BCI to reveal list of applications for DTT muxes

channelsurfer

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/battle-for-control-of-digital-tv-hots-up-1364211.html

According to the article today in the indo, they will reveal them today. Interestingly I signed up to receive emails from the BCI on the process and there is a lot of questions that the bidders(no names given) put to the BCI and the responses. one question asked can they submit 1 application for all 3 licences and the response was no. 3 individual applications are needed and 20 copies of the paperwork for each application which could lead to approx 90,000 pages one bidder calculated.

DMC

And they are...

http://www.bci.ie/news_information/press182.html

Boxer DTT Limited (?)

Easy TV (RTÉ/NTL)

OneVision (Eircom with Doughty Hanson, I presume)

All have applied for all 3 muxes.

A public hearing on Monday May 12th at 1.30 p.m. in the Westbury, might go for the laff.

Zaphod

DMC wrote: »

And they are...

http://www.bci.ie/news_information/press182.html

Boxer DTT Limited (?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_TV_Access
http://www.boxer.se/?page=1

A public hearing on Monday May 12th at 1.30 p.m. in the Westbury, might go for the laff.

I can supply some rotten eggs for Eircom and UPC - how good is your throwing arm?:D

DMC

Zaphod wrote: »

I can supply some rotten eggs for Eircom and UPC - how good is your throwing arm?:D

I throw like a girl, which might be sufficient

Mountjoy Mugger

DMC wrote: »

And they are...

http://www.bci.ie/news_information/press182.html

Boxer DTT Limited (?)

Whois boxer.ie

domain: boxer.ie
expiry: 30 May 2008

Application Pending - There is currently an application being processed for
the domain name you have requested. If unsuccessful, the application would
expire on the date above.

Hmm...

channelsurfer

interesting hte wiki article on boxer tv states that the EU is taking sweden to court for denying the public freedom of choice in choosing DTT. If true it begs the question what does it mean for irish DTT if one consortium wins all 3 licences. will the EU intervene to allow freedom of choice too?

Elmo

Boxer DTT Limited (?)

Easy TV (RTÉ/NTL)

OneVision (Eircom with Doughty Hanson, I presume)

The press release was very empty. What was the point, two press release telling us the same thing. I could have waited until Wednesday.

Doughty Hanson using TV3 and Setanta

Not much of a choice IMO

DMC

Elmo wrote: »

The press release was very empty. What was the point, two press release telling us the same thing. I could have waited until Wednesday.

Well, previous press releases for radio station licence applications are along the same lines.

Solair

I hope those mux names are just 'working titles' they sound terrible!

byte

DMC wrote: »

A public hearing on Monday May 12th at 1.30 p.m. in the Westbury, might go for the laff.

Wouldn't mind going myself, to see what they plan to offer. It'd be good to have at least one person from here attend.

channelsurfer

no questions allowed to be asked at the public hearing. its simply them going through the motions and their submissions according to an answer given to a question asked by one of them.

Elmo

http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/2008/0502/easytvstatementmay08.html

channelsurfer

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=32622-qqqx=1.asp

interesting to see what the 6 free channels will be. will they be bbc and utv or just crap tv3 +1 etc? So if one vision wins there will be 10 free channels on irish DTT.

byte

channelsurfer wrote: »

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=32622-qqqx=1.asp

interesting to see what the 6 free channels will be. will they be bbc and utv or just crap tv3 +1 etc? So if one vision wins there will be 10 free channels on irish DTT.

Interesting article indeed. If 4 of their proposed 6 free channels will consist of BBC1, 2, ITV, C4, then the platform has greater scope for better take-up.

Elmo

Interesting article indeed. If 4 of their proposed 6 free channels will consist of BBC1, 2, ITV, C4, then the platform has greater scope for better take-up.

AHHHHHHH! I know I have said this before. TBH I don't care about the country people who pick up analogue signals from across the boarder/water (go and order Sky like everyone else).

DTT must be rolled out before 2012. Why should UK channels take advertising revenune from Ireland without giving anything back. The BBC, ITV and C4 aren't going to pay to be on DTT in Ireland.

TV3 +1 = UTV it's the same channel :mad:

I am also assuming that all DTT licenced stations must be carried by Cable services around the country. I am sure that Sky would see the advantages of adding X amount of new channels to their service in Ireland.

If the BBC, ITV and C4 do end up on DTT in Ireland then all Television services should be told that Simulcast are unneccesary and a waste of a budget when you could invest in Irish TV. (Look at S4C, they will be removing many of the simucasts from C4 as C4 becomes more available in Wales through Freeview, why have C4, C4+1 and S4C when digital is supposed provide more choice).

I am sorry but if we want change in terms of Quality Irish TV it won't happen with TV3's consortium.

I can only imagine 6 new entertainment services like C6 and TV3 and I have no Idea what Documentry stations they are talking about (bar sat channels, if you want them go buy a satellite don't be so cheap).

Zaphod

Irish Times 06-05-08

Ex-RTÉ Authority head to chair rival bidder

CIARÁN HANCOCK, Business Affairs Correspondent

Fintan Drury: joining OneVision, which has bid for digital licences

FORMER RTÉ Authority chairman Fintan Drury is pitting himself against the State broadcaster in the race to win a licence to operate three commercial digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplexes.

Mr Drury, who heads the Platinum One sports sponsorship and event management agency, has been recruited as the chairman of OneVision, a consortium comprising independent broadcasters TV3 and Setanta Sports, telecoms company Eircom, and Arqiva, a specialist DTT provider.

