RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ 1 upon the launch of RTÉ 2 in 1978. RTÉ is funded partly by the licence fee; the remainder of the funding is provided by commercial advertising. Because RTÉ is funded partly by the licence fee it shows considerably fewer advertisements than most other channels available in Ireland and Northern Ireland.