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Irish Independent Report/Opinion on DTT 25/01/2008
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25-01-2008 12:49pm#1The death of analogue TV is nigh, long live digital
Big business is battling for a new viewing market, writes Laura Noonan
Thursday January 17 2008
After decades as a cornerstone of Ireland’s media landscape, analogue TV is headed for the scrapheap.
By 2012, the rabbit ears and their more fashionable hoopshaped friends will be consigned to rubbish bins. Any saved will be purely ornamental, devoid of practical use.
In their place will stand a gleaming Digital Terestrial Television (DTT) box, heralding a completely new era for Ireland’s TV industry and consumers alike.
However, with switch off still some four years off, most consumers are completely unaware of the impending revolution.
Industry, on the other hand, is positively abuzz with talks on DTT. And it’s not just the traditional players, everyone from BT, to Eircom and RTE has been involved in talks of some sort or as the DTT landgrab cranks into gear.
DTT will begin with four commercial multiplex platforms, or MUXs as they are known in the trade.
Each MUX can carry between four and 12 digital channels depending on the technical spec agreed on -- the broadcasting commission say 8 is the “most probable” number.
These channels will then be received on a digital box, not dissimilar to the boxes that the likes of Sky and UPC, the owner of Chorus/NTL, use throughout Ireland.
As the public service broadcaster, RTE’s right to one MUX is enshrined in law. That MUX will carry RTE’s channels and must also offer space to TV3 and TG4.
Crucially, all the stations on the RTE MUX must be available free of charge on these new digital boxes, so the RTE MUX will essentially replace the current free-to-all analague stations.
Offering those free-to-air stations will take up four of RTE’s 8 to 12 slots.
When DTT was first mooted at the turn of the millenium, the powers that be in Montrose dreamt up ambitious plans for new RTE services that could be aired.
A 2003 restructure and an elevated focus on cost control, however, has nipped those plans in the bud and sources now say RTE is “very unlikely” to use its spare slots for new RTE stations.
Instead, RTE has advanced plans to air Northern Ireland’s free-to-air stations on Ireland’s public service MUX. The plans, outlined in an August letter to the European Commission, could ultimately see BBC1, BBC2, UTV and Channel 4 made available free in Ireland, in return for RTE being carried on the North’s Freeview DTT platform.
If the proposal were to become a reality, about 97pc of Ireland’s households could access all four UK channels for free.
As more than two thirds of households now pay for extra channels through cable or digital platforms, would they continue to pay if they could get eight channels for free?
Ireland’s TV masters certainly don’t want to wait to find out.
Multinational giant UPC has already tabled a complaint with the EC on the competition implications of what RTE is planning to do.
“We pay a lot of money for BBC etc, and if any state body wants to then give it away for free, that’s a massive concern for us,” says UPC’s Ireland strategy director Ray Collins.
UPC’s main competitor Sky is of a similar view, though it is cheering from the sidelines rather than pursuing its own actions, and the folks over at TV3 are none to pleased either.
“We spend a lot of money on Irish rights,” says head of operations Peter Ennis. “If they want to make the likes of UTV free-toair, so be it, but they should have to blank out the rights for things like Coronation Street or Eastenders or sporting games.
Other elements of RTE’s plans, however, are being very well received in TV3’s Ballymount base, including TV3’s inclusion on the public service MUX.
RTE sources point out TV3 will have to pay more to be carried on the public service MUX than on the commercial ones, as the public MUX will have far greater coverage. Ennis, however, is hugely enthusiastic about the prospect of heightened coverage and says his station is “very likely” to happily pay the premium.
Then there’s the three commercial MUXs, which are expected to be put out to tender towards the end of February.
In its August letter, RTE expressed an interest in becoming involved in some kind of “joint venture” that would oversee the four commercial MUXs.
The specifics of the commercial venture weren’t detailed, but the very idea of RTE’s involvement was enough to exercise UPC who duly added RTE’s commercial ambitions to their European complaint.
“There are a huge number of commercial stakeholders looking to do something in DTT. RTE have their MUX and they will do the engineering for they whole thing, but they are not needed on the commercial aspects,” says Collins.
