Signs of progress in the launch of digital terrestrial television in the Irish Republic after Eircom agreed to take a 65% stake in the consortium it had previously shared equally with Setanta Sports, TV3 and Arqiva.
The Irish Independent reported on Tuesday that far from following in the footsteps of Boxer, which handed back its licence in May, the One Vision consortium has in face returned to negotiations with the transmission company RTE NL. A series of meetings have been scheduled either side of Christmas.
Under the new shareholding structure Eircom will hold 65%, Arqiva 25%, Setanta 10% with TV3 taking a nominal shareholding. It had been anticipated in September that a restructuring might be needed before the DTT platform went to air.
A launch was original anticipated in the autumn, but it now seems likely that permanent services will not get underway until mid-2010.