New
broadcasting legislation which provides a framework for the introduction
of digital television into Ireland was recently announced by the
Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de
Valera. The Broadcasting Bill 1999 is the first major piece of broadcasting
legislation since 1988 and allows for the creation of a new digital
terrestrial distributional entity called Digico. It is expected
to be law by December.
The control of digital
television transmission in Ireland will rest entirely with Digico.
It is charged with building and operating the digital TV infrastructure
and with promoting the development of other multimedia services.
In return for a minority stake of up to 40 per cent in the new company,
RTÉ will give its transmission network to Digico. According to RTÉ
director general Bob Collins, the station will operate at "arms-length"
from the new company. RTÉ is expected to transfer its transmission
network to Digico within about 18 months.
Commercial partners
for Digico which have both the necessary expertise and available
capital are currently being sought, and will be chosen by public
tender. The new consortium will fund the transmission and distribution
infrastructure to facilitate digital broadcasting. This will cost
an estimated £35-£40 million.
RTÉ themselves will
spend an estimated £30 to £35 million to upgrade their own facilities
for digital transmission, and are planning to introduce digital
broadcasting services by the second half of next year. In order
to allow for interactivity, RTÉ's own digital terrestrial broadcast
service will have a built-in return path, or back-channel, via the
domestic rooftop antenna. This concept is called Wireless Interactive
Network for Digital Services (WINDS), and has been developed with
the assistance of EU grants.
The chosen method of
delivery in Ireland is digital terrestrial television (DTT). It
is the lowest cost delivery system and is the only digital TV delivery
system capable of giving universal service and good quality reception
on portable TV sets to a high percentage of homes. Digico will control
the operation of all channels through six multiplexes. A multiplex
is a selection of digital services which are packaged together to
enable them to be transmitted in a channel which previously could
only have been used for a single analogue service. In the UK, the
BBC offer BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC News 24 and BBC Choice packaged together
as a multiplex of services. The infrastructure will provide six
multiplexes, leading to an availability of 30 to 50 television channels.
Each multiplex will carry about five channels.
RTÉ will have sole rights
to the capacity of one of the multiplexes and a second will be shared
by TV3 and TnaG. The remaining four will be offered commercially
to generate income, and may carry UK terrestrial channels as subscription
services as well as premium services such as sports and movie channels.
Internet access and other interactive services may be also available.
Digico will control the electronic programme guide (EPG) which will
facilitate navigation through digital TV land. Later on, this EPG
may offer services such as on-screen features relating to programming
in a similar vein to printed programme magazines.
The new consortium will
also control the access systems to television stations. This means
that Digico may ultimately determine what is available free to all
viewers and what is available only to paying subscribers i.e. scrambled
or encrypted. It is likely that a tiered subscription system will
exist, and may take the following format:
Tier 1 - free access
to broadcast services which originate in Ireland
Tier 2 - access to UK terrestrial channels
Tier 3 - additional Irish broadcast services e.g. extended RTÉ news,
RTÉ education channel, RTÉ repeat channel and additional TnaG/TV3
services
Tier 4 - additional UK multi-channel services provided by BBC &
BSkyB
Tier 5 - pay-per-view services
In other proposals,
the Broadcasting Complaints Commission is to get an expanded remit
and will now cover complaints relating to all legal broadcasters.
The Bill also allows for the establishment of the Broadcasting Commission
of Ireland. It will basically be the Independent Radio and Television
Commission with increased powers, and will regulate programme and
advertising standards whether they are transmitted via cable, satellite
or terrestrial means. TnaG will also be separated from under the
umbrella of RTÉ and will be established as an independent statutory
body. With regard to the dispute between the independent sector
and RTÉ over the amount available for independent productions, Minister
de Valera promised to amend the Bill at committee stage to include
a formula for linking the annual increases on independent production
and the RTÉ spend on in-house programme production.
In a balancing act between
the demands of the socio-cultural aspects of broadcasting and the
developing technologies, public service broadcasting is defined
in the legislation as a service providing virtually universal coverage,
which is free to viewers and listeners at the point of reception
and provides a comprehensive programme schedule. While noting the
importance of the commercial sector, Minister de Valera said that
the new technologies increase rather than decrease the need for
public service broadcasting. "There is a real danger that if broadcasting
is left just to the market it would become excessively concentrated",
she said.
by Anthony Quinn
