The rollout of commercial DTT services in Ireland is again in trouble after negotiations between RTE and the commercial One Vision consortium reached an impasse.
The gulf between the two parties has been highlighted by a report from former Comreg chair Isolde Goggin who has concluded the distance between the two parties is so wide that it is pointless to resume conversations.
This leaves the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the difficult decision of whether to strip OneVision of its licence and instead offer the contract to the RTE-UPC consortium Easy TV.
OneVision was only offered the opportunity to run the commercial multiplexes after the Swedish Boxer withdrew from the process. Eircom owns 65% of OneVision, Arqiva 25% and Setanta 10%.
While the commercial multiplexes are in limbo, communications minister Eamon Ryan has ordered RTE to make its free-to-air DTT service available to 90% of the population by October 31, 2010.
