Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I am seriously concerned about the Government's plans to roll out digital terrestrial television. At the start of the week, the company that was due to roll out the commercial element of the DTT programme, Boxer, pulled out of the deal.

Last summer the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland went through a long process of selecting a preferred tender and then granted a 12 year contract to Boxer to provide DTT across the country. It offered three multiplexes which would have been able to provide 30 channels on a digital platform. The other multiplex is controlled by RTE but RTE is rolling out the masts and infrastructure required to allow digital terrestrial television to work. It must roll it out anyway to provide free to air digital services by the end of the year. In reality, RTE can only afford to do this on the back of the revenue it was to receive from the commercial operator that was going to use the same infrastructure. That commercial revenue is now gone. The public service broadcaster, having spent €40 million rolling out infrastructure to facility the roll out of DTT, still needs to spend €60 million to complete the job because we are switching off analogue television services in 2012 so we must have a DTT to fill the gap. A revenue stream that would help to finance the roll out of the infrastructure has now gone.

No one in their right mind will want to switch to free to air digital terrestrial television. Why would they bother switching from an analogue service to a digital service if it is going to cost them money in terms of purchasing a set top box if they are only getting the same or fewer channels? Why would someone switch from a Sky or cable subscription if he will only receive five channels? The DTT programme is now a shambles. RTE is being exposed to enormous costs to continue the roll out but it does not have the money needed.

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Minister have responded by saying there were three companies interested in rolling out commercial DTT in Ireland so we will go to the second preferred tender, One Vision, a joint venture involving TV3, Setanta and Eircom. It does not take a genius to work out these three companies face financial difficulties at present and are not in a position to spend the kind of money needed to roll out a DTT service across the State. The structure that has been put in place is not the Minister's fault but the Minister must get involved and recognise that the structure is broken. The public service broadcaster has been left holding the baby and the State must concede that a new tendering process is required. The Minister must sit down with the BCI to figure out a new way to deliver digital television to Irish people on a free to air basis, as well as on a commercial basis. The current plan is broken and we must recognise that and fix it. Time is of the essence if we are to reach the deadline of switching off analogue television by 2012. We cannot do that unless we find a way forward, and quickly, for the three multiplexes and their management for commercial DTT.

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