Vol. 711 No. 1
23 Deputy Simon Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the way he intends the facilitate the rollout of a commercial digital terrestrial television platform here in view of the break down of the tendering process in recent weeks. [23543/10]
Part 8 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for the development of digital terrestrial television, DTT, in Ireland and for the closure of the national analogue TV network. In addition, the 2009 Act requires the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, to provide for the development of commercial digital terrestrial television services.
As the Deputy is aware a competition for a commercial DTT service provider was initiated by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland in 2008. Three applicants were shortlisted. In July 2008, the BCI announced its intention to enter into negotiations with Boxer DTT Limited, the highest placed consortium. Boxer withdrew from the process in April 2009. As a result, negotiations commenced with the next placed bidder, the OneVision consortium.
In April 2010, BAI withdrew the contract offer from OneVision as that consortium was unable to reach agreement with the network operator, RTÉNL for the provision of transmission services. Following this, the BAI offered the contract to the third place consortium, Easy TV in May but, as the Deputy is aware, that consortium declined the offer.
I regret that the BAI process did not result in a commercial DTT operator as it would have delivered additional consumer choice. As a result of the outcome of the BAI's commercial DTT process, I am in detailed discussions with the BAI, ComReg and RTE to consider the broadcasting, telecommunications and spectrum policy issues that arise. Meanwhile, it is important to note that commercial DTT is not essential to provide for analogue switch-off. It is the transition from free-to-air analogue to free-to-air digital that will yield the digital dividend. RTE's plans for the national DTT service are advancing.
In this regard, I signed an order, SI 85 of 2010, under section 129 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 requiring RTE to launch its DTT service to approximately 90% of the population by 31 October 2010. RTE advises me that it is on target to meet this date. The 2009 Act also requires RTE to provide the full national digital service by the end of 2011 or such date as I may specify. I have informed RTE that the date for the provision of a full national digital terrestrial television service is 31 December 2011. In conjunction with this, the memorandum of understanding I signed earlier this year with the United Kingdom will facilitate co-ordination around the roll-out of digital terrestrial television and analogue switch-off with Northern Ireland.
I would like to set out clearly today that we will be switching off our analogue system in the final quarter of 2012. I look forward to that event and the ability it gives us to get other broadband services and other service up and running, in particular across rural Ireland.
This is an issue we have been raising for about 15 months, ever since Boxer DTT Limited pulled out of the tendering process. People have been warning the Minister that this fiasco was likely to happen. The proposition for DTT in Ireland was that a commercial operator would provide channels on four of six multiplexes and that RTE would provide free-to-air channels on two of the multiplexes, providing eight to ten channels. The infrastructure to facilitate all of that was to be paid for by RTE and on the back of that it would get a revenue stream from a commercial DTT operator. That process has now collapsed.
I want to ask the Minister a number of specific questions. First, I agree with him that the focus must now be to ensure that we meet our legal obligations under the targets which have been set for analogue switch-off. If that means leaving a potential commercial operator for the current time then so be it. What is the Minister's Department doing now to prepare the approximately 1 million people who receive their television service on an RTE analogue platform at the current time for the arrival of digital terrestrial television within 18 months? Some 22% of households or 32% of televisions are affected.
We are progressing. We are starting the DTT service in October 2010, which is a crucial time. It will take time to test it and get it right before it is fully launched in a public way, that is, where we are pushing and selling it to the public. We are now on a tight time line. That gives us two and a half years from now before we switch off. It will be tight to get public awareness campaigns in place in order to inform people how it happens. Crucially, we have to first get the DTT service up and running. We had a series of meetings today and last week with RTE, the BAI and ComReg and we have set out a project management course, in terms of getting set top box regulations in place and clarity around which standards should be in place and what channels we will put on our public service.
When they are up and running we will engage in the very serious job of letting the Irish public know how it will be able to switch over. It is a two and a half year project. I very much regret that we were not able to get a commercial operator up and running, but given that we have not done so it is incumbent on us now to get our digital terrestrial service up and running, to let the Irish public know that and to see a whole range of enhanced services on it, such as higher definition television.
