MMDS and cable groups are to meet the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications this morning for discussions, while deflector groups will have talks with Mr Dukes before the weekend or early next week.
The meeting today "is purely a briefing session", according to a spokesman for the Minister. The honorary secretary of the Cable Communications Association of Ireland, Mr Ray Doyle, suggested that Mr Dukes might have extended the invitation after Mr Doyle's comments on radio yesterday. He "was probably responding to my criticism" that the Minister had made no effort to meet representatives from the cable and MMDS sector.
Mr Doyle laid his organisation would raise the question of assurances which he said were given at the time the MMDS licences were awarded. Mr Doyle said licensees were told there would be no other signal providers and no deflectors in operation when the licences took effect.
Mr John Hurley, of the National Community TV Association, said his organisation was ready to meet Mr Dukes tonight if an opportunity arose, or early next week.
Licensed MMDS franchise holders had meetings yesterday with their legal advisers and assessors with a view to bringing an action against the State following the Government decision to license TV deflector systems.
During a two hour meeting in Dublin between senior management of Cable Management Ireland (CMI), legal representatives and an assessor from a financial services company, it is understood that the issue of the potential level of damages was discussed. CMI is the third biggest MMDS company in Ireland.
Possible approaches to such an action against both the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, and the State were considered. It is believed that written legal opinion will be completed by the weekend.
Mr Doyle accused Mr Dukes of being disingenuous in suggesting that licensing deflectors would bring commercial advantages for the MMDS sector "when he hasn't even sat down with us to outline".
While Mr Dukes had been issuing invitations on the airwaves to deflector operators, he had not met the cable/MMDS industry before announcing his plans, as had been promised. The Minister had also suggested that the Department had not reneged on any contract promises. "It certainly ha done. There's no doubt about that," he claimed.
MMDS operations had been set up on the basis that deflector operators would not exist, Mr Doyle said. "This was because they were illegal, and were it not for a general election, these people would not be recognised either."
Mr Dukes's declaration that would not be pursuing any action against deflector operators was causing further difficulty for the MMDS sector as it was "encouraging people to continue illegal activities while he makes up his mind on who gets a licence".
The Minister, Mr Dukes, refused to go into detail about the legal advice he received before licensing deflectors, but underlined that it was "thorough and fine combed". He also outlined the basis for his comment that picture quality from deflector systems was set to deteriorate over the next few years and defended the decision to issue only temporary licences to operators.
Speaking on RTE Radio's Liveline, he said that the signal quality would deteriorate because deflectors used the UHF waveband "which is a finite resource". RTE, which uses mainly VHF bands, was set to use more UHF frequencies, while TnaG and possibly a third channel would also occupy this range.
"The national service is entitled to space there. There will be less and less left in UHF for other people, including deflectors. There is a real risk that a lot of deflector services will disimprove," he said.
Another added factor was the advent of digital TV. During a transitional phase from the current analogue system, viewers would need a different TV set or a new converter. This would mean that more wave space would be taken up, with the risk that deflectors would experience more interference.
Mr Dukes declined to comment on the issue of exclusivity granted to MMDS franchise holders other than to say he had taken extensive legal advice and was setting up the system of temporary deflector licences "in the full knowledge of that advice".
The Minister rejected the view that his package was a stop gap measure to get over an election. Nor did he accept that it would be 18 months before some deflector operators would be back in service.