Ms Lisa N? Choisdealbha:

When Paul Farrell, the chief executive of Virgin Media, appeared in front of this committee a couple of weeks ago, he referenced this global TV platform so there is interest and a willingness among the industry members to get involved. Something similar called the Irish Radioplayer has already been created by the radio industry in Ireland. RTÉ and independent radio stations came together with a very specific remit to agree on technology but compete on content. With the greatest will in the world, there is no broadcaster in Ireland that is big enough to be able to compete with the Spotifys of this world so in order to make sure Irish technologies are available to car companies and TV platforms, they had to work together so there is a platform for it there. The Irish Radioplayer got around geo-blocking because there is a clause in the Broadcasting Act 2009 that says that RTÉ must be available to the diaspora so there was no reason to geo-block the radio player. However, the interest in and take up of the Irish Radioplayer and the buy into it from all the radio stations, which were able to put competitiveness aside and work together for the greater good, show that there is a platform on which to build. It is just a matter of bringing the other media sectors into it.