Negotiations are due to begin shortly between the cable television company NTL, TV3 and TG4 with a view to including the two indigenous channels in future cable packages for Northern Ireland.
Both channels have expressed their dismay at being excluded from a landmark agreement announced this week on the relaying of Irish broadcast media in the North.
RTE 1 and Network 2 were the only two Republic-based channels covered by the deal, under which they will be made available to Northern viewers along with BBC, UTV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as part of NTL's basic digital package.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, said she was disappointed at the exclusion of the two channels although she stressed it was primarily a commercial matter for NTL.
Fine Gael's spokesman on the islands, Gaeltacht and western development, Mr Dinny McGinley, said the Government had a role to play as "under the terms of the Belfast Agreement both governments undertook and indeed guaranteed the availability of TG4 throughout Northern Ireland". Thousands of householders in the North would "gladly avail" of the Irish language channel if it was available.
Mr Padhraic O Ciardha, leascheannasai of TG4, said: "We are obviously disappointed not to be involved, particularly in light of the commitments in the Belfast Agreement." However, he said, "we are confident an early resolution will be found".
A spokeswoman for NTL stressed the Belfast Agreement stipulated it was only an "aspiration" to make available TG4 to Northern viewers. "There is no requirement that it must happen." Having said that, she said the company "strongly supports Irish indigenous channels and we are open to the idea of making them available".
She said the RTE agreement took up to five years to finalise and, likewise, it would take some time to agree conditions with the other channels.
While negotiations have yet to begin between either TG4 or TV3 and NTL, informal contacts have been made since Monday's announcement. A spokesman for TV3 said there were "no technical, legal or insurmountable barriers to extending our coverage" to the North.
He added: "It would have been nice if we had become available simultaneously [with RTE]. That hasn't occurred but we would be hopeful it would happen without delay."
Regarding TG4 and the Belfast Agreement, the relevant passage in the agreement states: "The British government will, in particular in relation to the Irish language, where appropriate and where people so desire it . . . explore urgently with the relevant British authorities, and in co-operation with the Irish broadcasting authorities, the scope for achieving more widespread availability of Teilifis na Gaeilige in Northern Ireland . . ."
Meanwhile, an announcement is expected shortly from NTL on the movement of TG4 and TV3 to more prominent waveband locations on its cable service in the Republic. The two channels have been involved in negotiations with NTL on the issue since the company arrived last year, having bought Cablelink from Eircom for £535 million.
The expected agreement will result in TG4 and TV3 being ranked among the top 10 channels of NTL's cable service, ahead of a number of longer-running satellite channels. The two stations hope the move will help to increase their viewership figures.
