Digital Television Shutdown again in 2008. Probably

Sponge Bob

dunno if anyone noticed that Dempsey has no money for Digital TV trials after 2007/2008 . The National development plan was published today and contains

1. NO commitment to continue trials beyond current funding, trial funding is €4m total.
2. NO financial commitment to shut down analogue during its lifetime (the plan ends Jan 2014).
3. NO funds to continue Digital Infrastructure buildout beyond the current pair of trial masts.
4. NO commitment to a Universal DTT and / or DAB service, analogue TV in Ireland is not universal given the amount of deflectors that people were forced to build to get the service .
4. NO mention of DAB either or of DVB-H .

http://www.ndp.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1904&mn=&nID=&UserLang=EN&StartDate=1+January+2007

265 pages of restatement and repetition and guff , it could be synopsised accurately in 80.

The €4m trial funding is mentioned on page 130 and there is nothing else, not a penny. Dempsey could still actually shut down analogue (as per the commitment in the NDP ) by 2012 so he could because we will all probably have sky HD by then

fta keith

I hope Mr Dempsey has the funds for Irish DTT roll out as the EU has order the analogue switch off by 2012

Sponge Bob if you contact Mr Dempsey he might tell you there is funding for Irish DTT

Sponge Bob

fta keith wrote:

Sponge Bob if you contact Mr Dempsey he might tell you there is funding for Irish DTT

That €4m is all the funding Dempsey has for D(pick any letter) until this time in 2014 . If Dempsey had a penny more it would be written in that plan.

Dempsey plans on spending €2m of that €4m on trials during 2007 .

Dempseys complete DAB/DTT etc funding for the years 2008-2013 inclusive , thats 6 years , is the other €2m or €333k a year.

€333k a year is about Dempseys makeup and photo opportunity budget , I should think, which leaves a hell of a lot for Digital Broadcasting equipment

As there is no money allocated to build a permanent Digital platform of any sort I must therefore conclude that Digital TV and Digital Radio in Ireland will be supplied by an alternative platform namely Astra/SKY which already has 20-25% household penetration excepting cabled homes .

Fingleberries

I presume that they (hope / wish / pray - delete as appropriate) that by some miracle one of the Content Managers or the MUX management companies will somehow jump in and offer to take over the running of the DTT thing after the trials leaving the government to wash their hands of the whole thing.

...

Except to place some sort of revenue earning tax, charge or stealth tax on it once they see it could be a nice little earner for them.

Kind of like adding VAT to already overpriced tickets when a certain monopoly exists in the market charging whatever price they like.

(I know, I know. Slightly off-topic, but it was to draw a similarity with what they could do with this
- Either DTT takes off as a private concern, and they change the TV Licence to cream off of it, or
- Everyone has to get Sky or a FTA Satellite, and there'll be a tax on owning Satellites or something).

Ulsterman 1690

If RTE switch off analouge without either starting a DTT service and/or going FTA/FTV on satellite then what happens to viewers who unwilling or unable to subscribe to $ky, Cable or MMDS ?

Will there be a change in the law to exempt them from the TV licence since otherwise theyll be forced to pay for channels they cant even get ? :mad:

presume that they (hope / wish / pray - delete as appropriate) that by some miracle one of the Content Managers or the MUX management companies will somehow jump in

How is this setup with Content managers/MUX managers supposed to work anyway.

I mean (going by what ive been hearing so far) the Irish government envisage a freeview type service which will include RTE/TG4/TV3/Ch6 plus unspecified UK terrestrials (will BBC3/4, ITV2/3/4 and Five be included) ???

So whats in it for the MUX providers if the channels are being provided free ?

on the other hand if the UK channels are going to be encrypted what is this service offering that going to be more attractive than Sky/Cable/MMDS/FTA/FTV etc

Foggy43

If the analouge system is not shut down by 2012 what can the EU do about it, if anything? A slap on the wrist maybe.

MMDS is available. I am not sure if it is digital or analouge. So why bother with DTT. Can the MMDS providers supply the 4 terrestrial channels for free? Perhaps their coverage maybe a problem but they have 6 years to sort it out.

I feel there are not enough potential subscribers for another service. Does anybody want to pay more than the licence fee for the terrestrial channels?

Switching off analouge may not be as simple as it sounds.

Mossy Monk

MMDS as a replacement to analogue terrestrial broadcasts :eek: good god no
i would much prefer DTT

Foggy43

It was a bit unfair to for me to say use MMDS. I haven't viewed this for years.

Whatever happens I just hope it will not be an extra financial burden on the public. Just the one off payment for the equipment to receive.
You are paying for the terrestrial channels on Sky. I hope on DTT they will remain free. Saying that maybe some protection for the public was included when the EU drew up this plan to switch off analouge. I don't know.

watty

They won't switch off Analogue on EU date and EU will not force them. It's only a suggestion anyway, really.

