RTÉ announces major change to its RTÉ Player streaming service

Stephen Porzio

It will be introduced to the service next year.

RTÉ has announced that it will begin asking RTÉ Player users to sign into the streaming service in 2025.

Currently, those based in Ireland are able to access the player without having to sign into a personal account, something which separates it from similar free-to-use streaming services such as Channel 4’s.

It has been confirmed though that the national broadcaster will be introducing “sign-in across its digital services in 2025 on a phased basis”.

RTÉ says the change is so that it can “deliver a better and more personalised range of content and services to audiences, tailored to their tastes”.

Launched in June, the broadcaster’s five-year strategy outlines this development, stating:

“To continue delivering value to all audiences, we will build, deliver and continue to evolve our portfolio of digital products — RTÉ Player, Audio App, News App and rte.ie — to be best-in-class, offering a personalised user experience, accessibility and reliability and with the features and functionality audiences expect.

“We will deliver a more relevant streaming service – with recommendations and other tailored features – by introducing sign-in for all users on video and audio products while continuing to comply fully with our data protection responsibilities and respecting the importance of our users’ trust.

“This is something that has already been introduced by other public broadcasters, such as the BBC and Channel 4.

“Personalisation is a means to help audiences find and enjoy the wealth of RTÉ content.”

TV boxsets currently available to stream in their entirety on the RTÉ Player include Broadchurch, The Boy That Never Was, Deadwood, The Gold, Mad Men, Mr. Robot, The Patient and Time.

As well as this, the player will be launching its most high-profile original series Good Boy this week on Wednesday, 16 October.

Written by comedians Tony Cantwell and Hannah Mamalis, the sitcom follows the personal and professional adventures of a 30-something aspiring comedian (Cantwell) juggling a day job he loathes, a tumultuous love life and a mounting drive to make a name for himself in comedy.

The show also features amongst its cast Mamalis, Deirdre O’Kane, John Doran, Marty Breen, Michael Fry, Peter McGann and Shane Daniel Byrne.

Just last week, meanwhile, RTÉ confirmed it is making an Irish edition of hit competitive reality TV show The Traitors.