OneVision was one of three groups to submit a bid last week to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) for the DTT licences. The others were: Easy TV, which is backed by RTÉ and Liberty Global, the owner of the NTL and Chorus cable TV operations; and Boxer DTT Ltd, which is backed by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group and Swedish DTT specialist Boxer TV Access.

RTÉ has already been awarded the right to operate a free-to-air multiplex that will carry terrestrial TV channels that are currently available to homes via an aerial.

DTT will replace the existing analogue signal, which will be turned off between 2012 and 2015.

OneVision is planning to invest €40 million in the launch of the DTT multiplexes, which will be able to carry up to 12 TV stations each. Subscribers will have to buy a set-top box and pay a monthly charge for the commercial DTT service.

Mr Drury's decision to join the OneVision consortium will surprise many observers given his previous links with RTÉ. He was appointed chairman of the RTÉ Authority in June 2005 but resigned in January 2006 because of a potential conflict of interest regarding the TV rights to the 2006 Ryder Cup, which Platinum One was involved in organising.

It is understood that Mr Drury has an equity stake in the OneVision consortium. He will chair a board that also includes: David McRedmond, chief executive of TV3; Cathal Magee, the head of Eircom Retail; and Setanta's founders, Leonard Ryan and Mickey O'Rourke. The three groups bidding for the licences will make public presentations next Monday at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin. The BCI expects to announce the winner in July.

The DTT multiplexes are aimed at the one-third of Irish homes which do not already have subscriptions to digital TV via cable or satellite.

Elmo

I don't think its that much of a big deal that Mr. Drury is now heading up a bid for one of the licenses. He resigned 2 years ago. This isn't news IMO.

Also PPV won't work on any multiplex here IMO. You may as well get Cable or Satellite.

channelsurfer

the executive summaries of all 3 applicants are now available on the BCI website.

they all are pretty similar stressing low entry price of 9.99 a month and 30% cheaper than current rivals.

one vision says 6 free channels and 23 pay channels for 9.99 a month. the free channels will probably be 2 additional tv3 channels and a mix of others.

one talks about launching in Q3 2009 so dont hold your breath for anything revoluntionary like a quick launch.

Mountjoy Mugger

Link:

http://www.bci.ie/DTT/licensing.html

Zaphod

Reading the above, only 1 of the 3 intends offering additional channels for free.

onevision

‘Free’ is our starting point as we extend the free public service multiplex with six extra free channels.

Our primary market are households that have chosen not to take up existing pay services. Both eircom and TV3’s reach into this market is extensive. These homes are today, our customers and our viewers. Through low-prices we believe we will adopt these customers over time into pay customers.

And there you have the underlying philosophy behind the Irish DTT project - Pay up or f*ck off.

channelsurfer

from reading all 3 the intention is to make you pay at least 9.99 for any channels that are decent and of which the majority are already free to air on digital satelitte.

I wont be one of those rushing out to subscribe to them. I will buy the box for rte and tv3 in digital widescreen and maybe HD. I would guess from a quick glance boxer tv will win being the outside one with previous experience in DTT in Sweden and the relevant knowledge to fleece the last penny out of everyone.

Elmo

Well I am looking forward to TV3 +1 and TV3 Gold. Anyone else

SPDUB

channelsurfer wrote: »

I wont be one of those rushing out to subscribe to them. I will buy the box for rte and tv3 in digital widescreen and maybe HD. .

I won't be rushing out to buy a box (probably wait for Analogue shutdown ) if all I'm going to get for free is RTE,TV3 etc and be fleeced for anything else

Couldn't give a toss about widescreen and the people I know who still have only RTE don't either so extra channels would be only incentive to buy box

icdg

None of the parties seem to have learnt anything from the ITV Digital experience across the water. A mostly pay-TV DTT platform will not work. It **might** have had some chance if had launched in 1998, but anyone who wants pay-TV already has it - with Sky or UPC. And any DTT pay-TV service will carry only a fraction of either Sky or UPC's channels.

For competition reasons alone I would exclude Easy TV. If it were granted the licence it should be subject to the same Competition Authority rules regarding Liberty Global HQ's running of the business as UPC Ireland is, not mention a stipulation that it be run completely seperate from UPC Ireland, preferably out of a different division of Liberty Global and with no overlapping management and a majority of different directors.

Both the other groups have media interests, I'd have concerns about Setanta's involvement in OneVision and Communicorp's in Boxer DTT. However neither has a competiting stake in another platform.

Charles Slane

It's doomed! Dooooomed!!

Elmo

One of the other worrying parts of the applications has been the fact that they have all planned to get all 3 muxs rather then prehaps just 2 or even only one.

Surely each application should outline what they would do if they only got one or two. Perhaps this is available in the larger documents.

And another thing it seems as if they are just going to relay the English channels and ask people to pay for them rather then actually setting up new alternative Irish Channels. Again surely if people what the English channels they should just go and get sky or UPC, just as hand as getting DTT (as already pointed out).

I would have fears about TV3 running any of the muxs just because of the blandness that is TV3. Do we really want these people creating new services in Ireland?

BHG

Pay DTT will fail. HD DTT should wait til analogue is off & SD is a success. UK big 4 FTA on DTT north & south with Irish Channels on NI Freeview is the Green Party policy, they left that policy doc in the mansion house toilets too.

