[chinamug]

How could RTE afford to get US shows so ahead of the UK? Star Trek, The Next Generation took until 1990 before it premiered on BBC 2, meaning come 1990 the BBC were three seasons behind the US.

Small english speaking audience on the west coast of Europe. Plus RTE had good relationships with various US production houses. It was common to see European Premieres to US shows on RTE, often on the same week. It was handy for US companies as well as they could give actual figures that the show did well in an english speaking market outside of America. However what normally tended to happen is that RTE held back showing the shows until November, December and January because of the long gaps in showing episodes in America. So they'd be about 3 months behind when a series started and 5/6 days behind when it finished in May.