Narrative Entertainment launches FAST channels in Ireland

Narrative Entertainment, the UK independent commercial broadcaster, is expanding its FAST offering in Ireland.

‘Hello Kitty: Super Style’ (Source: Narrative Entertainment)

The broadcasting group has rolled out four FAST channels on streaming operator LG Channels across the Irish market.

Narrative’s film and entertainment channels, GREAT! Movies and GREAT! Romance, along with kids channels, POP and Tiny POP is now available to viewers in Ireland via LG Channels.

Separately, the GREAT! Romance channel has joined Ireland’s ad sales portfolio via Sky Media. The entertainment channel is available to advertisers via the Sky advertising sales arm. The move comes following the launch of Narrative’s GREAT! Movies and GREAT! TV on Sky Media in August last year.

According to Narrative, it has improved DTT coverage of its GREAT! Network portfolio to 23m UK homes and has seen over 26 platform launches of the GREAT! Player and POP Player apps last year.

The broadcaster recently transitioned its pre-school linear channel, Tiny Pop, to fully digital in March. Its free video on-demand service the Great! Player also launched on Freeview Play and YouView TV in the UK in November.

Fateha Begum, Narrative Entertainment’s commercial director, said: “2024 is proving to be an exciting time for us at Narrative, as we continue to expand our channel brands and build on our successes from 2023. We are dedicated in continuing to invest in new ways for audiences to access and enjoy our portfolio of channels and wide content selection. We’re excited to extend our partnerships with Sky and LG into Ireland, as we provide advertisers greater choice in audience reach as viewing habits change.”

Malcolm Murray, sales director, Sky Media Ireland said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Narrative by adding GREAT! Romance to our portfolio of TV channels.  We have seen strong revenue growth in the TV advertising market in 2024, so the addition of GREAT! Romance is good news for advertisers as we expand the reach of our TV portfolio.”