Deflectors may be on the way back in the south-east - good news for thousands of people in small rural communities who have been deprived of multi-channel television viewing for the last two years.
More properly now called "re-beamers", the providers of this unlicensed but efficient local service for almost 20 years were forced to withdraw after legal action by the new MMDS licensees.
A prolonged campaign, both political and legal, to preserve the re-beaming service was more successful in some areas - particularly Co Donegal and large parts of Co Cork - than in others. Around Co Waterford and south Tipperary the service was forced to cease. The south-east has therefore been worst hit, with all the re-beaming operators off the air.
Now, however, the opportunity to apply for licences to provide a community television service has been opened up by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation. This week, just on the deadline, an application was put in by a newly formed group, the Mid-Waterford Community Television Committee.
The initiative was mounted at an enthusiastic public meeting in the village of Kilmacthomas last week, at which individual donations flowed in to make up the non-refundable £800 application fee.
"Things are looking very positive," said Dermot Kirwan, who operated the previous re-beaming service which was first devised and set up by his father, Billy, almost 20 years ago.
It was an optimistic admission for Dermot, who carried the brunt of the earlier campaign to keep the service going. That campaign culminated in him standing as candidate on the issue in the last general election, when he drew a respectable 3,000 votes but failed to gain a seat.
"We committed everything during that general election, and we're still in debt over it," he said.
If a licence is forthcoming, the restored service will be overseen and administered by the new community group, with the Kirwans providing technical back-up.
The group and its many subscribers will not only be lobbying for a licence, but will be pushing to have a service in operation by Christmas.
If the formalities cannot be completed in time, there are hopes that the authorities will turn a blind eye to "test transmissions" over the Christmas period.
In all, four groups in the south-east have now applied for licences, and it is felt that the region has a special case for its applications to be dealt with quickly. This case is supported by the Waterford Fianna Fail TD, Brendan Kenneally.
With progress now expected on this issue, there were reminiscences locally about how it all started two decades ago, when Billy Kirwan made his way up a mountain in the Comeraghs with a portable television set and a car battery. Shouting instructions to a friend who held and manoeuvred an antenna this way and that, he was soon able to pick up a television signal from Wales . . . and the rest is history.