UTV Ireland is to move its 6:30pm news bulletin to 5:30pm Monday to Friday - putting in direct competition with rival TV3.

The station says it will also broadcast hourly news from 6am to 5pm, and from 7pm to 9pm starting May 25th.

Its flagship programme of Ireland Live at 10 will stay at 10pm.

Head of channel at UTV Ireland, Mary Curtis, said: "We carried out significant research with our audience which indicated the desire for an earlier teatime news and we are, therefore, moving Ireland Live to meet those demands."

It currently broadcasts morning news updates during 'GMB' at 6am, 7am and 8am.

The channel says these updates will now continue throughout the day - concluding with the channel's main evening bulletin at 10pm.

The news comes as revenue targets at UTV Ireland have been reduced.

A trading statement says UTV Ireland has had a slower start to the year than anticipated, where it expects losses of about €8.5m this year.