Networks estimates that as of October 2010, there were 600,000 smartphone users in Ireland, with this figure expected to rise to 1.1 million by the end of this month – no doubt due to the explosive growth of Android powered handsets in Ireland. With over 700,000 Irish people accessing the web on their mobile phones Magnet realise the huge potential of making their WevTV service available to this vast and fast-growing market.

Uptake of the digital service has been impressive so far. Magnet WebTV informed The Sociable that as of April 11, 16,813 users had registered with the service since its launch on January 31, 2011. Peak usage times largely mirror that of traditional television with 6-8pm witnessing highest traffic volumes. Overall RTÉ ONE is the most popular channel on the service, no doubt as a result of RTÉ News programming, witnessed in traffic spikes around 1pm and 6pm daily.

“Current registrations as of Monday, April 11th stand at 16,813. The most popular channel is RTE1 and the most popular time for watching currently is 6pm to 8pm, so it’s the news from 6-7 and then programmes change daily. We also see a very heavy spike at lunchtime, approx 1pm for RTE1, so indicates people are tuning into the lunchtime news.”

Users also have the option to upgrade to a premium subscription service offering twenty-one channels for €4.99 a month. The premium package includes all the BBC channels, MTV, VH1 and a host of children’s programming.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

  • I'd rather use online services like the TVDevo website which offers streaming and recorded (on-demand) TV shows from around the world, not just locally. Better solution.

  • I'd rather use online services from the TVDevo.com website which offers streaming and recorded (on-demand) TV shows from around the world, not just locally. Better solution.

Recent Posts

Fabian Society outlines how govt can ‘upscale circular economy’

How long until the wolf sheds its sheepskin? Fabians are sleepwalking society towards the 'own…

2 hours ago

AI reasoning and the infinite puzzle of Borges’ Library of Babel

Many people have the intuition that an LLM (Large Language Model, e.g. ChatGPT) doesn't really understand…

4 days ago

UK’s DARPA-inspired ARIA opens ‘Engineering Ecosystem Resilience’ research opportunity

ARIA's opportunity space for engineering ecosystem resilience follows a global trend of public and private…

4 days ago

Healthcare providers now have unprecedented data insights into the patient journey as PurpleLab® acquires KAID Health

In the U.S., we’re seeing an incredible growth of the healthcare analytics market, with the…

5 days ago

First Financial Federal Credit Union prioritizes empathy with Ribbon partnership for inheritance claims 

When our loved ones pass on, it can be one of the most traumatic events…

5 days ago

Tackling antimicrobial resistance with new cleaning protocols

When we hear the word pandemic, our mind is likely to jump to the events…

6 days ago