Senior sources in RTE insist their interest is purely with a view to bringing RTE to the best possible fruition. “DTT is very important for the future of RTE and for broadcasting generally,” says one. “We have a desire to help make this thing happen, not to control it.”
DTT is likely to play a major role in the evolution of Ireland’s TV landscape, as it lays roots in homes with no paid for TV, homes who don’t want the swathes of channels offered by traditional digital and homes that want cheaper digital packages for secondary TV sets.
As such, the companies across the TV and telecoms industry are all grappling for a piece of the action.
William McAuliffe, business development manager at BT Ireland confirms his company is intersted in looking at “how best we could support a national DTT service”.
Paul Bradley, head of communications at Eircom, says his firm is also actively looking at DTT options with a view to being a “content aggregator” while Setanta commercial director Mark Mohan says they are “likely to participate” in the upcoming licencing round.
Meanwhile, over at TV3 Ennis says the broadcaster is very intersted in commercial MUXs as a possible home for the stations second and subsequent channels, which it hopes to have on air in 2009 or 2010.
And UPC’s Collins says his firm is very interested in playing a role in DTT’s roll out, despite the EC complaint. “Let me be very clear on this, we’re not anti-DTT, we’re anti state involvement in commercial business,” he adds. Other names mentioned in DTT talks are Sky and some of the players in Sweden’s thriving DTT market.
All potential contenders, however, insist they have yet to make a final decision on whether they will apply for one MUX in their own right or multiple MUXs as part of a consortium, so how things will ultimately shake out is anybody’s guess.
“We’ll have better sense of that when the beauty parade starts,” says BCI chief executive Michael O’Keeffe.
On foot of that beauty parade, the BCI hopes to award licences in summer and have some DTT started by late 2008 or 2009, ahead of analogue switch off in 2012.
Let the landgrab begin.0
Comments
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On one of the UK boards, I was informed about the option that BBC are taking (this year) which means that we will not be able to pick up their channels on FTA satellite anymore. It appears to be a regional issue ... I guess we could get the old BBC NI again
if we buy a receiver.
Any definitve word on how this will affect us here? Are we likely to see a "switch off" scenario where those of us who dont pay a satelliete/cable company will lose these channels for some period of time?0 -
On one of the UK boards, I was informed about the option that BBC are taking (this year) which means that we will not be able to pick up their channels on FTA satellite anymore. It appears to be a regional issue ... I guess we could get the old BBC NI again if we buy a receiver.
Any definitve word on how this will affect us here?
You wont lose the BBC if you have satellite. It is remaining FTA.0 -
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... but this is ancient history and has been superceded by the arrival of digital television (via satellite)Yes, but what is happening in the UK is relevant to what is happening in Ireland in so far as the sharing of borders is concerned, as well as the high penetration of UK services into Ireland. More people in south east Ireland are watching Welsh tv services than the other way round.The overspill will cease I'm guessing because Mt. Leinster will be using the same channels bar one for the irish allocation of DTT services, which is a bit of shame.
What overspill? Are you still referring to analogue television?Good to hear that there is a push for NIs channels for free on DTT! It is one way of pushing DTT against competition from Sky and UPC... a forward thinking vision from RTE... how refreshing!
... or simply use a dish and get the channels free?
Slightly confused
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... but this is ancient history and has been superceded by the arrival of digital television (via satellite)
Well, for those who don't have satellite it isn't... the majority of people will continue to choose to receive free tv via their aerial.......
What overspill? Are you still referring to analogue television?
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Yes.. until digital tv is broadcast at high power, it hasn't got universal coverage... that won't happen until switchover takes place....
... or simply use a dish and get the channels free?
Slightly confused
Could do, but not everyone can have a satellite dish pinned to their house, or wants one... I have freeview and sky satellite... i tend to watch most of the free channels through freeview... and tv delivered through an aerial will continue to be the norm in the majority of homes with multiple tv sets for a long time to come. I'd hate to have a sky digibox in every room that has a tv in my house....0 -
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