I'd wait for 2011 when the bail out happens. My view is: DTT all mux's should be FTA, not because FTA would be nice but because other wise it fails.

1. people won't pay less for a smaller offering in a 2-500 Ch world
2. analogue TV was FTA, & DTT is its replacement
3. its so late to market it wont pick up enough new customers
4. the STB will be expensive as it will be superior to freeview with MPEG4; so no large supply of mpeg2 kit like the RTE DAB economics is based on, RTE want an edge with HD thus costing the boxes high. HD is due on freeview for London in 2012 when spectrum is freed up. Unless RTE simulcast in HD & SD leaving the main mux as 4 channels.
5. it will launch in the bottom of an economic cycle

Programming on the commercial mux's will be shop windows to parent platforms that have real PPV prices & real PPV content.

As mentioned before people have Sky & UPC and die hard FTA folk who can now add Freesat with a respectable offering for FREE. 29-36 DTT channels & pay for the beeb & ITV & CH4 versus HD Freesat with 200 channels no subs no contract, game over.

In a down turn economic cycle it will be easier to switch from Sky to Freesat (both dish networks / same kit) than from Cable/Sky to DTT (outdoor antenna / new kit) The problem is RTE is not on Freesat and the analogue switch off looms. So for the FTA die hards a mix of National Public Service FTA DTT mux and Freesat will be nice & if you want Pay TV get Sky (everywhere) and UPC / cable (wherever).

Looking at UPC & Sky marketing 2001-2008 positioning RTE BBC ITV & CH4 has been paramount to commercial edge (UPC had the edge / Sky finally caught up). For DTT placement of the RTE is a given but charging for the other key components is nuts.
Nobody will market freesat in Ireland but local installers will be licking their lips, downgrade with one payment same dish, Freesat will be word of mouth not RTE guide adverts.

Boxer mentions irish radio twice in two pages! onevision is very cost conscious & 'we're irish' & Easy TV is much about how integrated they will be with PSB mux, they all will be integrated.

Last comment on this (for now) what a pity its 2008 not 1998 when this could have been technology of its day. My house has switched off analogue already, and we have FTA digital at all sets (4) and 2 of them have Irish digital TV, one is from the clarke belt & one over the air.

Elmo

Pay DTT will fail. HD DTT should wait til analogue is off & SD is a success. UK big 4 FTA on DTT north & south with Irish Channels on NI Freeview is the Green Party policy, they left that policy doc in the mansion house toilets too.

No it is still the intention of the Minister to have the 4 English channels on DTT and the 4 Irish Channel on Freeview.

I think some amount of PPV will work i.e. Sports and a movie channel like BoxOffice. 2 PPV channels will work espically if they are top up channels rather then contracts. Other then that why would anyone get a contract out with less channels then the already have with other contracts.

IMO DTT should provide extra Irish Channels which will also be available on UPC (by Law) and Sky (because they know it makes sence).

Nobody will market freesat in Ireland but local installers will be licking their lips, downgrade with one payment same dish, Freesat will be word of mouth not RTE guide adverts.

I think it is time for someone to market freesat, with DTT installation as well.

Elmo

One Vision, conversely, is happy to talk about its DTT plans, volunteering plans not contained in their summary document, including plans for a TV3 news station (3TODAY) and entertainment station (3EXPOSE).

ROTFL

bk

Elmo wrote: »

ROTFL

Oh, man, I just got a little sick. TV3 can't even put out one decent channel, with their news and expose being some of the worst crap ever made. This shower better not win.

channelsurfer

Seriously though, do any of them even think they are gonna make money on it?
what will happen is that in 2012 or 2014 15 whenever the government decide to switch off they will realise that there is little interest and it will force the government to bail em out with free boxes to the masses to enable full analogue switch off.

Elmo

I don't see why they just don't rent out space on the network. I.E. new television station on MUX 2 will cost 1,000,000 per year for the television company rather then the consumer.

TV3, Today FM and TG4 all pay RTE for being on their network.

Zaphod

Independent.ie
Stand by your TV handsets

New digital platforms promise to revolutionise viewing – at an affordable cos

By Laura Noonan
Thursday May 08 2008

AFTER years of deliberation and pontification, Ireland's new TV landscape finally took tangible shape yesterday as the bids for the upcoming Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platforms were revealed.

RTE and UPC's EasyTV is proposing to host up to 35 channels across the three available digital platforms (known as MUXs), with 9 of these available through a "very cheap" "Soft Pay" offering.

TV3, Setanta, Arqiva and Eircom's One Vision consortium, have plans for 29 channels, including six that will be available "free of charge" and two new Irish stations are to be created by TV3.

Communicorp, Boxer and BT's "Boxer DTT" consortium are championing a basic €10 package with "pay as you go" add ons, as well as proposing to invest as much as €115m in their own network to rival the existing offering from RTE's networks division.

All three groups are promising coverage of more than 90pc of the country once analogue TV bites the dust in 2012, heralding a new era of low-cost digital television with mass availability, in what is a direct challenge to incumbents Sky and UPC.

Summaries of all three applications were released by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) yesterday, ahead of next Monday's oral hearing and the eventual awarding of the MUXs in mid July.

The level of detail provided by the three groups was vastly disparate.

EasyTV's summary was by far the most broadbrush, despite RTE's history of championing DTT as the future of Ireland's television.

