Commercial DTT future still unclear

Easy TV, a joint venture between RTE and Liberty Global, has become the third company to turn down the DTT commercial licence offered in Ireland. Previously, a consortium led by Boxer and the OneVision consortium led by Eircom returned the DTT licence to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). In both cases, the groups had been unable to reach agreement with the broadcast network operator RTE NL.
It is expected that the BAI will announce a new tender for the DTT commercial licence in the next few weeks.
Despite the difficulties with the commercial DTT platform, free-to-air services are expected to launch in Ireland later this year and reach a 90% population by the 31st October 2010.
Analogue switch-off is planned for completion in 2012.
Source: Irish Independent and more recent article Irish DTT Orchestration Proves Problematic
Item added: 24th May 2010