RTÉ has expressed serious concern about an announcement by the BBC that from July 10th it will broadcast its eight TV channels unencrypted to anyone with a satellite dish and a decoder in Britain and Ireland.

Irish viewers will for the first time be able to receive eight BBC channels, plus up to 90 others, free once they have a satellite dish and a decoder for a once-off cost of about €500. The BBC named the date for the new development on Friday.

An RTÉ spokeswoman said the announcement had major implications for RTÉ. The station is concerned a significant number of people will ditch their cable or satellite contracts and pay the one-off cost for the eight BBC services and other channels, among them CNN and QVC.

These viewers will still be able to access Irish channels like RTÉ via old-fashioned aerials or "rabbit ears" free. While this should help the Irish channels maintain their viewing figures, Irish stations are worried people will fall out of the habit of switching between their satellite service and an aerial.

Viewers who choose the satellite option would only have to pay once, whereas RTÉ channels on digital are currently available on Sky, a subscription-based service.

This deal with Sky continues for another four years and some sources in RTÉ are concerned about being tied to this arrangement when a relatively cheap alternative will be available for viewers who purchase their own satellite dish.

The Astra 2D satellite covers Ireland and Britain and that is why viewers in Ireland can pick up the BBC channels via a satellite dish. Until now, such channels were encrypted or scrambled in the Republic, but now they will be "in the clear" or unscrambled.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern, in a Daíl reply has promised to meet television companies on the issue and discuss what action, if any, should be taken.

In reply to a question from Labour's Mr Tommy Broughan, Mr John Browne, answering on behalf of the Minister, said: "The BBC's decision, especially if other UK terrestrial broadcasters follow suit, has implications for Irish television audiences, Irish broadcasters and for those who sell television services in the Irish market."

"The Minister has had discussions with representatives of the industry in Ireland on its implications. He will shortly meet representatives of both the broadcasters and platform operators to give them a further opportunity to outline their concerns and to listen to their views on what action, if any, should be taken," he added.

On Friday, after months of squabbling, the BBC and BSkyB finally settled a protracted row in Britain over an £85 million (€120 million) deal that guarantees distribution of the BBC's channels to 6.7 million Sky homes.

They have agreed a new deal, believed to represent savings of tens of millions of pounds, which will ensure BBC1 and BBC2 remain the first channels Sky viewers see on the electronic TV listings that appear on screen automatically when they switch on their sets.

The deal has been described in Britain as a U-turn by the BBC director general, Mr Greg Dyke, who announced in March he was severing all links with Sky. While Mr Dyke is prepared to work with Sky, he has decided that BBC channels will be unencrypted and that is what is concerning the Irish television industry.