Sir, - James Young (December 14th) is rightly concerned that the deployment of digital television in this country is proceeding in the context of limited public debate. However, I disagree with his implied contention that the immediate licensing of the Sky Digital service in Ireland is the solution. In fact, I believe this would be a knee-jerk solution that would ultimately be detrimental to the consumer here. I fear the same might be true of any imminent plans to license digital television services offered by cable and MMDS operators.
Apart from these two modes of delivery, and the satellite option mentioned by Mr Young, there is also the terrestrial ("aerial on the roof") option that will offer coverage on a similar scale to RTE's national coverage for conventional television services today. It is imperative that, prior to licensing of digital services, consideration is given to ensuring maximal technical compatibility across these four systems to ensure that competition can work to the benefit of the consumer.
Digital television reception will necessitate the purchase of a set-top box or decoder unit. This applies to each of the four modes of delivery listed above. Competition between these services will be
hindered if we allow incompatible or proprietary technical solutions to be used in different services. Customers wishing to choose a combination of services, cable plus satellite for instance, or to switch between services, will be forced to purchase the correct set-top box for each service or have a stack of such boxes underneath their TV.
Open, standards-based solutions (and they do exist) offer an opportunity for a single box to be able to decode cable, MMDS, terrestrial and satellite signals. Furthermore, they offer the possibility that the consumer can purchase a decoder unit from the local electrical shop, choosing from a range of prices and functionalities from different manufacturers.
The alternative and, alas, this includes the proprietary Sky Digital technology, is that the decoder unit is only available from the company that also sells the television service, and on their terms. If necessary, this compatibility should be imposed through regulation but only if the relevant players fail to agree on the technological choices, having been given the opportunity to do so.
Eventually, the existing analogue television services will be discontinued and only digital television will remain. Will we then have an affordable television service for all? That will be determined by the decisions we make now. - Yours, etc., Liam Ward,
Baldoyle, Dublin 3.