BAI advertise for expressions of interest for free to air services for Irish DTT

glimmerman123

The BAI advertise for expressions of interest for free to air services to launch on Irish DTT platform Saorview.


28th February

BAI INVITES EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR DTT CONTENT

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (“BAI”) is inviting expressions of interest from broadcast content providers and other interested parties for the provision of free-to-air broadcasting services for transmission on the RTÉ DTT Multiplexes.
The Authority has been directed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to seek expresssions of interest and issue a report and recommendations further to Statutory Instrument 67 of 2011.

RTÉ is planning to launch its free-to-air DTT service “SAORVIEW” by June 2011. SAORVIEW will operate alongside the existing analogue terrestrial TV network until such time as the analogue network is switched off. There is capacity to include additional services on the SAORVIEW system and the purpose of inviting submissions is to ascertain the level of interest that may exist in the provision of content on the RTÉ multiplexes. Following receipt of the BAI’s report and recommendations as to the extent of interest from service providers the Minister will decide on the additional content to be carried on the RTÉ multiplexes. The closing date for completed submissions is 28th March 2011.

Speaking about the announcement, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland said: “This call for expressions of interest offers relevent parties an opportunity to outline proposals they may have as to the type of content services that could be provided to audiences in the State.”

It will be interesting to see if there are any takers.

watty

Except there isn't really space if we have RTE1, TV3 and TG4 in HD (end 2013?) and get Oireachtas TV and Film Channel.

Though RTE NL say they can get more Multiplex channels allocated by BAI/Comreg, especially after ASO, if they run out of space on the two multiplexes.

I'm suspecting this is why DCENR ordered RTE to put RTE2HD and RTEjr on the 2nd mux, as the current single mux is pretty much full.

Elmo

interesting to see such an early date. 28 March. I assume this is so that the Commerical operators or content providers are up and running in June or July* :eek:

*Sorry that is just me being naive don't get your hopes up.

The Cush

Elmo wrote: »

interesting to see such an early date. 28 March. I assume this is so that the Commerical operators or content providers are up and running in June or July* :eek:

*Sorry that is just me being naive don't get your hopes up.

This process is only to seek expressions of interest for the spare FTA capacity on the PSB Muxes and submit a report to the new Minister by mid April, hence the reason for the end of March date. (Original announcement by the Dept)

A tender/licensing competition may have to follow if the BAI and Dept find there is interest in the spare capacity.

Please note that an expression of interest in response to this invitation will not be regarded as an
application for capacity on the RTÉ DTT multiplexes. Parties interested in submitting expressions of
interest to the Authority should do so before 5pm on Monday 28th March 2011. Please note that all
expressions of interest will be made available publicly following consideration by the Authority.
Expressions of interest should be forwarded to the address below:

BAI Guidelines for the Submission of Expressions of Interest - Feburary 2011

BAI Press Release

28th February

BAI INVITES EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR DTT CONTENT

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (“BAI”) is inviting expressions of interest from broadcast content providers and other interested parties for the provision of free-to-air broadcasting services for transmission on the RTÉ DTT Multiplexes.

The Authority has been directed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to seek expresssions of interest and issue a report and recommendations further to Statutory Instrument 67 of 2011.

RTÉ is planning to launch its free-to-air DTT service “SAORVIEW” by June 2011. SAORVIEW will operate alongside the existing analogue terrestrial TV network until such time as the analogue network is switched off. There is capacity to include additional services on the SAORVIEW system and the purpose of inviting submissions is to ascertain the level of interest that may exist in the provision of content on the RTÉ multiplexes. Following receipt of the BAI’s report and recommendations as to the extent of interest from service providers the Minister will decide on the additional content to be carried on the RTÉ multiplexes. The closing date for completed submissions is 28th March 2011.

Speaking about the announcement, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland said: “This call for expressions of interest offers relevent parties an opportunity to outline proposals they may have as to the type of content services that could be provided to audiences in the State.”

A Guide to Submissions document is available on the BAI website www.bai.ie or by telephoning the offices of the BAI on +353 1 6441200.

Media Queries to: Suzanne Sullivan, Q4PR Tel: 01 475 1444 / 086 379 7291

http://www.bai.ie/about_news_art031.html

Infoanon

Pat Carey was a busy boy in the last days - wonder how much of this will be undone by the new incumbrent...

The Cush

From today's Irish Times

The Cush

When the Boxer and Onevision consortia withdrew from the pay DTT process one of the reasons stated was the failure to reach agreement with RTÉNL over transmission charges and the €20m security bond.

Onevision had wanted a mediation process between themselves and RTÉNL but there was no such option in the regulations at that time.

