asked the Minister for Communications if he is aware of the urgent need to provide cable television in all parts of the constituency of south Tipperary; and the proposals he has to deal with the matter, in particular in respect of all main centres of population; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Cable Television.
7.
In south Tipperary a licence has been issued for the provision of cable television in Clonmel. Letters of intent in respect of Cahir, Cashel and Tipperary have been issued and on the fulfilment of certain conditions the licences will be issued. The companies indicate that they intend to cable these areas during the course of 1986. The existence of illegal rebroadcasting systems in these areas is impeding progress with the legal systems.
An expression of interest in obtaining cable television service has been received from Carrick-on-Suir Urban District Council. The question of holding an open competition for a franchise for this town and any other town where interest is expressed will be considered in the light of progress with the existing cabling programme.
Has the Minister given consideration to the use of much more modern methods than, say, cable television in bringing multichannel television to all our people in town and country, such as satellite and the like? Will he not agree that the cable television system which we are now relying on is fast becoming obsolete and is likely to be overtaken by the more modern methods to which I have referred?
Deputy Treacy's question is not as simple as it first appears. Some other countries, notably France and the FDR, are diverting quite substantial resources through extending their cable systems because they see that this has great potential for the future in delivering all sorts of services to different parts of the country. Therefore, it is not right to say that cable systems are being overtaken. There are very many questions here and I am studying many aspects of the problem at the moment and I hope to come to some conclusions on them in, I hope, the next couple of months. We must make up our minds.
The question of the direct broadcasting satellite is coming up for final decision later this year. We have the question of low powered satellite services which are already available in the sky. We have the question of whether and in what context we allow receiving dishes. We must decide, therefore, what services we allow cable systems to carry. Over and above all those questions is the question of illegal rebroadcasting and the usurpation of the frequency spectrum which is potentially very serious for the future, apart from the threat it is to legally franchised cable systems. There are many very difficult questions here, and technology is developing all the time. However, I assure the House that it can expect decisions in the next couple of months on the sort of extra satellite services cable systems may carry and on some related matters.
Would the Minister agree further that it would help to accelerate the provision of multicable television in my constituency if we were to have regard to the desire of local traders who feel competent in this area to carry out the work rather than allowing it to companies who would seem to be overburdened with work in my county and other counties? It would do much to extend it into the areas I am concerned with if the local traders with whom I am sure he is conversant were given an opportunity to do this work.
All things being equal I would be predisposed to favour local proposals and, indeed, where that opportunity has arisen I have done so.
We had it locally in my case.
I know at least one case in which Deputy Treacy was interested where that was not possible even though I was prepared to favour it. He has a considerable point in saying that certain contractors seem to have quite a number of franchises, but very often the choice left to be decided on by me and my predecessor was whether to allow services in the first place if only one qualified contractor was left after all technical and other considerations were taken into account. That is the major reason why one contractor seems to have quite a number of franchises across that part of the country and the surrounding areas.
Has the Minister power at present to allow cable companies to distribute the satellite channels through their systems? If he has, is he proposing to allow the present cable companies to distribute satellite TV through their systems in the near future?
I have certain powers under existing broadcasting legislation, and I have responsibilities under that legislation as I have responsibilities under international treaties and law. Certain aspects of this do not come under my control. However, it seems inevitable that low powered satellite services already in existence should be allowed in some form on cable systems in the near future. We have a number of questions to decide. Most of our cable systems are very nearly fully used because they are carrying six services. Some of them have one or two extra channels left and not much beyond that, so we must decide how those extra channels on those old cable systems are used to the maximum advantage.
Other questions are involved including questions of public order and morality which cannot be ignored. They are not terribly big problems but they are there and in deciding a regime for satellite services we have to bear those in mind. We must bear in mind also the effects these may have on existing television services and on the advertising pool which is available generally for newspapers as well as everything else. Therefore, there are a number of factors all of which are being taken into account in coming to our decision.
Another point which arises here is the question of to what extent, if any, we should encourage and allow a certain input of local television in these areas.
Would the Minister confirm or deny that he is biased in favour of a cable system called Suir-Nore who were given the franchise for Clonmel and have been very successful in other applications?
The company in question have been successful in other applications granted mainly by my predecessor. The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is no. I take professional advice in all cases, unlike certain decisions which were taken on 13 December, the day before we came into office, and which have caused many problems in certain cable areas. I am glad that Deputy Leyden raised this question.
May I ask the Minister for an assurance that the local traders to whom I referred and with whom the Minister is conversant will be afforded an opportunity of tendering for the franchise of any future development of the service in my constituency and indeed outside it?
Yes. The normal practice is that when the Department are satisfied that there is an interest in providing a cable system where none exists it is advertised in the newspapers and applications are invited and considered. As long as I have been Minister these matters were decided objectively in the public interest.
I would be grateful for some additional information about the various stages reached in respect of the towns and villages to which I referred and about which I am concerned. I should like to know if there is a time factor involved.
There are four principal towns in the Deputy's constituency, Tipperary, Cashel, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir and it also includes Golden, Fethard, Killenaule, Ardfinnan and Clogheen. The precise position is that a cable television licence for Clonmel issued to Suir-Nore relays in August 1985 and a 17 kilometre trunk cable route has been laid from the head end to the town and work can now commence on putting the distribution cable to serve households. The company have indicated that they expect the Department to take effective action against illegal broadcasting in the area before they can continue with their plans to cable locally. This problem has arisen in a number of areas and it is very difficult to cope with. The company are hampered in their efforts to provide a cable service to Cahir and Cashel for which letters of intent issued in July 1984. In addition, a letter of intent for Tipperary town has been issued and they stated that the provision of service to this area has been held up for the same reason. Nevertheless, it is planned to cable Tipperary town, Cahir and Cashel during 1986 after Clonmel has been completed. No recent interest has been expressed by any local party to provide a cable television service for Carrick-on-Suir, although an inquiry was received in November 1984 from a firm of accountants on behalf of an unnamed client. They were told that we were unlikely to be in a position to hold a competition until the then current programme of competitions had been completed and no interest has been expressed since then. However, recently the urban district council wrote to me asking how one goes about receiving a licence for a widely desired cable system and we are in correspondence with them on that point.
I am grateful to the Minister for giving me additional information.