The following is a list of events relating to television in Ireland from 2012.
Events Ongoing – TV50, a series of special events throughout 2012, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launch of RTÉ Television, then known as Telefís Éireann, on 31 December 1961.
January 3 January – RTÉ offended viewers by depicting a dog having its legs tied together and being tossed overboard into the sea off the coast of County Donegal as part of its TV50 celebrations in a broadcast. 17 January – RTÉ agrees to scrap its advertising "share deal" scheme from July following an investigation by the Competition Authority. Rival broadcaster TV3 had argued the practice was anti-competitive. RTÉ offered a discount to any advertiser which committed a percentage of its budget for television advertising to them. 30 January – Employees at RTÉ vote to back the broadcaster's plans to cut its staff budget by €1m a year following a ballot of members of the Trade Union Group. The vote comes after a recommendation for them to do so from an internal industrial relations tribunal, and will see the money saved through reductions in holiday pay.
February 6 February – Anglo Irish Bank agrees to allow Doughty-Hanson, the UK-based private equity firm that owns the loss-making TV3 to take a repayment holiday on an €80m loan until the TV network is sold. 11 February – The live televised France versus Ireland match in the 2012 Six Nations Championship is cancelled minutes prior to kick-off, prompting boos to ring out among disgruntled spectators inside a packed Stade de France. It is the first time such an event has happened since 1985. Ryle Nugent tells viewers from his Irish commentary box, "It is a dark day in the history of the Six Nations". Tom McGurk in studio asks, "What are we doing in a rugby stadium at 9pm on a Saturday night in February?" 12 February – David Kelly, the "grand old man of Irish acting", dies in Dublin aged 82 following a short illness. 13 February – The first advert in the UK and Ireland aimed specifically at dogs is broadcast by UTV. The 60-second commercial for the Bakers dog food brand features high-pitched sounds that cannot be heard by humans, and is a send up of the 1969 film The Italian Job. 13 February – In Bed with the Irish, a documentary set among Irish couples under duvets, is broadcast by RTÉ. 17 February – A 59-year-old RTÉ props assistant, who injured himself after falling over a studio floor lamp while working on The Saturday Night Show, is awarded €18,500 in damages. The judge says he had worked accident free in RTÉ for 38 years, that he had been working in poorly lit conditions in a cluttered studio when he was injured by one of RTÉ's props, and that he had been in pain since sustaining his injury.
March 5 March – TV3 airs the documentary Ireland's Secret Sex Lives: Paul Connolly Investigates which looks at the subcultures of swingers and dogging in Ireland. 7 March – The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland upholds a complaint against RTÉ made by Seán Gallagher relating to the tweet that derailed his presidential campaign. 13 March – Pyjama Girls, a documentary set among Dublin's public pyjama wearing community, is broadcast by RTÉ. 13 March – TV3 defends its reality programme Tallafornia after it was condemned by Senator David Norris as a "drink-sodden programme" which encourages its participants to "behave licentiously and compete to bring people home to bed them". 17 March – Debut of RTÉ's #HowToBeIrish, a programme made entirely of clips sent in by viewers explaining what being Irish means to them. 23 March – TV3 Director of Programming Ben Frow calls for resignations at RTÉ in the wake of the Father Kevin Reynolds scandal to prevent the libel case causing further damage to the broadcaster. 25 March – As the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic approaches TV3 begins airing Julian Fellowes' epic retelling of the disaster. TV3 has itself invested €300m in the series. 27 March – RTÉ broadcasts a tribute to deceased comedian Hal Roach in one of its graveyard slots, a repeat airing of a programme from the That's Entertainment series first broadcast in 1972. 29 March – RTÉ Director-General Noel Curran announces €25m of budget cuts at the broadcaster, including pay reductions, staff redundancies and the closure of RTÉ's London office. 31 March – Former broadcast journalist Mike Nesbitt is elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.
April 3 April – Following last year's defamation of Father Kevin Reynolds by RTÉ, the state-controlled broadcaster's head of current affairs Ed Mulhall retires, Ken O'Shea resigns from Prime Time and its stablemate, Prime Time Investigates is axed. 6 April – RTÉ breaks with the Good Friday tradition of not sounding the Angelus bells by broadcasting them as usual on television. They are also heard for the first time on Holy Saturday, a move contrary to Catholic practice which is for them to be silenced to mark the period between the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. RTÉ argues that the daily prayer belongs to everyone rather than a single faith. 10 April – RTÉ says it is disappointed after details of a report from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into the Prime Time Investigates programme Mission to Prey were leaked. The report shows the BAI will find the documentary was unfair and breached the privacy of Fr Kevin Reynolds. The BAI has launched an investigation into how the leak occurred. 17 April – An edition of the recently axed Prime Time Investigates about the illegal cigarette trade is among three RTÉ documentaries to win awards at the 2012 New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards. 17 April – TV3 apologises for disparaging remarks that were made about Limerick in a recent edition of its series Come Dine with Me. 18 April – Journalists at RTÉ condemn the broadcaster's proposed closure of its London office as a "betrayal of RTÉ's public service remit". 18 April – Plans are announced for TV3 to double the size of its headquarters building at Westgate Business Park, Ballymount, Dublin, after the broadcaster signed a new lease with its landlord, Irish Property Unite Trust. 24 April – The Social Democratic and Labour Party urges the British government to support calls for RTÉ to reverse its decision to close its London office, which is scheduled to shut following this year's Olympic games. 24 April – Pat Hayes, the Mayor of Waterford expresses his dismay over suggestions RTÉ might close its studio in the city and cover the southeast region from Dublin. Waterford is one of four regional studios facing the axe because of budget cuts by the broadcaster. 25 April – RTÉ defends its broadcasting of Masterpiece: Ireland's Favourite Painting after presenter Mike Murphy wrote to The Irish Times criticising the show's length and timeslot (it aired for an hour from 10.15pm on 17 April, which Murphy described as: "Cromwellian edict of arts programming being banished into the Connacht of broadcasting, ie, at, or past most people’s bedtime"). 29 April – Pat Byrne wins the first series of The Voice of Ireland.
