The once controversial issue of TV deflector licences may be about to erupt again, with the continuing delays in the rollout of digital TV services around the State.
All the current analogue TV deflector licences, issued in 1999 by the Director of Telecommunications Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, are due to expire at the end of the year. This is because they were issued as an interim measure until the rollout of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services.
However, the delay in passing the Broadcasting Bill and its provisions for DTT means that these licences may have to be extended, according to industry sources.
Mr Job Gibbons, Mayo-based chairman of the National Community Television Association, said it seems inevitable that the current deflector licences will need to be extended because of the delay in rolling out DTT.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR), said that the director will be reviewing the situation towards the end of the year.
The delay may also cause problems for one of the deflector licencees, Cork-based Southcoast Community TV (SCTV), which applied last November to the ODTR for a licence rebroadcast digital TV signals to its customers.
SCTV secretary Mr Eric Curtis, told The Irish Times that his company is unhappy with what they say is the slow speed of the ODTR in dealing with its request, which is the first and only application of its kind received to date by the office.
The granting of a digital licence is seen as a matter of survival for the company, as it is assumed that existing deflector licences will no longer be needed after DTT is rolled out.
Under its proposed new service, SCTV would use satellite based technology from French company MDS International to provide digital services to the company's existing customers. The proposed standard TV package includes 20 Irish and UK channels, including Sky.
As well as digital television, the services will eventually include video-on-demand and high-speed Internet access.
Last autumn, the company received a special three-month licence from the ODTR to test their new system, in which they claim to have made an initial investment of £7 million (€8.9 million).
The tests were deemed successful and the results were included in its application for a licence last November.
The company's current rebroadcasting licence is due to expire by November this year. To meet its plan to roll out digital services from the end of 2001, it says it needs the licence before the summer.
Mr Curtis said the ODTR told the company in December that it needed to consider whether to engage in public consultation before they made a decision on SCTV's particular licence application. The ODTR spokeswoman said Ms Doyle may decide to consult other operators because such a digital licence has never been issued before.
However, no decision on this consultation process has yet been made, the spokeswoman said. If it was decided to proceed, she said such a consultation process would probably last up to a month.
