Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2017 and Retransmission Fees: Discussion

5:00 pm

Ms Aisling McCabe:

Deputy Ryan has asked two questions. I will take that question first. Saorview is in 660,000 Irish homes. Of these, some 192,000 are primary homes, meaning they have Saorview as primary sets. Approximately 200,000 pay-television homes also have Saorview as a secondary box. The other homes are freesat.

Reference was made to the Sky negotiations. We have a deal with Sky that has several years to run, but we would only be dealing with any one platform at one time. I am keen to add that we have negotiations with platforms on an ongoing basis. They are generally professional and we have negotiations with the copyright holders as well.