The spartan document confirms the venture will be a joint effort between RTE subsidiary RTE Commercial Enterprises and UPC subsidiary Irish Digital TT Holdings.

It promises a "Soft Pay" option up to 60pc cheaper than prevailing offers, along with a "Mid Pay" offer which will be up to 33pc below market rates.

The service will have 85pc coverage when it goes live in the third quarter of 2009, rising to 93pc by analogue switch off.

"It's a very competitive thing, we didn't want to say too much ahead of Monday," one source volunteered.

It is understood that UPC and RTE are equal partners in the venture. The "Soft Pay" option will cost "much less" than €10, and feature nine channels including UK free-to-air channels, sources added.

One Vision, conversely, is happy to talk about its DTT plans, volunteering plans not contained in their summary document, including plans for a TV3 news station (3TODAY) and entertainment station (3EXPOSE).

The summary document itself focuses heavily on One Vision's plans to be the lowest cost provider in the market, with six free stations and another 23 for just €9.99 a month.

The group is also dedicated to supporting "new Irish stations" and a spokesman confirmed Channel 6 was "likely" to be included in the free package.

The spokesman also confirmed One Vision sees DTT as a "long term play" and doesn't expect to break even until the latter half of the 12 year contract.

The group's summary doesn't give any figure on proposed spending, but the investment is understood to be below the €40m previously speculated.

Boxer DTT, meanwhile, gave by far the most detailed submission to the BCI, though the consortium declined to provide any further information "out of respect for the BCI process".

Boxer's plans include a €115m investment in a "world-class broadcast network", suggesting the group won't lease space on the €120m infrastructure being developed by RTE's networks division.

The group also foresees a €30m spend on a "support service to assist customers with all aspects of the new DTT service", mirroring a similar support scheme financed by the UK government when DTT was launched there.

On the content side, Boxer's entry level TV and radio package will cost "below €10 a month".

Viewers will be able to top up those channels 'a la carte' and will be able to access channels on a "pay-as-you-go" system "which puts previously-expensive content within the reach of mainstream viewers and will give Irish consumers control of their TV expenditure," Boxer said.

The group hopes this offering will lure 215,000 customers and revenues of more than €50m by 2013, leading to break-even point by year five.

All three groups are undoubtedly keeping their powder dry on some aspects of their plans ahead of Monday's hearing, but the plans revealed so far, promise an intense battle likely to result in a radical shake up of Ireland's TV landscape.

So, switch on and let the TV games begin.

http://www.independent.ie/business/media/stand-by-your-tv-handsets-1369401.html?service=Print

Cas2007

why cant Irish Dtt have the same channels as ntl basic cable (and the irish hd channels ) and then ups can have a pay tv service on the other few channels? Does basic ntl cable have to be turned off in 2012 because its not digital?
Irish Dtt is starting so sound really bad

L1011

Analogue cable is not and never will be affected by DSO - its a private, now unregulated network.

watty

In fact technically even Analogue Terrestrial does not need to be turned off. Unlike USA TV regs (which do affect analogue cable) the EU is only advising a turn off.

The Cable companies in Ireland have really only four regulations:
1) Their cable must not leak transmissions
2) The actual channels must be BCI approved.
3) RTE is "must carry" (Not sure about TV3 & TG4, but I think they are "must carry" also).
4) Any foreign content must have content owners permission (i.e. they used to pay BBC, ITV nothing and now they pay agreed royalty to UK broadcasters. Payment to payTV content providers always existed. Channels laike France24 & BBC World are actually free to carry, but you need written permission).

But they can use whatever technology, prices etc they like and run the cables anywhere as long as they obtain way-leave from the land-owner.

Anyone also can now start a cable company. But in terms of content it's still regulated.

Elmo

why cant Irish Dtt have the same channels as ntl basic cable (and the irish hd channels ) and then ups can have a pay tv service on the other few channels? Does basic ntl cable have to be turned off in 2012 because its not digital?
Irish Dtt is starting so sound really bad

I think this is basically what your going to get if you read between the lines.

From what I can tell we will pay for the basic English channels if we want them on DTT e.g. BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV, C4, Discovery, Nickolodean, MTV, Sky News, Sky One, E4.

RTE 1, RTE 2, TV3 and TG4, perhaps an Irish Movie channel and Dail TV will all be free.

Channel 6 (it maybe free), Setanta Ireland (could possible be free if they want more GAA rights)

I have a huge problem with that. Why bother with the same auld ****. Bar RTE 1, RTE 2, TV3, TG4, BBC 1, BBC 2, UTV and C4, I could live with out the rest of the basic package from UPC. (If I did watch ITV or TV3 I wouldn't miss ITV too much).

Rather then go for pay TV we should encorage new Irish TV channel start ups available for free on DTT with one or two pay channels i.e. Box Office Movie and sport services, pay as you view type thing.

New Irish TV channel start-ups would also benifit the economy.
1. They would pay to be on the MUX, not the consumer (TV3 and TG4 pay to be on RTE NL)
2. They would provide jobs and earn Advertising revenue (and pay tax). Unlike Channel 4 and Sky who just take the money and go,
3. The English Channels won't be paying the MUX operators to be on their Network more then likely the MUX operators will pay for them (and pass that cost on to the consumer).

All new Irish Channel should be available on UPC/Cable by law just like RTE 1, RTE 2, TV3 and TG4. (Hence why Cork still has those 4 on analogue cable).