The SI above has now given the BAI additional functions including the power to consult between RTÉ and any content provider in relation to costs of carriage on DTT multiplexes which it did not have during the previous commercial DTT process (see Bob Collins comments during the Oireachtas Committee discussion last July).

Even though this regulation only applies to the FTA RTÉ multiplexes a similar one will no doubt be issued later in the year when expressions of interest will be sought for the commercial muxes.

In accordance with Statutory Instrument No. 67 of 2011 and Section 26(5) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 (the Act), the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (the Minister) has conferred a number of additional functions on the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (the Authority). These relate to:

 Consulting with RTÉ on DTT multiplex capacity and cost,
 Consulting with other parties in relation to the provision of broadcasting services on the RTÉ DTT multiplexes,

...
3. Terms of Carriage on the RTÉ DTT multiplexes

The Ministerial Order conferred the Authority with the role of consulting with RTÉ with regard to capacity and costs of carriage on DTT multiplexes. Details of indicative costs for carriage on the RTÉ DTT multiplexes may be provided by RTÉ NL.

The following issues will be matters for agreement between broadcast content providers and RTÉ should they be designated by the Minister:

 Commercial terms of carriage on the multiplex;
 Capacity in terms of Mbps for each programme offered;
 Technical conditions of carriage e.g. guaranteed minimum quality of service, channel number on electronic guide (EPG); and,
 Delivery of content to the DTT head end.

watty

These are powers beyond the original purpose of BAI.

Also the €20M bond is a red Herring as is only costs a Company on a Sound footing a few 100K. It's entirely reasonable.

This is unwarranted interference by a Minister with no Mandate. However perhaps it's only consultation and no actual powers with BAI to decide anything?

I'm concerned with who Audits BAI and how their policy is set regarding Bitrate Quality EPG placement etc. They would need to be a lot better than they havve been and better than any Irish regulator has ever been or we are looking at a mess.

Btr

This is not unwarranted interference by a Minister or anyone else. For far too long the public were led a merry dance by various private consortia who thought they could make serious money out of this. In the end Rte were forced to carry the can as a solo run. The BAI have clearly sanctioned this round of expressions of interest to be independent of Rte. If RTE had advertised this themselves there would have been rightly many complaints here. My guess is, subject to licensing etc Sky and Utv could be interested.

Elmo

You have to remember that this is a new process it isn't about the BAI's commercial muxes it is a new process to see what different companies/individual think should be placed on the PSB Mux.

After ASO will there be 3 PSB Muxes?

watty

Apparently after ASO we are not limited to 6 Mux. Maybe 7 or 8

The Cush

watty wrote: »

These are powers beyond the original purpose of BAI.

This is unwarranted interference by a Minister with no Mandate. However perhaps it's only consultation and no actual powers with BAI to decide anything?

It's the consultation/mediation legislation they had sought since the failure of the commercial DTT process, "closing the triangle" as Bob Collins puts it between the BAI, content provider and transmission company.

Btr wrote: »

My guess is, subject to licensing etc Sky and Utv could be interested.

I agree, UTV was one the first channels I thought of that might be interested from an all Ireland point of view with the associated costs recovered through increased advertising revenue/ larger audience etc. We know BBC isn't interested, no commercial benefit to them. Maybe Sky News too. Setanta?

QVC? "Diversity of services" but not exactly "degree of public service character" as the BAI puts it since the Celtic Tiger legged it (shopping being a public service during that time)

Elmo wrote: »

You have to remember that this is a new process it isn't about the BAI's commercial muxes it is a new process to see what different companies/individual think should be placed on the PSB Mux.

After ASO will there be 3 PSB Muxes?

That will depend on the BAI's plans later this year to seek expressions of interest for the commercial multiplexes.

Elmo

There may be issues with both UTV and Sky.

UTV Radio and UTV Television are both strong in the Irish market.

Sky's takeover of VMTV was badly dealt with by the BAI and TCA.

Sponge Bob

The issue of filling a second mux ASAP , together with the eventual location of HD services is a live one. I could see an education/open university type channel getting traction for example and even Oireachtas TV ...although that is normally a dreadful waste of space. The Irish Film and Film Archive proposal is still around I think.

Add those to the existing channels and to RTE1 HD and TV3 HD and you would fill two muxes...throuw in some regional radio stations too, sure why not let the Dubs hear Mid West Radio

This Permaconsult Culture is very VERY reminiscent of Comreg who consult interminably, mainly to give themselves a reason to do feck all as usual.