It is important that the Minister recognises that even though he is talking about DTT being made available from October 2010 onwards, the reality is that nobody will be accessing it from October. We do not even have set top boxes. We do not know what they will look like, how much they will cost, who will make them, who will provide them or who will install them. There is total uncertainty around how we can access digital television. Even though RTE has to have the infrastructure and capacity to broadcast digital terrestrial television from October to, potentially, 90% of the population, none of the 1 million or so people who will need to have DTT installed in their homes, ready to go by the time analogue switch-off happens, will have it in October. Let us not pretend that they will. At best, they will potentially have it in the first quarter of next year. Would the Minister agree with me on that?
My final question concerns the cost of all of this. Is the Minister satisfied that RTE has already spent €40 million putting in place an infrastructure which it thought it would get a revenue stream from? The Minister can correct me if I am wrong, but I understand that it has a commitment to spend another €30 million. How does the Minister propose that be funded?
The Deputy is correct; we start in October and it will take a number of months to get it technically correct, have all the standards in place and make sure the set top boxes work before it is properly launched widely to the public, although it will be available from October. I am told that set top boxes and other kit is ready to go. We needed clarity on that, and it was unfortunate we could not have it as the commercial bidding process was in train. As soon as that came to an end I brought in RTE, the BAI and ComReg. I set up a working group for us to get the technical standards and other arrangements in place in order that we will have digital terrestrial television in the autumn and we will meet, with absolute certainty, our switch-off schedule which is the end of 2012. We have until then to get the Irish public ready for the switch over.
In terms of the €40 million cost, costs are incurred. There are certain advantages if there is a not a full six mix solution; I would prefer if there was one but if there is not some of the transmission costs and technical arrangements are easier with just a public service offering. Crucially, the economic benefit to the State from us switching off our analogue system is a multiple of that cost, in terms of the new transition system. There is an initial cost to RTE but in the long run there is a real benefit for the country, in terms of switching on a digital system and switching off our analogue system, and RTE is aware of that.
24 Deputy Liz McManus asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the discussions he has had in relation to making the Six Nations and Heineken Cup rugby matches free to air for television viewers here; the outcome of these discussions; if he has met with the Irish Rugby Football Union; the way he will address their concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23437/10]
The audiovisual media services directive provides that member states of the European Union may designate sporting and cultural events of major importance to society as free-to-air. Many member states have listed such events as free-to-air including Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Ireland drew up the current list in 2003 under the Broadcasting Act 1999. The Broadcasting Act 2009, having transposed the audiovisual media services directive, sets down the statutory process for designating events free-to-air. Section 162 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides that I may, by order, designate events of major importance to society in order that a qualifying broadcaster has the right to provide coverage on free television services in the public interest and determine whether coverage of a designated event should be available on a live or deferred basis.
The Broadcasting Act also requires that I conduct a review of designated events every three years. This review was initiated with a preliminary public consultation in 2009, during which submissions were invited from members of the public, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and all other interested parties on the existing list of designated events and the possible designation of additional events. During this stage submissions were received from a large number of members of the public, broadcasters, several sporting organisations, including the IRFU, and from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
Following a review of the submissions received and an analysis of the criteria for listing events, I published a list of additional events which I considered suitable for designation. The proposed events in Gaelic games are the provincial finals, the senior football and hurling championships and the all-Ireland championship senior football and hurling quarter-finals and semi-finals. In rugby, it is proposed to move from deferred coverage to live coverage of Ireland's games in the Six Nations rugby football championship and live coverage of the European Rugby Cup qualifiers, that is, the pre-quarter final stages, the quarter finals, the semi-finals and final when an Irish team is participating. In horse racing, the Cheltenham Festival would be included.
My proposals were noted by the Government and, as set out in the Broadcasting Act, I have asked for submissions from a range of people.
Additional information not given on floor of the House.
