The Deal

Boxer steps into the ring

Last week, a consortium called Boxer DTT, that includes Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp, beat its competitors to all three of the commercial digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences awarded by the state’s broadcasting regulators. DTT is a technology, soon to be launched in Ireland, that allows digital television signals to be picked up by an existing, bog-standard, outdoor aerial and viewed via a digital set-top box. It will rival the digital services already sold here by NTL/Chorus and Sky, but DTT is not a new departure in picture quality or channel choice and Boxer’s offering will be broadly similar to its rivals’. The fuss is because if you do not purchase a DTT set-top box or have access to NTL or Sky, then you will eventually end up looking at a blank TV screen.

The Issue

We've been here before

The government has been planning DTT since 1997. The first attempt to launch the platform in Ireland failed spectacularly in 2002, when the sole bidder, It’s TV, had its licence withdrawn after it ran into funding difficulties. Around the same time RTE also abandoned its attempt to spin off its transmission network, costing the state broadcaster millions. DTT became a four-letter word in Irish broadcasting circles until a pilot project in Dublin and Louth proved successful last year. Statistics showed, that while 48% of viewers in Ireland had some form of digital TV service, 29% only had a free-to-air analogue signal and 90% of homes still had at least one TV only receiving analogue transmissions.

The roll-out

When do I get to switch over?

From next January, Boxer DTT will begin offering its subscription digital television services to the public. Each of the three licences it was awarded entitles it to broadcast up to 12 channels, so it can offer up to 30 channels on its platform. Separately, RTE has a licence to broadcast the existing Irish channels — RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 — free-to-air on DTT, so if you can’t live without the Late Late Show all you need to acquire is the set-top box. The old analogue signal, currently picked up by your rabbit’s ears or outdoor aerial, will continue to be broadcast until 2012. But after that, it will be switched off under a diktat from Brussels. If by then you aren’t on cable or satellite, you’ll have to go DTT, or read a book instead.

The Damage

Just how much will it cost me

If you just want to watch the four main Irish channels, then you can rest easy with your rabbit’s ears until 2012. After that, the DTT set-top box is likely to cost around €150. If you live on the east coast or near the border and currently pick up BBC and UTV for free, these will also be switched off from 2012. From next year, Boxer’s packages will start from ¤9.99 per month for seven channels. Its set-top box will also pick up the four free-to-air Irish channels. There will also be an a-la-carte option where viewers can pay by the channel and pick and choose their favourites. That choice could prove popular among current digital subscribers who pay for upwards of 50 channels, but only regularly watch a small number of these.

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