Two of Ireland’s most watched TV shows, Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be returning to TV3 from the beginning of December.

The popular soaps will be broadcast simultaneously on TV3 and UTV Ireland during the initial transition phase, before being shown exclusively on TV3 from Monday December 5.

The move follows Virgin Media’s announcement this week that it had received regulatory and competition approval to acquire UTV Ireland. Upon final closing of this deal, the TV3 Group will operate as a three channel business and further programming details will be announced then.

As part of this schedule change on TV3, the Seven O’Clock Show will become the Six O’Clock Show and Xposé now moves to a later primetime slot.

Bill Malone, TV3 Group Director of Programming, said: “Putting the viewer first is at the centre of what we do. We will shortly hold the rights to some of the most popular shows available internationally. We will schedule this content to maximise viewership and to cross-promote the quality Irish programming that we are developing in TV3.

“Already this Autumn, TV3 has launched Gogglebox Ireland, Living With Lucy and Pat Kenny Tonight as great examples of our developing content pipeline. With Celebrity Masterchef and Red Rock Season 4 still to come in January, shows such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale will sit comfortably in our primetime schedule.

“These programmes will also help us recruit new viewers to our regular line up of home produced shows.”