[4] British soap drama Coronation Street aired on the channel simultaneously with ITV's broadcasts of the programme (this continued until 1992 when it was put on RTÉ 1 due to the Olympic Games coverage).

Also during this era, the channel experimented with late night broadcasts at weekends, under The End brand, anchored by Barry Murphy and Sean Moncrieff.

[5] N2 brought about perhaps as big a change as the original relaunch, RTÉ branding was dropped from the station almost completely, with home produced programmes now being referred to as "N2 Productions" (foreign imports were "N2 Presentations").

The channel's name reverted to RTÉ Two on the morning of 2 October 2004, with a themed evening of programmes called "Farewell Network 2" beginning at 20:00, featuring Podge and Rodge.

[7][8] The channel established itself as the "voice for the under 35s"[9] where the new schedule continued with new seasons of New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Masters of Sex, Devious Maids, The Americans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

RTÉ2 also confirmed new Irish reality programmes including Holding Out for a Hero, Connected, Full Frontal, Bressie's Teenage Kicks, and Drunk and #Trending.

From 19:00 onwards, RTÉ2 provides a wide range of programming from Irish produced content, sports, comedy, dramas, films and acquisitions from North America, Australia, the UK and Central Europe.

In the early years Network 2 broadcast US sit-coms Monday to Friday at 21:00 such as The Golden Girls, Cheers, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Check It Out and Murphy Brown.

Imports still played a major part of the schedule with first showings of popular 1990s TV such as Friends, The X-Files, Nowhere Man, My So-Called Life, but also Late Night and Daytime repeats of Yes Minister, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Cheers, The Beverly Hillbillies, Peyton Place, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, MacGyver and also the morning strand of Open University.

All of the daytime repeat programmes were replaced by Children's television while Late Night TV was extended until 2 am each morning with shows like, Profiler, Millennium, Star Trek: Voyager (only airing the first season), Stargate SG-1 and some Australian serials including Water Rats and Murder Call.

Popular prime time US programmes included Friends, The Parkers, Ally McBeal, 24, Dawson's Creek, Smallville, Jessie, Frasier and Boston Public.

During this time, the channel also shown Cougar Town, Flash Forward, Lost, The Good Wife, CSI, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy, Life with Boys and Mr. Young.

RTÉ2 also airs American programmes such as The Simpsons, 90210, Revenge, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Grey's Anatomy, Worst Week and Private Practice.

Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away air along with Irish programmes such as Katherine Lynch's Wonderwomen, The Podge and Rodge Show.

[38] In August 2014, RTÉ Two televised over 8 hours of Electric Picnic coverage from Stradbally, County Laois, this was the first time that the channel aired the annual music festival.

In 2003, Network 2 set out to find their news TV presenter in a reality show called The Selection Box; the eventual winner was Caroline Morahan.

[56] RTÉ2 also ran spin-off serials to RTÉ One's reality shows, such as You're a Star Uncut, Cabin Fever, and Treasure Island Uncovered.

The dramas had mixed reviews but they included Paths to Freedom (2000), Bachelors Walk (2001–2003), The Big Bow Wow (2003), Pure Mule (2004), Love is the Drug (2004) and Prosperity (2007).

Presenters included Barry Lang, Electric Eddie (Doug Murray), Simon Young, Peter Collins, Ian Dempsey.

2TV spawned several spin offs: late night videos hosted by Jon Slattery, and RTÉ's only attempt at a morning show in 1999 with Bianka Luykx.

In 1988, Jo Maxi appeared for the first time until 1993, a daily teen show airing at 18:00, which was later replaced by Echo Island and in the early 2000s by ID, followed by ID2, TTV and Two Tube.

In 1990 RTÉ made a major investment into the coverage of the tournament which coincided with Ireland's successful campaign under the management of Jack Charlton.

In 1998 the Apres Match pundits for the first time took control of the punditry of the third place play-off and in 2006 surprised themselves and audiences when Barry Murphy playing the part of Liam Brady accurately guess the result – Germany 3 and Portugal 1.

The matches commentary is provided by George Hamilton, Ray Houghton, Gabriel Egan, Trevor Steven, Stephen Alkin, Damian Richardson, Adrian Eames, Matt Holland and Jimmy Magee.

Guest pundits used for the World Cup in 2014 were Ossie Ardilles, Didi Hamann, Neil Lennon, Brad Friedel, Paul Clement and Michael O'Neill alongside the existing RTÉ Team of Dunphy, Brady, Giles, Sadlier, Cunningham and Whelan.

Commentators were George Hamilton, Stephen Alkin, Peter Collins and Adrian Eames while co-commentators were Ray Houghton, Jim Beglin, Trevor Steven and Brian Kerr.

Other presenters used by RTÉ are Joanne Cantwell and Daire O'Briain while other pundits include Shane Horgan, Ronan O'Gara, Alan Quinlan, Frankie Sheahan, Bernard Jackman, Scott Hastings and Ben Kay.

In 2009, RTÉ2 revamped its entertainment season with critics and fans still undecided about new titles which included The Byrne Ultimatum, Maeve Higgins' Fancy Vittles, Republic of Telly and Podge & Rodge's Stickit Inn.

As part of RTÉ Two's re-brand to Network 2 some emphasizes was put on Irish language programming including a daily current affairs show called Cursaí.

Other Irish language programming on RTÉ Two included school's quiz Eureka and light entertainment show Seán Bán in a Shuí.