Untangling the digital television revolution

If digital television promises a revolution it could be a very messy one if built on top of the broadcasting environment we now have. The director of Telecommunications Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, has the task of cleaning up the mess, or at least putting some order on it.

Her document, The Future of TV Transmission in Ireland, the way Forward, published this week was greeted with a deafening silence. The broadcasting industry is normally a loquacious one, but the paper, published by a person with considerable regulatory powers, stunned the industry.

She calmly cut a swathe through issues that are highly political, saying she was willing to licence deflectors, even though the cable industry has initiated legal proceedings against the Government.

She also stated baldly: "MMDS operators claim exclusivity in franchise areas a claim the director does not support".

At present we receive television programmes from analogue televisions, MMDS and cable as well as from unlicensed deflectors. That is about to change. Digital television transmission will transform the range of television services and "provide varying levels of new services which would enable consumers to join the information society".

What Ms Doyle did this week was lay down the regulations that will govern this digital revolution.

Yesterday, her office clarified a statement contained in the report, which said that all MMDS and Cable operators would have their licences reviewed.

She now says that this is only if the operators want to be involved in digital television. If a cable operator wishes to continue offering analogue television, they can carry on for as long as they like, or until analogue is finally switched off, with its current licence.

The existing licences, she says, do not permit the carriage of digital television services.

"The director is strongly minded to authorise such services only on the basis that the principle of competition is accepted," the document says.

So, under the new regime, no licence will be exclusive to an area and the consumer will be able to choose from a range of ways of getting a digital TV service. It is believed that the regulator was advised that exclusivity would be contrary to EU competition regulations.

Moves are already under way by the cable industry to seek clarification of the two EU directives, Television without Frontiers and the directives on Wired Broadcasting, as to whether cable and MMDS operators have the right to access to digital transmission. Her reading of the EU broadcasting regulations will also affect the sale of Cablelink now owned by Telecom Eireann and RTE. significantly. The value of the company is based on its potential. Ms Doyle has limited its existing licence to operate to the life of analogue television, cutting its value in one sweep.

If she does issue a digital licence to Cablelink, it will be of a fixed duration, which will also affect the price of the shareholding.

Digital television is now inevitable. The BBC is already putting out information about its digital plans so as to create some public excitement and speed up the change over to the new system. BSkyB has launched digital satellite televisions services. UTV is on record as saying that as soon as it is given its digital frequencies it wants to launch an all-Ireland channel, alongside its current service. Within 10 years, television set manufacturers will stop making analogue sets.

Ms Doyle says her priorities include ensuring that there is universal provision of a free national television service; effective retransmission of the main British services; effective use of the radio spectrum; promotion of consumer interests by ensuring choice between different type of transmission platform, be it terrestrial, cable, MMDS or satellite; and the promotion of low-cost access to interactive services.

She is also regulating for fair competition in the market; transparency of regulations and transparency of commercial practice.

RTE has already made a submission that it be allowed to develop the digital transmission system in co-operation with a strategic partner.

That is expected to be considered by Government in the next few weeks and be part of the broadcasting proposals expected to be before the Dail in the next session.

Ms Doyle said she is "minded" to provide short-term licences for the deflectors. They will not, however, have a place within the digital future, as it is unlikely there will be space within the spectrum for deflectors.