Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 61 together.

The Broadcasting (Amendment) Act, 2007 puts in place a flexible framework for the licensing of digital terrestrial television, DTT, into the future. The Act provides for the establishment of a free to air DTT service to replace the existing analogue terrestrial services offered by RTE, TG4 and TV3. The analogue network is nearing obsolescence, is expensive to operate and results in an inefficient use of spectrum. Analogue availability will cease in 2012. The resultant availability of additional spectrum will yield a digital dividend which will give us economic and social benefits, such as the development of wireless broadband.

The roll-out of DTT infrastructure is well advanced and RTE Networks Limited has built a network which includes the main transmitter sites in Ireland. This represents the most difficult and costly part of the build plan. The remaining building work will largely involve upgrading the country's minor transmitter sites to provide infill coverage and to ensure outlying areas in the west, north, north west and south, areas most reliant on the analogue terrestrial service, are also served by DTT, digital terrestrial television.

The 2007 Act also provides for the development of commercial DTT services, which are anticipated to provide further choice to those who wish to avail of channels additional to the Irish free-to-air channels. The Act provides for the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland to licence commercial DTT operators, as a matter of priority. In this regard, the BCI ran a competition for three national DTT multiplex contracts in March 2008. On 21 July 2008 the BCI announced its intention to enter into contract negotiations with Boxer DTT limited for the award of the three national commercial DTT multiplexes. On 20 April 2009 the BCI announced that Boxer DTT limited had withdrawn from contract negotiations.

The BCI subsequently approached the second placed applicant, the One Vision consortium, and has announced that it has now agreed to enter into contract negotiations with One Vision. I welcome this development and look forward to a speedy and successful conclusion to these negotiations. The BCI has confirmed that it is committed to pursuing the development of DTT services in Ireland as quickly as possible. I emphasise the BCI is an independent body and that I have no role in its licensing process. However, I am closely monitoring the progress being made.

The United Kingdom has a schedule to switch off analogue television in different regions from 2008 to 2012 in favour of digital terrestrial television. Analogue services in Wales are set to switch off in autumn 2009. This is likely to impact viewers along the south east of the country who currently receive overspill of the UK analogue terrestrial television channels. Viewers on cable and satellite will not be affected. Both RTE and the BCI are aware of the situation in Wales and of the importance of providing DTT along the south-east of Ireland, as a matter of priority.

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