May 2 May – TV3 and RTÉ sign a deal to retain the rights to broadcast UEFA Champions League football until at least 2015. TV3 is to continue to air Tuesday night matches while RTÉ is to broadcast games on Wednesday nights. 2 May – RTÉ reaches an agreement with Equity and the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters' Guild to allow them to make their soap '‘Fair City'’ available on RTÉ Player and RTÉ One + 1. 2 May – Cardinal Seán Brady, the Catholic primate of all-Ireland, says he will not resign his post as the BBC's This World programme reveals he had details of those being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but did not pass the information on to police or parents of the victims. 3 May – Launch of Saorsat, Ireland's free-to-air satellite television service. It carries RTÉ One, RTÉ Two HD, RTÉ News Now, RTÉjr, RTÉ One+1 and TG4. 14 May – RTÉ Two HD launches on Sky HD. 15 May – Taoiseach Enda Kenny rules out taking part in a debate on TV3 with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams about the Fiscal Compact referendum, and says he will not participate in any debates on the station ahead of the 31 May vote. 15 May – TV3 cancels The Apprentice, meaning it will not return for a fifth series. 29 May – The UK Government confirms that television viewers in Northern Ireland will be able to watch RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TG4 on Freeview following the digital switchover. 29 May – RTÉ apologises after it emerged a member of staff airbrushed the logo of a TV3 microphone during a news report on the 27 May edition of the Nine O'Clock News. 31 May – RTÉ Director-General Noel Curran warns that the broadcaster is considering pay cuts and the cessation of certain services if it does not secure €25 million of cost reduction measures. 31 May – The Irish Times reports that TV3 has invested in "Metrocam" technology that enables its journalists to broadcast live images without access to a satellite van. Instead the camera has a radio frequency transmitter which allows video and audio to be relayed wirelessly to its studios via a transmission station.
June 7 June – The Irish Times reports that upgrades are planned for RTÉ Player and 3Player to make viewing from mobile devices and slower broadband connections much easier. 10 June – The Republic of Ireland's opening match against Croatia at UEFA Euro 2012 attracted the biggest television audience for a sports event in Ireland since 1994. 23 June – The Clare County Board is to write to Croke Park, expressing concern over the manner in which Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald was treated on the 17 June edition of RTÉ's The Sunday Game, which discussed remarks he made to a Waterford player during that day's Munster semi-final in Thurles.
July 6 July – 50th anniversary of the first edition of The Late Late Show. 7 July – It is reported that TV3 will write directly to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to reject a suggestion that he was assaulted by reporter Ursula Halligan following an incident at the National Library on 4 July in which Kenny tripped over a flower pot as he attempted to evade Halligan's questions. The incident prompted a complaint from Kenny's staff. 10 July – BBC News executive Kevin Bakhurst is appointed managing director of News and Current Affairs at RTÉ, taking up the role in September. 17 July – The Irish Examiner reports that the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has the TV3 programme Psychic Readings Live "on their radar" following a number of complaints about the late-night show where viewers are invited to call a premium rate telephone line to receive an on-air psychic consultation. 18 July – Former TV3 News Western Correspondent Jenny McCudden is named as the new editor of The Sligo Champion, becoming the first female to take up the position in the newspaper's 176-year history. 22 July – RTÉ 2fm presenter Rick O'Shea wins the first series of Celebrity Mastermind. 24 July – RTÉ subsidiary company RTÉ Transmission Network Ltd (RTÉ NL) is to be rebranded, and located away from the Donnybrook campus as part of an ongoing restructuring at the broadcaster.
August 18 August – RTÉ begins its Ireland on Screen season, teaming up with the Irish Film Board to showcase a number of home-produced films. The season begins with Jim Sheridan's The Boxer on RTÉ One, and also includes network TV premieres of Ondine, Happy Ever Afters and The Runway. 18 August – Littlewoods Ireland takes over Ireland's sponsorship of The X Factor as the programme returns to TV3 for a ninth season. 23 August – TV3 unveils its Autumn Schedule, which includes Deception, the broadcaster's first drama set on a Celtic Tiger era housing estate, and its first sitcom, On the Couch about three couples receiving counselling.