Dempsey gives trial digital TV service go ahead

The Government is buying millions of euro worth of equipment to enable it to offer a trial of digital television to consumers in Meath, Louth and greater Dublin.

A tender for the equipment was published yesterday by the Department of Communications, which confirmed it would begin a trial of the service later this year.

The system, which is based on digital terrestrial television technology, will provide better picture and sound quality than the standard free to air analogue system owned by RTÉ Networks.

The system will have capacity to offer up to 20 channels initially, however this can be extended later, according to the Government tender documents.

It is anticipated that the trial, which will cover parts of Louth, Meath and greater Dublin and will later be extended as part of a nationwide digital terrestrial television service.

The cost of the trial is expected to be several million euro, while a nationwide service will cost tens of millions.

The trial will initially be limited to a small number of residential consumers before being extended throughout the State.

Under the proposed new digital television system, consumers will not have to pay to receive the core Irish channels RTÉ, TV3 and TG4. It remains unclear if they will be able to receive British channels such as BBC without having to pay an annual subscription.

It is believed that cable firms Chorus and NTL and the satellite firm BSkyB have warned the Government not to subsidise provision of content, which they have to pay to offer.

Under European law, governments should not subsidise services that compete with private sector companies, unless there is a clear public service mandate.

The Government's decision to press ahead with a trial of digital terrestrial television follows several years of planning and numerous setbacks.

The plan to switch RTÉ's existing analogue transmission network to digital broadcasting was first conceived in the mid 1990s. But the Government abandoned an attempt to contract an independent operator to offer the proposed service in 2002 due to a lack of interest when the dotcom bubble burst.

The Government's decision to press ahead with a trial of digital television suggests that it is preparing to offer a date to the European Commission for the switch off of its existing analogue television network. Several European countries, including Spain and Britain, are preparing to go digital and switch off their analogue networks by 2012 in an attempt to free up the radio spectrum for other media services.

The Government has not given a final date to the commission for the switch over to purely digital broadcasting, but it is understood that the Minister for Communications, Noel Dempsey, is targeting between 2010 to 2015 for the switch off of analogue.

When this happens, consumers will have to buy a new digital television or buy a digital set top box to receive the service.