TV3 is to seek legal advice over a dispute with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) which is denying the new television station news access to its matches.
This week tv3 had to explain to viewers following the match between Ireland and Malta that it could not bring any highlights or interviews with participants because the station was not allowed access to players or officials.
Yesterday the chief executive of tv3, Mr Rick Hetherington, said that the FAI had approached tv3 about two months ago seeking a payment for news access.
He would not say how much the FAI was seeking, but it is believed to be close to a six-figure sum.
Mr Hetherington said what tv3 was seeking was not rights to broadcast matches or other access, but the same access as other television stations, radio and newspapers to televise highlights on the news and interviews with players, coaches or managers after a match.
It is believed that the FAI has since sought a fee from UTV for news access. RTE has not been asked to pay as it has already paid for the broadcast rights to Ireland's matches.
The FAI approached tv3 just after it was announced it had secured the rights to Ireland's away games in the qualifying rounds in the Euro 2000 competition, where it is believed the new station paid nearly £1 million for the five games.
Mr Hetherington said that as far as tv3 was concerned this was a question of free speech. TV3 was being discriminated against. Every news organisation has access to games, press conferences and interviews regardless of whether they had bought rights or not. TV3 wanted no more than the access enjoyed by other journalists.
Meanwhile, Mr Greg Gilhooly, a senior executive of CanWest Global Communications Corp, the Canadian company which owns 45 per cent of tv3 and also manages the company, said that tv3's launch was the most successful ever.
Speaking at the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland media conference in Killarney, he said that in a very short time tv3 had reached about one-third of all television viewers. The station was getting an audience of 6 and 7 per cent of the market every night.
CanWest in Canada was "ecstatic" with the results in Ireland. Not alone had the station reached the target in only a few weeks, but it was also doing well within the 18- to 44-year-old audience it was aiming at.
Research had shown that tv3 was "repatriating" the audience by taking from British channels rather than from RTE in significant numbers.
RTE's deputy director of sales and marketing, Ms Geraldine O'Leary, outlined RTE's plans for digital television, which she said would be on air by the year 2000.
RTE will be establishing a company to develop the digital television infrastructure and would be seeking a strategic partner which would own 60 per cent of the equity. The investment necessary was in the region of £35 to £40 million. RTE would have to find a further £35 million to upgrade its internal facilities. Three new channels were envisaged, including an education channel, a news channel and a "timeswitch" channel, allowing viewers to see programmes they might have missed.
Ms O'Leary predicted that the changeover to digital would be complete by 2008.