Business On TV

Soaring property prices, a housing shortage and confusion about the planning process are among the issues surveyed by the Streetwise team in a property special on Tuesday, Network 2, 7.35 p.m.-8.10 p.m.

Meanwhile, finding the best way to control land development is the challenge facing Britain. Economists have put a price on nature, valuing Sussex Downs at £1.98 per British citizen, while rating the Grand Canyon at $27 to each American. How valid is their argument that only the areas of British countryside which have a cash value are likely to be preserved? Compass, Monday, BBC 2, 7.30 p.m.-8. p.m., reports.

It's the price of education that concerns Mrs Cohen's Money this week. With the cost of a typical stint at a British university estimated at £18,000, how can families raise the funds? Channel 4, Thursday, 8 p.m.-8.30 p.m.

Fishing can net a rich catch. An Achill-island entrepreneur who owns the world's most successful commercial trawler talks to presenter Derek Davis in the first part of a new series about people who work or live close to the water. The trawler, the most expensive ship owned by an individual, takes in about 300 tonnes of fish a day, and was bought without State aid, reports Out Of The Blue, RTE 1, Thursday, 8.30 p.m.-9 p.m.

Meanwhile, under water, The Tunnel reports that difficulties raising £200 million in Paris and London nearly caused the collapse of the Channel Tunnel project in 1986. But the Bank of England rowed in and persuaded the financial institutions to come up with the funds, Sunday, BBC 2, 7.40 p.m.-8.30 p.m.

Finally, Singapore authorities are going one better than Ireland's information-age town scheme, with an ambitious plan to link the island's entire three million population to a digital information highway offering more than 100 interactive services, reports Tomorrow's World, BBC 1, Wednesday, 7.30 p.m.-8 p.m.