New Irish channels would provide more choice for the consumer.

Analogue cable is not and never will be affected by DSO - its a private, now unregulated network.

UPC/Magnet etc are regulated by ComReg, I assume???
UPC AFAIK want to get rid of Analogue to provide higher broadband speeds. But they are not subject to the same DSO as Terrestrial TV

2) The actual channels must be BCI approved.

I don't think that UPC went to the BCI when the added BUZZ TV or Bubble Hits, they are licenced by OfCom in England, and under the EU directive (TV without froutiers) Ireland cannot prevent transmission of any EU broadcaster in their country and they must accept the Country of Orgins Broadcast laws. (TV channels can be removed from a network in an EU country if they show pronography or violence at times when Children are watching)

Gadgie

Two new channels from TV3? No thank you.

L1011

UPC and Magnet, etc are not regulated. They're licenced, but anyone can and will be issued those licences on request.

Antenna

Elmo wrote: »

we should encorage new Irish TV channel start ups available for free on DTT

I suspect the only likelyhood of the likes of Channel 6 and City Channel going on DTT would be if they could as a group 'cherry-pick' a small number of transmitters (covering Dublin, Limerick and Cork city and surrounding areas and a couple of other areas of high population that are easily served.)
Whether the authorities would allow such 'cherry-picking' in coverage is another matter - these channels may continue to be available only on pay-multichannel platforms only - the costs of a multiplex having around 90% DTT coverage of the country is going to be huge.

Elmo

I suspect the only likelyhood of the likes of Channel 6 and City Channel going on DTT would be if they could as a group 'cherry-pick' a small number of transmitters (covering Dublin, Limerick and Cork city and surrounding areas and a couple of other areas of high population that are easily served.)
Whether the authorities would allow such 'cherry-picking' in coverage is another matter - these channels may continue to be available only on pay-multichannel platforms only - the costs of a multiplex having around 90% DTT coverage of the country is going to be huge.

There is no reason why C6 and City Channel couldn't buy Irish Right for TV programmes rather then just Cable Rights. They are both licenced as National Services.

Certainly City Channel could re-brand as Local TV or something like that, and become more like ITV1 regions.

There is no reason why someone else couldn't roll out a similar service to TV3 or A news service.

It's all about liberalisation of Broadcasting. New TV services to compete with existing ones. New RTE services supplementing existing RTE services, ditto TV3 and TG4. But to only allow RTE, TV3 and TG4 to supplement their services would kill this project. Who wants just 2 new TV3 stations? Perhaps an RTE 1 AND 2 +1, TG4 and TG4 +1, Dail TV, IFB TV, C6 and City. Surely their are other companies who would like to compete in the industry. And then the English Channel for an additional fee (espically when you can get them for free anyway). To leave it up to 3 or 4 companies is madness IMO. (God I am sounding very PD like, not usually my style). I just don't see why TV3 should be rewarded for doing feck all.


City Channel is part owned by UPC.

scath

Analogue Terrestrial does need to be switched of by 2015 under International Telecoms Union Agreements between the Irish Government and the neighbouring member states. The EC prefers 2012 to not lag too far behind the USA. Were we not to switch of in 2015 there could be sanctions or something. Analogue cable switchoff is in order to free up spectrum from analogue cable for other services like Mobile TV and wifi etc..

see.http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/multimobile/presentations/ITUHess.pdf
I should be able to find a better link later...

watty wrote: »

In fact technically even Analogue Terrestrial does not need to be turned off. Unlike USA TV regs (which do affect analogue cable) the EU is only advising a turn off.

The Cable companies in Ireland have really only four regulations:
1) Their cable must not leak transmissions
2) The actual channels must be BCI approved.
3) RTE is "must carry" (Not sure about TV3 & TG4, but I think they are "must carry" also).
4) Any foreign content must have content owners permission (i.e. they used to pay BBC, ITV nothing and now they pay agreed royalty to UK broadcasters. Payment to payTV content providers always existed. Channels laike France24 & BBC World are actually free to carry, but you need written permission).

But they can use whatever technology, prices etc they like and run the cables anywhere as long as they obtain way-leave from the land-owner.

Anyone also can now start a cable company. But in terms of content it's still regulated.

watty

We were more strongly ordered to fix sewage and water 20 years ago and still are not compliant.

It is not totally mandatory and there are no sanctions envisaged as the EU can't imagine why any member wouldn't do it!

In theory we should have had DTT over 8 years ago, but the Government fumbled it.

New TV3 channels? They haven't even got one channel yet.

There is no EU agreement yet on how much Analogue TV (not cable) spectrum should be used for other services, or what exactly those services should be.

The original Ofcom/Comreg and some others appear to have ignored HDTV, which takes 5 times the spectrum of MPEG4 SD TV. The Broadcasters would be prepared to give up about 50MHz and Ofcom wanted to sell off over 200MHz. There is no agreement or decisions yet.

While a pan-EU approach would be best for reuse of TV spectrum, that has not been agreed yet either.

Elmo

Hands has been repeated on RTE TWO a good few time, maybe too many time :eek:

Well The Oral Hearing was today.

Pointless would be a word I would use, the BCI asked no questions and the audience weren't allowed. Not a public hearing.

Each of the consortia are providing broadly the same number of services with differing prices. One Visions presentations stood out, while Easy TV's was dreadful, Boxer was less boring the Easy TV's.


