Dempsey Announces Publication of New Broadcasting Bill

Having secured Government agreement to publish the Bill, Minister Dempsey said: “The Bill provides for a number of positive changes in the Irish broadcasting landscape. Primarily, it amends the framework for the licensing of Digital Terrestrial Television and it allows for the broadcasting of Irish television services to Irish communities abroad, including those communities in the U.K.”

Describing the Bill, the Minister said: “A number of key priorities are addressed in this Bill. RTE will now provide a broadcasting service to Irish communities abroad. A new framework will also be established to allow for the licensing of digital terrestrial television. This new framework amends the existing framework set out in legislation and makes it more flexible. The framework will also allow for consideration of the licensing of digital sound broadcasting services in due course.”

Announcing that the Bill will be introduced in the Oireachtas early in the New Year for its consideration, Minister Dempsey spoke about the evolution away from analogue television:

“Ireland has been well served by its analogue terrestrial network for over forty years. During this time Irish viewers have watched RTE services on a free-to-air basis throughout the country. In more recent times further services have been provided on this basis by TV3 and TG4. Building on the current experience with the DTT Pilot, Ireland will now proceed to upgrade this analogue network to a digital terrestrial network”.

“The advantages of DTT are many. As DTT uses spectrum more efficiently, many more TV channels can be provided, picture quality is better and high-definition and interactive services can also be made available.”

“Once DTT has been rolled out and viewers have swapped over to DTT or other digital platforms such as cable, satellite and IPTV, it will be possible to switch off the analogue transmission network. The proposed legislation allows for analogue switch-off in the future when the time is right and viewers have switched away from analogue television. Switch-off will free up valuable spectrum for more broadcasting and other new services.”

With regard to the proposals to have RTE provide a service to communities abroad the Minister stated: “It is intended that RTÉ will produce a service that reflects and represents the content of the channels currently available in Ireland — RTÉ1,RTÉ2 and TG4 will contribute to this service. This service will now be a fundamental part of RTÉ’s remit. The 2002 Report of the Task Force on policy regarding emigrants noted that the issue of contact with Ireland and the desire for information about contemporary Ireland is very important to Irish communities abroad, particularly the elderly. The Task Force recommend that consideration be given to developing the role of television as a contact point for the Irish abroad and that funding be made available for the provision of such a service.”

The full text of the Bill is available on the Oireachtas website at:  http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=6748&&CatID=59

ENDS