EBU Member TG4 has appointed Alan Esslemont as their new Director General.

TG4 is the national Irish language public service broadcaster that brings Irish language programming content to audiences across Ireland.

Esslemont is currently Head of Content with the Scottish Gaelic television channel BBC ALBA which he helped launch in 2008. He has worked in television production for many years and was previously a key player in re-launching TnaG as TG4 in 1999. He worked as their Director of Television between 2000-2007 where he oversaw large increases in audience share and reach.

He takes up his new role at a key juncture in the development of the Irish language TV channel. It currently invests over €20m annually in original award-winning programming, sustaining over 300 jobs in the independent production sector. It has also pioneered many on-line and social media portals for its content which are available worldwide.

Esslemont takes up the new role in mid-October 2016. He succeeds Pól Ó Gallchóir who has been at the head of the service since April 2000.