Mr Justice Paul Carney's order quashing the decision by the former minister for communications, Mr Alan Dukes, to refuse to license South Coast Community Television Ltd has been welcomed by the south Cork community TV group.
The company has been campaigning for a licence since 1986.
According to the chairman of South Coast Community Television, Mr Hurley, Mr Justice Carney's decision that the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, now has a live application for a licence on her desk is "a victory for common sense and fair play".
"We are absolutely delighted. David has once again defeated Goliath. Twice now the judiciary has upheld our case for fair treatment," said Mr Hurley, whose company rebroadcasts BBC1, BBC2, HTV ands S4C to viewers in Cork and west Waterford.
"We are now appealing to Government, to the Taoiseach and to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, to properly license our service," said Mr Hurley, adding that the issue had been avoided up until now.
The decision to license the service ultimately lies with the Government, despite the appointment of a Director of Telecommunications Regulation last June, as the Government must approve any order the regulator makes, he said.
South Coast Community TV's vice-chairman, Mr Michael O'Sullivan, said the company had been poorly treated by officialdom since its inception, and their licence application made in 1986 was only acknowledged in 1992 on threat of legal action.
"We were constantly given excuses like `international treaties', `no room on the airwaves' etc. as the reason our system could not be included in a licensing regime," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"But we know from the evidence in our various court cases that Department officials freely admit they did not carry out technical or other assessment of our system at any time and that such assessment would be necessary before an application could be rejected," he said.
Paying tribute to Mr Justice Carney for the patient and professional way he conducted the case, and to South Coast's legal team, Mr O'Sullivan urged the Government not to waste taxpayers' money by appealing yesterday's decision.
"It can now take the sensible action and grant the licence. We have waited over 12 years for a legitimate community aspiration to be licensed and we appeal to the politicians to fulfil their obligations and do it now," he said.