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Digital It seems that the wait for Digital Terrestrial Television is almost over. Consumer Choice outlines what you need to know before the switchover.

It’s been a very long time coming, but it expectation that we would be have a fully (and ultimately failed) negotiations over finally looks as though -to-air Digital operational DTT service by now, the commercial contract took over two Terrestrial Television (DTT) will become comprising of both a free-to-air service years, adding to the overall delay. AT A GLANCE a reality by the end of 2011. If you get a and an (optional) premium pay TV We’ve already been waiting for DTT for sense of déjà vu on reading this last service. ten years. As far back as 1999 plans had Saorview. sentence, you probably read our last However, the Government had insisted been in place by the Government and article on this topic in August 2009, that the commercial DTT service be RTÉ to introduce a free-to-air (FTA) 20- What’s on offer? which contained a very similar opening launched at the same time as the RTÉ channel digital television service to line. At that time, there was a reasonable free-to-air platform, but the protracted replace the current analogue one, Getting help.

SERVICES DECEMBER 2010/JANUARY 2011 consumer choice 423 Useful contacts beginning in 2001. The reason the “Members of the public should not buy Government badly wants a commercial Department of partner is to offset the considerable costs anything without the Saorview tick logo Communications, Energy of marketing and promoting the new and Natural Resources. on it, because there is no guarantee it platform as well as offering up to 25 free 29 - 31 Adelaide Road, and pay TV channels. After all, it’s going Dublin 2 will work properly.” Tel +353-1-678 2070; to be particularly difficult to persuade so LoCall: 1890-44-99-00 many households now subscribing to extn 2070. multi-channel cable or satellite pay TV over 600,000 subscribers to a paid seems that many iDTVs here are designed E-mail: services, like and UPC, to switch to satellite digital TV service, while 340,000 for the older MPEG2 standard. Irish DTT [email protected] DTT. households get digital TV via cable or will be using the newer MPEG4 standard. ov.ie Many of the project’s critics, who claim MMDS, according to ComReg. The MPEG2 standard was adopted in www.dcenr.gov.ie the commercial arm was never viable, In fact, the only reason you might the UK when its DTT system – branded particularly with the economic downturn, change is if you decide that the free-to-air - was launched in 2002. Since Broadcasting Authority say RTÉ is now free to press ahead with DTT service is good enough for you to then, it has been upgraded to include the of Ireland its basic, free-to-air DTT platform and cancel your pay TV subscription and once MPEG4 standard too, as High Definition 2-5 Warrington Place, ensure that the Government can meet its again receive your television service for (HD) television services will only work Dublin 2 tel (01) 644 1200 commitment to turn off the analogue free. The only running cost would then on the newer standard. All approved Irish fax (01) 644 1299 signal by about 2012. The Government be the TV licence. set-boxes and iDTVs will be HD Email: [email protected] says it is still committed to finding a compatible and show HD on regular TVs. www.bai.ie commercial partner, but at this stage no- So what’s on offer? So if you are planning to buy an iDTV one is holding their breath, least of all The Government is due to begin a public and want to get the DTT Saorview service, TVAccess consumers. information campaign on the switchover we advise you to wait until the Saorview NCBI Centre for Inclusive to DTT and Saorview in the run-up to the service is officially launched. Technology (CFIT) Saorview official launch, which is expected to be According to Dr. Mark Magennis of Whitworth Rd, There is still no firm date for the launch sometime in the first half of 2011. Access TV, a coalition of a large number Drumcondra of RTÉ’s DTT service, which will be So far, around 12 channels have been of organisations concerned about access Dublin 9 branded ‘Saorview’, but in February 2010 proposed. These include the four current to digital television, manufacturers will 01 882 1956 Email: the Minister for Communications Eamon analogue channels RTÉ 1 and 2, TG4 and shortly hand over their Set Top Boxes or [email protected] Ryan signed an order requiring RTÉ to TV3, as well as a new RTÉ news channel, iDTVs to RTÉ who will have them www.tvaccess.ie ensure that their free to air service is an Irish film channel, an independently tested to see whether they operational and available to 90% of the channel, Euronews, and a RTÉ children’s fully meet the Saorview specifications. If ComReg population by 31st October 2010 – with TV channel. they do, they get to put a certification tel (01) 8049668 or without a commercial partner. This, in logo on it (with a tick) and the public 1890 229 668 theory, means that the free service should Do I have to change my TV? can buy it with confidence. “Members of www.comreg.ie be fully rolled out to 98% of the Most people who currently receive the public should not buy anything population by the end of 2012. analogue signals through an aerial will without the Saorview tick logo on it, not need to upgrade their TV set, but because there is no guarantee it will work Useful websites Is Saorview for you? they will need a set-top box to decode properly,” he said. Magennis adds that www.digitaltelevision.ie. This is the big question. If you are one of the digital signal, a SCART lead, certified boxes will trickle onto the the 150,000 households that rely on an component cable or HDMI cable to market probably from about now, but it’s www.saorview.ie analogue service and have no intentions connect the box to your TV. not clear how many will be available. By of subscribing to any of the pay cable or However, if your TV is so old that it the time of the public launch next year, it satellite TV digital services on offer, then doesn’t have a SCART connection, you is hoped there will be a few to choose , Saorview is most definitely for you. will need to get a new TV. A few people from. You won’t have a choice anyway, since may require a new rooftop ariel and the analogue signal is expected to be cabling, or alternatively one that can be Will I be able to get any help? switched off sometime in 2012. situated in the attic. Minister Eamon Ryan has said that There is no date set for Saorview’s It’s estimated that prices for basic set- "nobody will be left behind" and that official launch yet, which RTÉ proposes top boxes will start at about €40 rising to there will be a need for some assistance should be earmarked for the second over €100 for those that can record which the Government will provide. “In quarter of 2011, but this has to be programmes. our view, this is likely to be in the form decided by the Minister for You might be considering upgrading of a mopping up exercise towards the Communications, Eamon Ryan. your old set to a new integrated digital end of 2012,” says Magennis. “They will If you are already among the two TV set (iDTV), which is a digital TV with hope that everyone who can make the thirds of the approximately 1.46 million a built-in digital tuner and does not need switch unassisted between now and then households in Ireland with a television a set-top box. will do so. Then there will be just the last that have long since given up waiting and However one issue with some iDTVs few people who, for whatever reasons, are now subscribers to a pay digital TV currently on the Irish market, as well as have not yet switched. Many of these will service, then you are probably unlikely to those sold in recent years, is that they need assistance - financial and/or Report by change to Saorview. may not work on the Irish DTT system practical help and we expect the John Cradden cc At the end of last year, there were just without a set-top box. This is because it Government to provide this.”

424 consumer choice DECEMBER 2010/JANUARY 2011 SERVICES