Ireland's largest television deflector operator warned yesterday that it would take legal action against the State unless it was given the opportunity to apply for a digital broadcasting licence.
Ironically, the announcement by the Cork-based South Coast Community Television came as the Director of Telecommunications Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, announced that applications were invited for short-term UHF deflector licences.
South Coast has battled for the last 14 years for such a licence, and successfully took its case to the Supreme Court and High Court.
South Coast chairman Mr John Hurley said it welcomed the opportunity to apply for a temporary licence, but noted that these licences could expire by the end of next year or whenever the national terrestrial digital television service was launched.
South Coast rebroadcasts British television channels to 10,000 households along the Co Cork coastline for an annual fee of £40. Up to recent years, some 100,000 householders from Donegal to Cork depended on deflector groups for their British television.
In 1994 South Coast was granted a High Court injunction preventing the State and the local cable/MMDS operator from interfering with its service until its licence application had been heard.
Ms Doyle's decision to offer temporary licences to illegal deflector groups was a vindication of its campaign, Mr Hurley said. "There is no reason why we could not have got a licence 14 years ago." However, it was now being offered UHF licences at a time when digital television was about to be launched and a condition of these licences was that it would cease rebroadcasting when digital television began.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation said the UHF spectrum was a limited resource and the full spectrum would be required by Digico - the private consortium in which RTE will be a minority shareholder - which will provide the national terrestrial digital service.
Mr Hurley said South Coast had commissioned its own research which showed there was adequate room on the spectrum to enable it to operate a digital service. Mr Hurley, who is also chairman of the National Community Television Association, believed a number of other deflector groups would also be interested in applying for digital licences.
"We have a proven track record over 14 years of providing a service to our customers," he said. "We do not see why a community group should not be considered for a licence."
It will lobby politicians to try to open up the digital licensing process.