Sir - It is unfortunate that the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands is receiving so much opposition for advocating a change of policy that is essentially correct, albeit well overdue.
The Broadcasting Bill 1999 outlined a plan for the development of digital television in Ireland. A new company was to be established under the label Digico, to which RTE would transfer its transmission network. In exchange for this transfer, RTE would receive a 40 per cent share in the new company.
The Minister now appears to believe that this may not be the best way to proceed and with good reason.
There is a serious competitive concern with the proposals contained in the Broadcasting Bill, that a new company, part-owned by RTE, will be entering the market with a distinct and unjustified advantage as it will be able to charge RTE for the carrying of its signal. No other competitor in the transmissions market, neither Cable nor MMDS operators, would have this ability to charge. No transmissions operator would be viable without carrying the signal of the national broadcaster and in many cases it will be a legal "must carry". Consequently, the new company will have a hidden subsidy from RTE that will unfairly lower its costs. This is plainly wrong.
In essence, the proposal contained in the Broadcasting Bill is against the trend of Government policy. RTE had jointly owned Cablelink with the then Telecom Eireann. In April 1998, the Government decided that RTE and TE should both divest themselves of their respective interests in Cablelink. This decision was motivated in part by the belief that the linkage of both to Cablelink was preventing it from realising its true commercial potential.
One has to ask what has changed in the intervening period to justify a reversal of this policy? It seems inappropriate for a national broadcaster to have any influence over the decision of a transmission company as regards the services it will provide.
A complete separation of RTE from its transmission network, like that which has been achieved by the BBC, would represent a positive development for the future. It would be a transparent and fair solution as Digico would not have an advantage over other competitors in the market.
The new company should not be allowed to charge for free to air services. All national broadcasters would then see the elimination of their transmission costs. Thus they would be able to apply funds towards the production of programmes and newly invigorate the Irish television production market. This is what Irish viewers want - an increase in the quality and range of programmes by the national broadcaster.
Surely the essence of the work of a national broadcaster is the production of programmes and not the day-to-day running of a transmission company. Complete separation is a simple solution which maintains a clear and logical distinction between the transmission market and the broadcasting market. Broadcasters should be able to concentrate on maximising their potential in their own market rather than dissipating their energies with unnecessary involvement in the transmissions market.
Minister De Valera, far from being castigated in Irish Times editorials, should be congratulated for having the courage to take corrective action when she realised that a particular policy decision of hers was wrong. She should also be recognised as having tried to reassert the logic of Government policy following its decision to force the divestiture of RTE's interest in Cablelink - Yours, etc.,
Dermot P. McLaughlin, Legal Consultant, O'Reilly Consultants, Ely place, Dublin 2.