[JMT1985]

I believe they couldn't find a buyer - television in Ireland now is simply not profitable - remember Ireland has a small population of just over 5 million and even their state broadcaster RTE can't survive on the licence fee alone, as RTE is allowed to have commercial advertising and sponsorship, although the amount they can have is more limited than say on Virgin Media One.

So I bet they feel best to make the most of what they got.

Theoretically, is it possible that RTE could buy VM's channels? Not that they would have the money or inclination to do so - but rather, is it legal?

Not legal - RTE is a semi-state company, and a semi-state company purchasing a fully independent company is going to the extreme - the whole point of the original TV3 launching was to give proper competition to RTE who had been complacent for decades, and receiving all the commercial TV advert funding to themselves, whilst still receiving the licence fee income.