However it seemingly keeps the BAI 'busy' at a time when Enda is looking to cull around 200 quangos in short order

The Cush

Today is the closing date for submissions to the BAI, of expressions of interest for spare FTA DTT capacity.

Following receipt of the BAI’s report and recommendations as to the extent of interest from service providers the Minister will decide on the additional content to be carried on the RTÉ multiplexes. The closing date for completed submissions is 28th March 2011.

watty

Interest is one thing, a viable business plan is quite a different thing. It has to be something that NEEDs an Ireland only Audience, as Satellite to all of UK + Ireland is cheaper and has about 40x viewers.

glimmerman123

I wonder when can we expect to hear if there is any expressions of interest or not? If there is interest i wonder who the parties might be? Interesting times ahead.

watty

Follow the money.

Who has money to do it?

What is the plan to operate at a profit rather than a loss (Adverts, Premium phone scams, subsidies)?

Who is already doing it?

You can easily make your own very short list with two columns:
A: The Wish thinkers that have no viable plan. B: The Experienced Operators with a plan

rlogue

If UTV had any sense they'd get themselves onto the Saorview spare capacity. Reading the mood music from TV3 I can see a time when TV3 would refuse to pay for carriage on Saorview and Saorsat therefore if UTV were available and willing, would they take up the commercial TV licence for the Republic?

watty

I suspect TV3 might happily THINK they can be just a payTV channel on Sky & UPC. Nothing at all stopping them doing that from tomorrow. They don't need their current licence to be PayTV, or indeed ANY Irish permission to be Sky only if they uplink outside Ireland.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

You can easily make your own very short list with two columns:
A: The Wish thinkers that have no viable plan. B: The Experienced Operators with a plan

I am still trying to figure out David McRedmonds Broadcasting Experience other than his father once worked at RTÉ, was it his time spent in Eircom?

The Cush

No update on new FTA channels

IFTN: Will any more RTÉ or non-RTÉ channels be included in the SAORVIEW line-up before its 2012 launch?

Mary Curtis:The BAI recently asked for Expressions of Interest for the platform and we are waiting to hear the outcome from that.

If RTÉ was to apply for additional services on the platform it would have to undergo a Public Value test and Sectoral Impact Assessment as outlined in Section 130 of the Broadcasting Act as was the case for the RTÉ Jr, RTÉ Two HD and RTÉ News Now.

http://www.iftn.ie/digital/DigitalNews/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4283917&tpl=archnews&force=1

Sam Russell

The Cush wrote: »

No update on new FTA channels

Quote:
IFTN: Will any more RTÉ or non-RTÉ channels be included in the SAORVIEW line-up before its 2012 launch?

Mary Curtis:The BAI recently asked for Expressions of Interest for the platform and we are waiting to hear the outcome from that.

If RTÉ was to apply for additional services on the platform it would have to undergo a Public Value test and Sectoral Impact Assessment as outlined in Section 130 of the Broadcasting Act as was the case for the RTÉ Jr, RTÉ Two HD and RTÉ News Now.

http://www.iftn.ie/digital/DigitalNe...chnews&force=1

Another example of the Dept trying to hog tie RTE to prevent them developing new channels. RTE 1 and News Now are prevented from developing as real channels to prevent RTE getting more advertising revenue, and an attempt to divert that revenue towards TV3.

TV3 appear to always come out on top in these dealings. RTE build and pay for the DTT network, and TV3 get a free ride. RTE want two new channels and the BAI say fine, but no advertising. It smells to me.

Elmo

I wonder if TV3 have made an expression to the BAI?

The Cush

Elmo posted this in the Saorview content thread earlier, posting it here also as it was the subject of this thread.

http://www.bai.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/20110815_BAIDTTEOI_FINAL.pdf

Minister Rabbitte welcomes publication of BAI Report

Dublin 17 August 2011

Findings of the Expressions of Interest for additional Broadcasting Services on Saorview announced


The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Pat Rabbitte, TD, welcomed the publication today of the BAI’s Report on its search for new services for Saorview, Ireland’s free to air digital terrestrial television network.

The findings of the report clearly highlight a widespread interest in providing new services on the Saorview network. These services would be additional to the existing range of services currently available on Saorview and could be available as early as mid-2012. A number of new radio channels may be possible in the shorter term.

Expressions of Interest were received from a number of parties including TG4, TV3, community television, several music TV channels, individuals and several radio channels. The Oireachtas and the Irish Film Board indicated their continued interest in the development of an Oireachtas Channel and an Irish Film channel respectively, subject to funding.

In welcoming the publication of the report, the Minister said, “I am delighted that this report shows that there is a clear interest in the development of Saorview from both existing broadcasters and potential new entrants to the Irish broadcasting sector.