I am now going to redo my channel line up as they see it: -

MUX 1 - PBS (8 channels)
RTE 1
RTE 2
TG4
TV3
IFB TV
Channel 6
Dail TV
RTE NEWS (????)

MUX 2 - FTA - (8 channels)

TV3 Today
TV3 Expose
FTA 1
FTA 2
FTA 3
FTA 4
FTA 5
FTA 6

MUX 3 - Pay Channels (8 channels)

BBC1
BBC2
UTV
C4
E4
MORE 4
Sky News
SKY ONE
LIVING TV
DAVE

MUX 4 - Pay TV (8 channels)

Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports 3
Setanta Ireland
Setanta 1
Setanta 2
Setanta News
Sky Movies

Vision One seems the cheapest option, the other 2 suggested top up tv, in particular Boxer.

When I asked both TV3 (McRedmond) and BCI (O'Keffee) about the idea of the BCI licencing Irish TV services outside of the current English Channels suggested how would they deal with it, the both stated it was too early to state what they would do. Redmond suggested that TV3 was all about being Irish.

It was annoying to see that the BCI did a U Turn on the 3 licences as each consortia would not be in a position to take on one each, for them it was all or nothing.

Jobs will be created but only in Call Centres and in Technical areas i.e. Network Techical areas.

flogen

Elmo - I know TV3 said they want two new channels but are you just guessing that they'll be rolling news and entertainment or have they actually said that's what they want the space for?

I can't see how TV3 could pull of a rolling news station when the likes of ITV couldn't.

Elmo

Elmo - I know TV3 said they want two new channels but are you just guessing that they'll be rolling news and entertainment or have they actually said that's what they want the space for?

I can't see how TV3 could pull of a rolling news station when the likes of ITV couldn't.

They suggested it today at their presentation, they have to Channel Idents done up for the services (Ok it was only TV3 NEWS logo with TODAY attached and 3 attached to expose logo !!!!)

They have been talking about a news service for the last few years.

12 hour news service (It could include sports coverage, they aren't calling it 3 NEWS after all)
6 - 10 - Morning News
10 - 13 - International News from somewhere
13 - 14 - Lunch time news
14 - 17 - Rolling news
17 - 19 - TV3 News
19 - 23 - International News from somewhere
23 - 00 - Vincent Browne
00 - 06 - International News from somewhere (Irish Hourly updates)

It could be done. Wouldn't be very good but it is possible.

I can't see how TV3 could pull of a rolling news station when the likes of ITV couldn't.

I call ITV's departure from TV News lack of interest. They had lost millions on ITV Digital (oh! it's not looking good for OneVision, lol)

scath

This event while open to the public, was held in the small Grafton Suite at the Westbury, and seemed to consist almost entirely of bid teams and relevant journalists. While the talk was about the Irish public, and research was conducted by the teams beforehand, the absense of the general public was notable. This appeared to be a lost opportunity in raising the public awareness of DTT. Doubtless the papers will cover the event. This is fine for now.

But the next step if it be wait til July 21st, must be a national roadshow of what is on offer, starting with the 3rd level institute campuses (September due to august being holiday season and winning bid needing time to catch breath and begin strategy exectution), leveraging cheap low cost advertising person-to-person awareness building. The objective must be ensuring early take-up thus enabling the acceleration of the critical mass required for switchover to begin perhaps earlier that projected thereby ensuring early delivery of success to the platform from which it can build.

Ultimately the enthusiasm of early adopters and interested parties should be harnested to spread the word. DTT must as early as possible, move out of the boardroom, the whisper, the jounros in the know to the wider public as early as possible. While the newspapers can be part of that process, aswell as a news item about it, national roadshows, not in hotel suites, but in 3rd level campuses, secondary schools across the country. These will be the key early adopters, teenagers and young adults who will rapidly spread the word.

Alongside that is a programme dedicated from August once a month to DTT (preferably simplified as Digital Aerial TV, what its about, and what it will offer. This is a way of satiating the appetite and public awareness as early as possible in a cost effective way. Social Networking sites should be utilised on bebo, facebook etc for this purpose.

Moving onto to the 3 bidders proposals..

In particular the OneVision proposal (3rd of the 3) identified this succintly. Its offering appeared clear, devoid of over-presentation of data, offering a good FTA starting point and a simple 2 tier, €9.99 per month 36 channel line-up. The upper tier would offer Setanta or Sky Sports Channels.

There would be a charge for the set top box which is a negative. Its mix was from experience (arquiva), to trailblaser (setanta) and the presence of a broadcaster (TV3) planning a news channel TV3 Today added long-term interest in its success to the offering. Eircom, often derided may be its strength in experience and brand recognition but also its weakness in terms of negativity towards current Eircom offerings, ie LLU unbundling delays etc..

Boxer TV, the 1st presenter, appeared to detail its experience, ie Boxer Sweden AB and now also Denmark as the one commercial success story for DTT worldwide. It also offered the prospect of a free set top box. Such a strategy appears a very wise one. This will ensure presence of the set top box in all homes with the potential to drive early adoption of DTT. It also addressed the need for a DTT Champion-Robert would be his name. Boxer would offer a number of pay options. Its backers are certainly deliverers of success stories Communicorp through Digicel Jamaica. There it took on Cable and Wireless, sponsored the West Indies Cricket Team and was the 1st company in the area to be involved in local community enchancement projects. It has proven its ability to take on incumbents and this would bode well for DTT with satellite and cable.

