“D-DAY” FOR analogue television services is now five months away and TDs representing areas in west Cork cursed with digital terrestrial television “black spots” are taking up the cause of constituents facing either a snowy screen or the €300 purchase of a satellite dish.
Michael McCarthy, Labour TD for Cork South-West, raised the issue on behalf of householders in areas such as Dunmanway, Leap and Ballydehob with Aidan Dunning, secretary general of the Department of Communications, at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts last week.
“There is an inconvenience and a cost falling back on television viewers through no fault of their own,” said McCarthy.
About 2 per cent of households will not be able to access the free-to-air DTT service Saorview.
Saorsat, the satellite service provided by RTÉNL, covers the topographically challenged 2 per cent, with the result that there is now universal free-to-air access to public service broadcasting for the first time. However, some households that previously had access to analogue signals will first have to pay for satellite installation. And, as it stands, Saorsat homes will be restricted to the suite of RTÉ channels and TG4, as the TV3 group has not yet added its two channels to the satellite.
Dunning accepted Mr McCarthy’s point that the cost was higher than the price of a set-top-box (which costs €60-€100) or a Saorview television (which starts at €120).
Taking space in the Saorsat satellite is costing RTÉ €1 million a year, Dunning said. “The purpose of doing that was to ensure that these people would not be left behind. That is the primary solution which has been put in place.”
He added that the department remained in close contact with the broadcaster on the issue, “to see if there are local mechanisms which could be put in place” for “scattered communities of houses” in affected areas.
But RTÉ does not have an obligation “to put something in place for one-off houses”, Dunning added, as there is no universal service obligation for television in the same way that there is for postal and telecommunication services.
