Digital television companies may face an uphill battle for Irish customers, most of whom say they are not prepared to pay anything for additional channels, or better sound quality, according to a new survey.
Three in 10 adults say they would not take the extra channels promised by digital television technology, even if they were free.
Amarach consultants' "Trendwatch Technology" survey, which polls a representative sample of 1,000 adults in the Republic every three months, shows 85 per cent of cable and MMDS subscribers are happy with the quality of their current service.
Asked if they would take a 40 channel service for an extra monthly payment of £30 (€38), £20 or £10 - or for free - just 4 per cent were willing to pay the highest price. Some 5 per cent said they would pay £20 a month; 20 per cent would be willing to pay £10 a month, and 43 per cent said they would accept such a package only for nothing. The rest said they did not want more channels, even for free.
Cinema-quality sound - another of the benefits of digital broadcasting - proved even less of an attraction with the consumer, according to the poll. Some 25 per cent said they would not take such a feature at all, and a further 55 per cent said they would take it only if it were given to them at no extra cost.
Some 14 per cent of those polled said they would pay £14 extra a month for cinema-quality sound; 4 per cent said they were willing to pay £20 a month more, and 2 per cent would pay £30 a month more.
Amarach's senior research consultant, Mr Mark Henry, said the results did not bode well for the launch next year of DigiCo, the Republic's digital television service.
In Britain, he added, Sky Digital was now giving away the necessary set-top boxes to encourage use: "Can an Irish operation without Rupert Murdoch's deep pockets do the same here to get subscribers on board?
"The message for possible investors is to beware," Mr Henry said. "Irish television viewers are looking for a free TV dinner, and DigiCo must be prepared for the long haul."
According to the survey, one third of existing cable and MMDS subscribers do not consider their current basic service to be good value for money. Mr Henry said it was difficult to see how DigiCo could gain a significant number of customers quickly without actually undercutting existing operators.