October 31st

jamescc

i wonder is october 31st the set date for southern ireland. or is that for the north as well . or Does the north come on at a later date

mike65

Nordies have their own DTT, they want our as well? Why can't we have theirs?

watty

Which year and for what?

October 31st 2010 is Service Start. Some kind of concept of Soft launch or Technical Launch of Saorview (Irish DTT). The N.I./UK service has already launched long ago. Some areas in UK the Analogue is already off. N.I. AKA "the North" or Norn Iron already has DTT

Full Public launch date not set yet, but Q2 2011 to Dec 2011 at latest.
Analogue Closure schedule not publish yet, October to December 2012 has been mentioned

Speculation on possible time scale

* Announcement on 1st November 2010 that yesterday Saorview limited
service started. 94.5% population coverage.
* After November 2011 (could be as late April): Occasional RTE2 in
HD, Start of DenTV & RTE News Now separate channel officially.
* Limited Public Information campaign from 1st November 2010
* November / December 2010: Some saorview certified TVs and setboxes
in Shops.
* Major publicity from January/February 2011
* An announcement of actual Public launch date in January or February
2011
* Sometime November 2010 to January 2011: Ka-Sat @ 9E launch via
Proton
* February/ March: Saorsat tests commence
* April/May: much variety of Saorview TVs & Setboxes
* The Public Launch date is April 2011 at earliest, December 2011 at
latest, Maybe May or June.
* May/June 2011? Saorsat service is live, 100% copy of Saorview.
Service Public Launch with 97.2% population coverage. Will TV3 be on it?
* Full publicity about Analogue Switch off date after Public Launch.
* Q3 2011: Saorsat/Freesat system installs with Dual feed and HD
DVB-S2 sat box with MHEG5
* Q4 2011: many or all existing areas have 2nd Mux. RTE2 HD full
time?
* Early to Mid 2012: RTE1, RTE2, TV4 go HD. TV3 and TV3e now
definitely on Saorview
* Mid to late 2012: All 51 sites live. 98% population coverage
Terrestrially.
* Late 2012: Phased Analogue Switch off starts with Three Rock,
Clermont Cairn, Woodcock Hill, Carn Hill, HolyHill and perhaps
Truskmore, and any Analogue Transposers fed from those.
* End 2012/Start 2013 N.I. Analogue closes and N.I. gets Freeview
HD launch.
* January / February 2013: Remainder of Analogue closes. Last are
Maghera, Mullaghanish, Kippure and Mt. Leinster.
* March 2013 TV3 goes HD
* April 2013 BAI abandons search for a Commercial Multiplex Operator
and authorises RTENL to sell space to PayTV channels (as transmission
provider like Arqiva, not PayTV operator).
* May 2013 Kerry TV launches?

via Techtir Intro to Free Irish Digital TV

jamescc

so the launch date (soft ) for the north and south will be october 31

Peddyr

jamescc wrote: »

so the launch date (soft ) for the north and south will be october 31

In ROI yes. NI already has DTT since late 1990s, it's called Freeview.

Tom Slick

jamescc wrote: »

i wonder is october 31st the set date for...

For what? Halloween?

watty

jamescc wrote: »

so the launch date (soft ) for the north and south will be october 31

2010

94.5% population coverage.

jamescc

Tom Slick wrote: »

For what? Halloween?

well you can be sure of one thing it is not a april fools joke

Tom Slick

Are you in the North? (jamescc)

Which transmitter do you currently receive Irish channels from?

jamescc

dublin why?

Tom Slick

jamescc wrote: »

... is that for the north as well . or Does the north come on at a later date

Just wondered what this was about.

jamescc

when i posted first i was unaware that the north had their own dtt

watty

It was still part of UK this morning.
I'm guessing too that if they decided in a Referendum tomorrow to join us, they might be selfish and want to keep BT, Virgin media and UK TV for a while. Maybe even a Dual arrangement like Newry for Euros and Sterling. They might keep Miles and MPH on the road signs for a while.


Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan of course use Irish DTT. Technically bits of Donegal are "more North" than most of N.I.

Deedsie

watty wrote: »

It was still part of UK this morning.
I'm guessing too that if they decided in a Referendum tomorrow to join us, they might be selfish and want to keep BT, Virgin media and UK TV for a while. Maybe even a Dual arrangement like Newry for Euros and Sterling. They might keep Miles and MPH on the road signs for a while.


Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan of course use Irish DTT. Technically bits of Donegal are "more North" than most of N.I.

Parts of leitrim, louth, Cavan & Monaghan are further north than parts of NI. I thought as part of the GFA the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to access to RTÉ?

watty

No.
And I re-read MOU, which isn't binding. It only offers TG4 in NI. The GFA confers even less about TV than MOU.

About 50% to 60% in NI will be able to pickup Irish DTT. Near 100% will be able to get FTA Saorsat if it works.

Hence I'm sceptical that anything will be done, and at most SD TG4 at about the the time TG4 is going HD on Saorview and Saorsat. (late 2012 to early 2013).

The Cush

Deedsie wrote: »

I thought as part of the GFA the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to access to RTÉ?

RTÉ say

Broadcasting law requires RTÉ’s radio and television services to have the character of a public service, to be offered free-to-air and to be universally available, where practicable, to the whole community on the island of Ireland.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two Governments last Feb to address this issue. There's a whole thread about it here. The new Saorsat service should provide a nationwide service.

lawhec

DTT in Northern Ireland has been available since 1998, first from Divis, then shortly after from Limavady. Brougher Mountain came on a bit later because of interference issues with RTÉ reception in parts of Tyrone & Donegal. In about six weeks time DTT will have been broadcasting from Divis Mountain for 12 years. Current DTT coverage of all six multiplexes in N.I. is about <70%. Coverage is currently limited to lack of available frequencies for various sites and low powers to prevent interference. Parts of Belfast shielded from Divis (including areas north of the city around Rathcoole, Whiteabbey etc. and in the west of the city around Hannastown) either cannot get DTT or get weak signals requiring large aerials. Limavady cannot get into Derry city on an effective basis (especially around the river area) hence an analogue relay serving it. South Down, North Tyrone and much of North Antrim are significant DTT blackspots. High powered DTT in N. Ireland will commence in about two years with the shutting down of analogue transmitters. Current DTT reception from the north into the Republic is limited more than analogue, signal strength currently required demands greater margins than analogue reception, plus issues of co-channel interference.

The Good Friday Agreement only made reference to extending the reach of TnaG (now TG4) in Northern Ireland, not any other RTÉ services. This has been (partly) applied through a low-powered directional relay of TG4 at Divis serving parts of Belfast. In many other parts of Northern Ireland, particularity west of the River Bann, TG4 and other terrestrial TV services from the Republic can be received without extreme difficulty.

MACHEAD

watty wrote: »

It was still part of UK this morning.
Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan of course use Irish DTT. Technically bits of Donegal are "more North" than most of N.I.

This is a long standing 'joke' up here. "The most northerly part of Ireland is in the south."
Though of course the Derry/Donegal border is actually east/west!....or should that be west/east...well whichever.