The race to sign up digital subscribers between NTL and Sky is set to intensify with NTL launching six new channels on its digital TV platform, including a specialist Catholic channel.
NTL Ireland will add five new BBC channels to its Go Digital package - CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC Three, BBC Four and BBC News 24. But most interest will probably centre on the decision to add Catholic channel EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) to its offering.
This channel is exclusively available to NTL subscribers in the Republic and the company said yesterday it was Ireland's only specific Catholic channel.
The BBC channels, based on recent ratings in Britain, are among the most popular with digital TV customers in the UK. EWTN might not strike some people as similarly attractive, but NTL believes the potential audience for a Catholic channel could be significant.
Now in its 22nd year, EWTN has become the world's largest religious media network, transmitting programmes 24 hours a day to more than 85 million homes in 110 countries. Amazingly, the station is funded by gifts from individuals and groups.
The station was the brainchild of a Mother M. Angelica, a Poor Clare nun, who first started writing small religious books and then graduated into taping talks for her local station. She later built her own TV studio on monastery property, which today is home to Eternal Word Television Network. Whether its mix of live mass and homilies will work remains to be seen.
On the general expansion of channels, Mr Mark Mohan, sales and marketing director of NTL Ireland, said: "This is NTL's third expansion this year of our digital offering and underlines NTL's commitment to constantly improve our digital TV service."
SMS marketing blues
SMS (short messaging system) leaves some consumers cold, but SMS marketing, or "texting" as most of us know it, leaves some consumers feeling cheated and angry, according to a new study on attitudes to SMS marketing.
The study from TXT4Info, one of the Republic's leading texting marketing companies, found that consumers regard many SMS promotions for logos, ringtones and competitions as "simply scams".
The survey also notes that premium-rate SMS campaigns are seen as "high-risk" and consumers do not like the idea that they are paying for the campaign. TXT4Info's clients include: Coca Cola, McDonalds, Siemens Mobile and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. It believes the texting industry needs to examine ways to reach consumers more effectively.
Not that these companies are having too many problems. Mr Brendan Foley of TXT4Info estimates ringtone sales have surpassed the CD singles market this year. He puts the growth of texting even more dramatically - sales of mobile phone top-ups at €600 million matches the combined sales of the confectionary market in the Republic.
The work by Mercator Research examined the attitudes of Irish consumers toward the SMS marketing phenomenon and its potential growth as a marketing tool.
Mercator used focus groups made up of 17-year-old male text addicts to 44-year-old females, who were light text users. While there were plenty of negative responses, the positive responses were to services such as texting for information on a product or where to buy it.
Areas suitable for texting-based services included mortgage quotations, utility meter readings and information on property, the survey found.
Creativity awards
The winners of the 45th Institute of Creative Advertising and Design (ICAD) awards were announced last night in Dublin. The ICAD awards are divided into four main categories - advertising, design, photography and illustration - each of which is broken down into a further 72 sub-sections. Gold, silver and bronze bells are awarded in each section, but only if the jury agrees a certain standard has been reached.
Only seven bells were presented this year, all of which were scooped by advertising agency McCann Erickson for its Coca Cola and Heineken ads.
Craft winners included QMP Publicis, for Rape Crisis Centre; Owens DDB, for Carlsberg; Irish International Group, for Budweiser; Chemistry, for Meteor; and McCann Erickson for Heineken and Coca Cola.
The Irish Times TV advert for the Ticket entertainment supplement, featuring a group of pink puppies, won a bronze bell. The ad was created by Dublin agency McConnells.
