FORMER RTÉ Authority chairman Fintan Drury is pitting himself against the State broadcaster in the race to win a licence to operate three commercial digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplexes.
Mr Drury, who heads the Platinum One sports sponsorship and event management agency, has been recruited as the chairman of OneVision, a consortium comprising independent broadcasters TV3 and Setanta Sports, telecoms company Eircom, and Arqiva, a specialist DTT provider.
OneVision was one of three groups to submit a bid last week to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) for the DTT licences. The others were: Easy TV, which is backed by RTÉ and Liberty Global, the owner of the NTL and Chorus cable TV operations; and Boxer DTT Ltd, which is backed by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group and Swedish DTT specialist Boxer TV Access.
RTÉ has already been awarded the right to operate a free-to-air multiplex that will carry terrestrial TV channels that are currently available to homes via an aerial.
DTT will replace the existing analogue signal, which will be turned off between 2012 and 2015.
OneVision is planning to invest €40 million in the launch of the DTT multiplexes, which will be able to carry up to 12 TV stations each. Subscribers will have to buy a set-top box and pay a monthly charge for the commercial DTT service.
Mr Drury's decision to join the OneVision consortium will surprise many observers given his previous links with RTÉ. He was appointed chairman of the RTÉ Authority in June 2005 but resigned in January 2006 because of a potential conflict of interest regarding the TV rights to the 2006 Ryder Cup, which Platinum One was involved in organising.
It is understood that Mr Drury has an equity stake in the OneVision consortium. He will chair a board that also includes: David McRedmond, chief executive of TV3; Cathal Magee, the head of Eircom Retail; and Setanta's founders, Leonard Ryan and Mickey O'Rourke. The three groups bidding for the licences will make public presentations next Monday at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin. The BCI expects to announce the winner in July.
The DTT multiplexes are aimed at the one-third of Irish homes which do not already have subscriptions to digital TV via cable or satellite.
