8 January – Micko airs on RTÉ One.^[1]
23 January – Saorview announces the launch of Free TV, a channel designed to promote the launch of its premium service Saorview Connect.^[2]

1 February – Joanne Cantwell is named as the new presenter of The Sunday Game following popular studio host Michael Lyster's retirement from RTÉ at the end of the 2018 GAA season.^[3]
3 February – Ireland's Got Talent makes its debut on TV3.

28 April – Reports emerge that RTÉ has asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for permission to reduce the Aertel teletext service on the grounds that it has been superseded by more recent technology.^[4] For legal reasons, RTE has to get permission from the Minister to make significant changes to Aertel.^[4]

1 July – ITV closes UTV's Havelock House studios and UTV begins broadcasting from a new broadcast centre at City Quays 2 in the Belfast Harbour Estate.^[7]

30 August – TV3 is rebranded as Virgin Media One, while its sister channels 3e and be3 become Virgin Media Two and Three respectively. A fourth pay TV sports channel, Virgin Media Sport, launches on the Virgin Media platform.^[8]

12 October – The Late Late Show is broadcast live from Central Hall Westminster in London, the first time the programme has broadcast from the United Kingdom since 1980.^[15]^[16]
30 October – Jennifer Zamparelli is announced as the new co-host of the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars alongside Nicky Byrne.^[17]

3 November – RTÉ2 celebrates its 40th anniversary and begins to offer vintage clips of shows from RTÉ2 on the RTÉ archives website.^[18]
29 November – BBC Two Northern Ireland starts broadcasting in HD.^[19]
30 November – The Late Late Toy Show is livestreamed on RTÉ Player, where anyone anywhere in the world can watch live as it is not Geo-blocked.^[20] It is also broadcast on RTÉ One, and goes on to become the most watched programmes on Irish television in 2018.^[21]

Events

Debuts