Three groups to bid for digital terrestrial licences

THREE GROUPS will battle it out for the licence to operate the three commercial digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplexes, which will each be able to carry up to 12 TV stations.

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) yesterday revealed that Boxer DTT Ltd, Easy TV and OneVision had lodged applications for all three multiplexes. Boxer is backed by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group, Swedish DTT operator Boxer TV Access and telecoms company BT.

Easy TV comprises RTÉ and Liberty Global, the parent company of cable TV and broadband provider UPC Ireland.

RTÉ has already been awarded a free-to-air multiplex licence for terrestrial TV services. OneVision comprises independent broadcasters TV3 and Setanta Sports, DTT specialist group Arqiva and telecoms company Eircom. Each consortium has bid on the condition that it receives all three multiplex licences.

The BCI had earlier indicated that it would consider applications for single licences although it was always likely that bidders would seek all three to maximise their returns.

No details of their bid documents were released by the BCI yesterday. The regulator said executive summaries would be made available next Wednesday and the three groups would make public presentations on May 12th at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin.

Satellite TV operator BSkyB, which has 548,000 customers here, did not lodge an application for a multiplex licence, contrary to media reports earlier this week.

A spokesman for Sky Ireland said: "While Sky has not submitted an application for a multiplex licence, we are positive about the plans for DTT in Ireland and we plan to explore opportunities to make our [Sky] channels available on the platform."

BCI chief executive Michael O'Keeffe said he was satisfied with the level of interest in the DTT licences. "We have three good applications, which is an indication that there is good support for the concept of DTT here," he said.

The licences will be awarded for a 12-year period.

They will cost €25,000 a year per multiplex for the first three years and €50,000 for each subsequent year.

DTT will replace the traditional analogue signal, which is set to be turned off between 2012 and 2015. It will allow multiplex operators to offer high definition broadcasts and interactive services.

The BCI expects to announce a winner in July.