I will continue to work with the BAI to progress this process and to identify proposals for consideration for carriage on the RTÉ Saorview network. In this regard I will be contacting those who received positive recommendations from the BAI with further information”.

The Minister added, “There are an estimated 250,000 households reliant on the analogue TV network and at least another 250,000 homes who use the network on secondary TV sets or as a back up to their pay TV service. These homes will need to upgrade to digital TV, either by purchasing a Saorview TV or set top box or by moving to a subscription TV service, before the analogue TV network closes in Q4 2012.”


Ends


Notes to Editors:

Saorview is the national digital terrestrial television (DTT) network. It is owned by RTÉ and has been has been built to replace the RTÉ national analogue TV network which offers reception of RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, TV3 and TG4. The analogue network, originally built in 1960 is nearing obsolescence. In addition, analogue networks throughout the world are being replaced by digital networks as they are more efficient, can offer more services, including programme guides, information services, more content in less space and high definition content. In order to receive Saorview, TV viewers will need to upgrade from analogue TV equipment to digital either by purchasing a Saorview-approved digital TV set or set top box.

Saorview is available to c. 97% of the population from 51 DTT enabled sites around the country. The RTÉ website http://www.saorview.ie/ has a coverage map where people can check if they are covered by Saorview.

Saorview currently offers reception of RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2(HD), TV3, TG4, 3e, RTÉ 1+1, RTÉ jr, RTÉ News Now, RTÉ Digital Teletext, and 10 RTÉ radio channels.

Further information on the Saorview service is available on http://www.saorview.ie/

Section 130(a)(iv) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides that the Minister may designate other television services, having the character of a public service, for carriage on the RTÉ Saorview service.

Any person seeking to have a proposed service designated would be required to submit the proposals, including a fully-developed business case, to the Department of Communications, Energy & Natural, Resources to be considered for designation by the Minister. Any service designated by the Minister would be required to apply to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland for a content provision contract, in accordance with section 71 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, and also to agree relevant carriage terms and conditions with RTÉ.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Press+Releases/Minister+Rabbitte+welcomes+publication+of+BAI+Report.htm

What happens next, this from the above press release

I will continue to work with the BAI to progress this process and to identify proposals for consideration for carriage on the RTÉ Saorview network. In this regard I will be contacting those who received positive recommendations from the BAI with further information”.

Any person seeking to have a proposed service designated would be required to submit the proposals, including a fully-developed business case, to the Department of Communications, Energy & Natural, Resources to be considered for designation by the Minister.

glimmerman123

Good to see some expressions of interest but i have a feeling if RTENL don't come to some arrangement with content providers and reduce their carriage costs a lot of these channels won't make it on air. If RTENL don't reduce their carriage costs i hope the minister for communications intervenes and comes up with a cost plan that suits all parties involved otherwise we will end up with a very basic DTT service with just the RTE channels on it.

The Cush

There is a mechanism in place since 2004 regarding how RTÉNL charges for transmission and distribution which is regulated by Comreg. Comreg document 04122 refers.

Comreg are to carry out a consultation later this year on the Wholesale Broadcast Transmission Market.

Many EU countries have very basic FTA DTT services with only a few PSB channels carried free e.g. Holland, Norway, Sweden with a large pay DTT element. We have the excllent Freesat to fall back on.

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

There is a mechanism in place since 2004 regarding how RTÉNL charges for transmission and distribution which is regulated by Comreg. Comreg document 04122 refers.

Comreg are to carry out a consultation later this year on the Wholesale Broadcast Transmission Market.

Many EU countries have very basic FTA DTT services with only a few PSB channels carried free e.g. Holland, Norway, Sweden with a large pay DTT element. We have the excllent Freesat to fall back on.

We may have a fall back like freesat but we need to ensure that we have a good quality DTT service as well. We need to set our own trend and give a good free alternative through an ariel.

The Cush

warlikedave wrote: »

We need to set our own trend and give a good free alternative through an ariel.

Not going to happen in this economic climate with the established broadcasters cutting back, little in it for new entrants.

For the near future all Saorview will be is a direct replacement for the analogue network with a few extra services, better pictures, digital text etc.

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

Not going to happen in this economic climate with the even the established broadcasters cutting back, little in it for new entrants.

For the near future all Saorview will be is a direct replacement for the analogue network with a few extra services, better pictures, digital text etc.

Aye its a shame but at least for a sports fan like me the new sport HD content has been quality to watch and for free The Sat1 feed used for the munich match was really good plus when they fixed the france 2 feed for us last saturday. We are seeing some benefit of saorview which is a start