Independent film companies will this week make their bids to run a multi-million pound Break- fast TV service for RTE. Several high-profile presenters have been approached to host the show and front the packages which have to be submitted by Wednesday.
RTE is planning to show a four-hour mix of programmes seven days a week. The initial three-year contract is worth about £5 million.
Mr Joe Mulholland, E's director of TV programming at RTE, said he envisaged a predominantly "information-driven" morning package with a light touch, but is waiting to see if any of the plans "changed their perspective".
The companies will indicate the "nature, duration and content" of their show and what facilities and finances they have available.
British independents or the companies that run GMTV on ITV or the Big Breakfast on Channel 4 will also be eligible to apply under EU competition rules.
A deal for a breakfast show involving a consortium called Good Morning Ireland (GMI) was at an advanced stage earlier in the summer, but RTE decided to seek other proposals after some independent companies complained that competition rules were being breached because there was no open tender process.
RTE had hoped to get the show under way by Christmas but the start date has now been put back until next year.
"We are thinking of post-Easter at this stage, but it is conceivable it will be autumn in 1998 because we have a lot of other matters to address in prime-time television. We are reviewing all of the schedule and that is obviously our priority as it is the biggest part of our audience," Mr Mulholland said.
Mr Gerald Heffernan, managing director of the independent Dublin-based Frontier Films, said it had been part of the GMI consortium.
"We had very long and detailed discussions with RTE on morning television. We were very close to agreement but in the final analysis RTE decided to offer the opportunity to put together a package to the independent sector as a whole," he said.
Mr Mulholland said the question of who will control the advertising has been left open. "If a company proposes other means of funding this, including taking the advertising into account, we will consider that.
"One of the things we want to avoid is that this does not become a considerable drain on our already stretched resources, particularly as we have other plans for prime-time drama and documentaries to invest in.
"Breakfast television will be a small audience in any case and we don't want that to suddenly start being a drain on scarce resources," Mr Mulholland said.