TV3 is a commercial free-to-air television channel operated within Ireland by the TV3 Group operated by Virgin Media Ireland and owned by Liberty Global. The channel launched on 20 September 1998 becoming the Republic of Ireland's first commercial television channel.In October 1988, the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) was set up to regulate new independent stations. Following this TV3 was intended to be the Republic of Ireland's third terrestrial channel. The original broadcasting licence was granted to a consortium Tullamore Beta Ltd in 1990 (some of this consortium made up of Windmill Lane Productions and Paul McGuinness). It was originally envisaged that the channel would broadcast solely on cable and analogue MMDS, but it was later (1990) decided that the channel should broadcast on some terrestrial UHF transmitters similar to other Irish channels. Initially their signal coverage was much poorer than that of RTÉ but this has been largely addressed since the switchover to digital television.