Its weakness may be the complexity of its tiers and the fact that people like simplicity, rather than nicheing. Nicheing is grand for marketing but is a cumbersome for consumers. Boxers proposal strength is its free set top box offering. It is a compelling proposition and way of getting DTT out of the starting block. It is costly. Such an inititiative will be more necessary for DVB-T2 if it is not implemented until 2012 to increase channel capacity.

The middle bid was Easy TV, coming from the experience of RTE NL and UPC. This bid makes sense for Liberty Global and RTÉ. For RTÉ its mitigates RTE NL investment in the PSB. For UPC it provides the potential for provision of the combination of DTT and cable/mmds. It also mentions wholesale, white label offerings to other telecoms operators.This is good. Concerns of market overdominance are its main problem mainly of UPC but also of RTE also. RTÉ did stress that no TV license revenue would go into DTT business.

Its bid, brings experince in the business and in Ireland. It has dedication in its big to DTT and initerest in its success. But the presentation unfortunately was factual, data intensive and very standard in particular the Liberty part of the presentation was very boardroomy and unexciting. It gave an impression to me that it was interested and interesting but didn't expect to win. (my subjective opinion)

Boxer and OneVision proposals appeared much more enthusiastic and interesting. Boxer offered experience, and early adopter measures, OneVision brought flair, enthusiasm, and more fta content as apposed to boxer's free set top box initiative.

To my mind each bid addressed issues of uptake, boxer on adoption, experience elsewhere, Easy TV on Irish experience and telecoms interest, OneVision on the consumer, simplicity, experience.

If I was asked who excited me the most with their plans I would have to say, One Vision. Excellent presentation, with confident delivery, humour, clarity and simplicity. A close 2nd would be Boxer with its experience in other markets and free set top box initiative.

3rd I sadly say is Easy TV. I don't doubt its ability to deliver, the great foresight that RTE show on Digital TV with Oireachtas TV and the great strides over the last few years on RTE TV Irish programming is excellent. However the presentation underwhelemed more pitched to the boardroom than to the public.

One ommission was that of Interactive TV. It was mentioned. But it was scant mention. This is an area that has the potential to excite the public. For instance the implementation of Amigo TV, talking with friends during a programme and typing has the potential to excite the teenager and adult.This is something that the journas even haven't picked up on to-date. Its a case of what do we know, we report, not where can it go, has it got it. Something for journos to ponder no doubt.

I am a strong advocate of Amigo TV because it has the potential for deliverying Television Higher Education. No doubt as in other areas, it could also be used in the adult TV segment, certainly on satellite TV for private chat. But it can be an advertising monetiser for the telecoms sector.

Also all bidders see DTT appears going for the go it alone market to offer choice. That is fine but does not encourage rapid takeup. Consomer choice is fine. But choice can lead to confusion. Is it more imporant to have a third player or to have the simplest, best value option. Is it a case of you must lose for me to win?

I suggest No. DTT can best be successful by competing AND complementing. Going for both will ensure its mass penetration most quickly beyond the cable/satellite refusenicks. But also it must work with cable and satellite via a combination strategy so that it can co-exist, so that it gets not into some households, but into every household. Charge for UK Channels is a problem for DTT. This was not addressed today. Switchover was mentioned by all the bids. But the public will not be happy about paying for what it got for free. Thus it is incument on the DTT operator to join with cable to either subside or do a deal on the diaspora TV to enable fta UK terrestrial channels. Otherwise Sky may drop their prices, I would if I worked with them. Free UK Channels, okay, let me go with freesat from Sky, why bother with DTT!. That will be a big problem for DTT. It may not be able to grow its market beyond refusenicks. It could end up bought out by Sky through failure to grow its business.

Why can the viewer not have both, DTT and Cable, DTT and Satellite, the best of both worlds. DTT will provide the 36 channels. If you want more, then you can subscribe to more on cable or satellite. To be honest for the future, cable TV's days appear numbered with conversion to IPTV rapid broadband its best replacement in a combination with DTT-Satellite. Its an opportunity for convergence of media together with telecoms-cable to free up satellite spectrum, support DTT and delivery everything the viewer could wish for in the one simple box.

Interactive TV has the potential from Amigo TV programme buddy chat to interactive voting, to video on demand to YouTube all in one, via your internet set top box or laptop. Laptops are the next phase in DTV enabling simplicity. TV and laptop convergence is the next destination complementing mobile TV with cheaper converged possibilities and mobility. Exciting the viewer with DTV options is more than just multichannel TV. That is what will help DTT towards early adoption.

All suggested significant market spend. None mentioned social networking advertising. All mentioned getting the public awareness and adoption complexity right, none mentioned interactive TV to any great degree to excite the viewer. A

More work is needed. Some of the best things are simple, cheap to execute, but easily overlooked. Its not all about money spent. Its about dynamic strategy leading intelligient use of spend, in the right places.

It appears OneVision and Boxer are nearest with the incumbents RTE and UPC the least compelling in terms of issues around potential market pluarlity.

My blog on DTV
http://irishdigitaltvfan.wordpress.com

DMC

Mr. DMC goes to the Westbury.

The presentations:

Boxer: (Boxer Sweden/Communicorp/BT)
They say they operate on "no conflict, pure platform, no vested interests" They also said that it would be inappropriate for broadcasters to own muxes.