This is what I have been saying about the so called Trials all along. They are windowdressing, not part of a joined up thinking to do with a roll out. They could have started roll out anytime in last 7 years or next week without this Trial.

MMDS is limited coverage and only 86,000 viewers. At least though UPC is upgrading it all to a 120 ch quality Digital Service. At 2.5GHz it can't ever do the coverage of 500MHz to 800MHz UHF DTT.

Fingleberries

They won't switch off Analogue on EU date and EU will not force them. It's only a suggestion anyway, really.

'The Code is more what you would call "Guidelines" than actual rules'

Sponge Bob

The Brits may make them shut down analogue if it interferes with UK spectrum plans after 1 Jan 2013. The Brits will most certainly not allow the Irish government to use analogue TV spectrum as leverage to get an all Ireland spectrum policy . They will have their own plans for the UHF band which is very valuable.

byte

Sponge Bob wrote:

The Brits may make them shut down analogue if it interferes with UK spectrum plans after 1 Jan 2013. The Brits will most certainly not allow the Irish government to use analogue TV spectrum as leverage to get an all Ireland spectrum policy . They will have their own plans for the UHF band which is very valuable.

Indeed, tis a possibility alright.

lawhec

Sponge Bob wrote:

The Brits may make them shut down analogue if it interferes with UK spectrum plans after 1 Jan 2013. The Brits will most certainly not allow the Irish government to use analogue TV spectrum as leverage to get an all Ireland spectrum policy . They will have their own plans for the UHF band which is very valuable.

IIRC the conditions of the agreed plans from RRC 06, current analogue allocations are still valid until the end of 2012, after which DTT & DAB allocations then take full preference. The UK could tell Ireland to reduce the power of analogue transmissions after this date if it affects UK DTT slots, however the UK cannot without agreement tell Ireland to use other channels than what was agreed for DTT. This relates to plans that the UK has in allocating UHF spectrum between channels 30-42 and 63-68 for open use. They cannot of course tell Ireland not to use these frequencies for DTT, a situation similar to that with VHF Band III currently - because of interference possibilities the UK can do little with this band for non-TV purpouses bar some DAB.

Sponge Bob

Northern Correspondent wrote:

IIRC the conditions of the agreed plans from RRC 06, current analogue allocations are still valid until the end of 2012, after which DTT & DAB allocations then take full preference. The UK could tell Ireland to reduce the power of analogue transmissions after this date if it affects UK DTT slots

RRc or WRC ???? but correct , the UK is compliant after then and Ireland not.

however the UK cannot without agreement tell Ireland to use other channels than what was agreed for DTT. This relates to plans that the UK has in allocating UHF spectrum between channels 30-42 and 63-68 for open use. They cannot of course tell Ireland not to use these frequencies for DTT, a situation similar to that with VHF Band III currently - because of interference possibilities the UK can do little with this band for non-TV purposes bar some DAB.

By the same logic , if allocated for open use in the UK then Irish analogue signals can be impacted and Ireland has no comeback .

The Irish government is pathetic when it comes to deploying world class ( or any class) technology, these are the same pack of knobs who spent €50m on interceptable electronic voting machines after all.

Foggy43

Sponge Bob!
I agree with you on how pathetic the Irish goverment are when it comes to deploying modern technology. I could not believe my ears a statement that came from Dempeys Den while watching the 6.01 news. I hope I picked it up wrong but I am sure I didn't...

'There is no demand for Braodband in rural Ireland'....

With a statement like that where will it leave DTT and DAB. If anything it proves, as some have stated here, to be very cautious about purchasing digital receiving equipment.

david23

The Brits want to use some VHF Band III blocks in Channels 10 & 11 to expand local DAB services to North & West Wales and further muxes for Northern Ireland, including the new UK-wide multiplex, so they will want Ireland to switch off VHF analogue TV as soon as possible.

rlogue

At the end of the day though it will be our decision to switch off analogue or not. The only way Ireland can be forced to switch off any currently legal transmissions is by international agreement, not by the action of another state doing a solo run.

Sponge Bob

we must switch off analogue by end 2012 BECAUSE there is an international agreement or eu directive ( or both ?) telling us we must switch off analogue by end 2012

on the 1st of January 2013 WE are the ones doing a solo run, Klar ???

gipo2

Molly Dawson wrote:

Sponge Bob!
I agree with you on how pathetic the Irish goverment are when it comes to deploying modern technology. I could not believe my ears a statement that came from Dempeys Den while watching the 6.01 news. I hope I picked it up wrong but I am sure I didn't...

'There is no demand for Braodband in rural Ireland'....

With a statement like that where will it leave DTT and DAB. If anything it proves, as some have stated here, to be very cautious about purchasing digital receiving equipment.

He said there was no demand for Group Broadband Schemes, which is true, youve taken one sentence out of context.

Foggy43

Gippo2!
Thank you for the correction!