Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The Deputies would not expect me to spoil a full-scale announcement due to take place at a later stage. I agree with Deputy Eamon Ryan in the matter. About three or four years ago huge interest was expressed in moving to a digital service. As has happened throughout Europe, it was felt the private sector would move into this area. While a competition took place, no successful bidder emerged. We will address the need to move to DTT. Following discussions with ComReg, all the outstanding points are nearly resolved and no major difficulty remains. We intend to provide DTT in a few experimental areas. Based on what we learn over a two to three-year period we will make the decision to roll out the service nationwide. When we launch the experiment I intend to give an indicative date as to when this will move completely to a digital service. I plan to give people as much notice as possible on the conversion.

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