They offer low cost entry: Free box.
6 PSB mux + 7 pay at €7.99pm, 18 more pay channels for €22.99, a kids only option for €4.99pm, multi-room 50% discount. There will also be a pre-pay ready-to-go option, I believe 3 months from the slides. They also offer its mobility and portability. They will spend €20m over 4 years marketing it.

They spent a good bit of time mentioning the finances of Communicorp, naming the consortium "The Dream Team". Boxer also said they they have learned the lessons of Sweden, and their trial and error with customer hardware.

BT have mentioned in their bit that they will work with RTÉ NL on the development, as they have in the trial.

They will also introduce a "Swedish national icon" in the shape of Robert, who concluded the presentation running up a street to the Rocky "trying hard now" Bill Conti theme.

Conclusion: really used the Denis O'Brien "underdog" card here, punching above their weight. BT's only real offering was that it runs the current trial. They should've checked their TX map, there was a transmitter in Armagh! No channel line-ups, no mention of HD.

Easy TV. (RTE/Liberty Global)
Lots of focus on broadcast quality. Only 8 channels per mux (24 in all). RTÉ made play that they will be using commercial money and not the licence fee. Liberty Global will draw on its expertise in local markets such as Ireland (for those not in the know, they own Chorus/NTL.)

RTÉ NL's involvement was mentioned first, playing on its unrivaled local knowledge with the contacts of 450 installers,

Channels and packages include the 8 FTA mux, "Soft pay", which is the UK 4 and some Irish commercials, 9 in all for €8pm, "Mid-pay" 13 more for €8 more and then the premium, "Sky and Setanta" (vagueness depends on negotiations) with no price mentioned. Also a pre-pay option.

Set-top box will be €99 - €149 or €5pm, Mid-pay will have a PVR option.
Return to focus on not overloading the muxes. They are also aware of DTO in Wales is next year, and will target the east coast early in 2009. Otherwise, 85% by Q4 2009, and highest urban and population coverage higher than the BCI requirement 2 years early. Retail with big stores and independents.

€16m marketing budget, and brand activity will occur along side UK DSO. Rigney Dolphin in Waterford will be a call centre partner. They will also sell the service "wholesale to mobile phone networks", it will have HD and also VOD.

Again, reiteration of no licence fee involvement in this, and it will be a stand alone operation, not a loss leader, and the service will have the lowest cost, with the highest quality.

Conclusion: Disorganised presentation, not the best of speakers, sloppy PowerPoint to be quite frank. Liberty Global made play that they were "platform neutral". WTF? But the detail was there, and it was good detail. RTÉ made play of how popular the RTÉ TV channels are, but as these are on the PSB mux, is it that important to the presentation?? They will offer the lowest amount of channels at the highest quality, I dunno if that will be a winner.

OneVision: (Eircom/Setanta/TV3/Arqiva)
Offering "the complete solution", there was an added announcement that Gerry Robinson, ex-Granada head will be on board. Also mentioned the "affordable" nature of their product.

Arqiva made play that they have been involved in building the first DTT network over the past ten years, and will work with RTÉ NL on 53 sites, 93% population coverage by 2012.

Pricing: If you buy the box, you get 10 channels for free, that's the PSB mux and some of theirs. For €9.99, you get 33 channels, including all the UK 4 and TV3 Today and TV3 Expose. Their market research said that 43% would like this package. Premium channels from Setanta and Sky were mentioned, but no price.

They were offering their solution as buy a box and plug and play. They will also have call centre support. (all 3 will anyway) Distribution it appears already agreed with DSGi, Harvey Norman, DID, Tesco, Dunnes and also indies.

Conclusion: A blast of Queen to launch, real attention getter. Presentation was slick, very good, and it appears well rehearsed speakers. The presentation which had the most secure channel lineup.

In full conclusion:
I can't see Boxer getting it. Easy TV while technically sound, it was plain to see that RTÉ were making sure there wasn't a conflict on the national broadcaster owning all of the DTT spectrum, and also do Liberty global see this as a way of extinguishing MMDS? What will the BCI think, if they haven't thought of that already? OneVision just didn't appear to make any real mistakes today.

The key thing here is its between OneVision and EasyTV.

DMC

Three different people in the same room all come to the same conclusion. Who'd have thunk it!

L1011

Wonder if OneVision intend to soft-crypt 'their' free channels to make a wee bit of profit off the boxes?

flogen

Elmo wrote: »

They suggested it today at their presentation, they have to Channel Idents done up for the services (Ok it was only TV3 NEWS logo with TODAY attached and 3 attached to expose logo !!!!)

They have been talking about a news service for the last few years.

12 hour news service (It could include sports coverage, they aren't calling it 3 NEWS after all)
6 - 10 - Morning News
10 - 13 - International News from somewhere
13 - 14 - Lunch time news
14 - 17 - Rolling news
17 - 19 - TV3 News
19 - 23 - International News from somewhere
23 - 00 - Vincent Browne
00 - 06 - International News from somewhere (Irish Hourly updates)

It could be done. Wouldn't be very good but it is possible.



I call ITV's departure from TV News lack of interest. They had lost millions on ITV Digital (oh! it's not looking good for OneVision, lol)

I just wouldn't have imagined the commercial appeal in setting up a rolling news/factual channel, whatever about a rolling entertainment one.

I always expected them to maybe set up a second channel that would basically be what Channel 6 is now - US imports to the hilt.

Will be interesting to see what they do, though.