Communications Minister Eamon Ryan announced on Friday 29 October that the RTE Digital Terrestrial Television service is now available to 90% of the Irish population, and revealed the Digital Television service has launched from 24 sites around the country on a trial basis.
The one million + Irish viewers who currently use the analogue terrestrial television network (RTÉNL) will now have two years in which to upgrade to digital in advance of the nationwide switch-off of the analogue service at the end of 2012.
Channels available on the trail service include RTÉ ONE, RTÉ Two, TV3 and TG4 with more television and radio channels to be added to the lineup as part of a national launch of the RTE operated free-to-air DTT service – which has been dubbed as SAORVIEW (saor being the Irish word for free). This service is currently scheduled to launch in spring 2011 and will be Ireland’s first free-to-air national digital television service.
Speaking about the trial launch Minister Ryan said it was “another important milestone” in the development of Ireland’s DTT adding “for Ireland, the switch-off of the analogue signal releases valuable spectrum which can be used for wireless broadband and new mobile services. It is estimated that Ireland will benefit to the amount of €500 million over the next decade as a result of this digital dividend.”
More information on Saorview can be found at www.rte.ie/saorview