In particular, I must consult the organisers of the events that I intend to designate; consult with broadcasters; publish a notice of the events that I intend to designate and invite comments on the intended designation from members of the public; consult with the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport; and lay a draft of the order designating events before each House of the Oireachtas for approval. This is the statutory process that is now under way and the public consultation period will end on 4 July 2010.
Since the publication of the list, I have had a number of meetings with interested parties to discuss their concerns, including the IRFU and representatives of the ERC and Six Nations. I have met a number of Members of this House in recent weeks and representatives of Sky Ireland and BSkyB. I am also due to meet representatives of the GAA shortly.
My final decision on the matter will also be informed by an independent analysis of the financial and other impacts of listing each event. My Department is currently finalising a tender for an independent consultant to prepare such a report and I expect this to be published on the e-tenders website by the end of this week. The terms of reference of this report will involve consideration of submissions received under the consultative process now under way.
My question specifically referred to the Six Nations and the Heineken Cup, which the Minister intended to make free-to-air for Irish audiences. It appears he has since rowed back from his position because he is now saying that he has an open mind.
I would be grateful if he could set out the exact Government position because Ministers appear to hold conflicting views. In my opinion, this is a good idea but it has been badly thought out, if it was thought out at all. Is it the case, for example, that the former Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen, was strongly opposed to the proposal? What is the position of the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport? Sitting on the fence will not help anybody but I take it that she has made a submission on the issue.
When the Taoiseach spoke about a common sense approach, he was interpreted as referring to the Six Nations but not the Heineken Cup. Is that what is meant by "common sense approach"?
I think we should take a common sense approach to everything we do. I was interested to learn that Deputy McManus supports the proposal to make the Heineken Cup and the Six Nations free-to-air.
This process allows people to set out their views and to take account of different arguments. It is set out on a statutory basis. We started one year ago by putting the matter out for public consultation and we received a range of submissions. I, as Minister, then issued a list of suggestions regarding which events should be broadcast on a designated free-to-air basis and, having considered these suggestions, designated certain events. These designated events are subject to a further period of consultation so that people can have their say before we go to Europe to get approval and give the decision a legal basis which will require broadcasters' compliance. The process is based on consultation and I look forward to everyone's involvement. The involvement of this House is particularly important and I welcome that Deputies on all sides hold differing views.
We should not rewrite history. The Minister had his period of consultation but it seems that he listened most closely to his son. I do not argue with that but he did not work out his position. When he announced his intention to designate at the end of what appeared to be a consultation period, all hell broke lose and he is now trying to dress up the process to make it seem as if he is beginning again. He said that he intended to designate and I understand this comes after taking advice from the then Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, although he still has not addressed that question. The then Minister was opposed to it. What is the position of the current Minister? Does she support the proposal? If the Minister, Deputy Ryan, cannot persuade his colleagues in government, he is on a hiding to nothing.
What efforts have been made to investigate the cost of this proposal to the IRFU? I do not usually defend the IRFU, although I think rugby is a wonderful sport, but it is struggling at present. In terms of commercial resources, it is down approximately €560,000 because of the recession and reduced advertising revenue. However, when the Minister announced his proposal, he blithely claimed it would be able to make up the difference, whether it is €10 million or €12 million. That is irresponsible policy development.
I call the Minister for a final reply.
I would be grateful if he answered the question.
I never spoke to my son about this——
That is sad.
——but it is important that we allow children to watch certain sports. Young boys and girls of a certain age should be able to see their heroes in action.
We are not arguing that issue.
They should be able to dream that they will be the next Brian O'Driscoll or Ronan O'Gara.
For God's sake, skip the lecture and answer the question.
Excuse me, I am trying to respond to Deputy McManus's comments.
The Minister is entitled to respond in any way he likes.
Answer my question.
Could he answer the question?
Please allow the Minister to speak.
I am responding to Deputy McManus's comments on my announcement. I never blithely say anything regarding IRFU finances. I am very aware of the need for professional sports to secure funding but we should stick to the issues.
Stick to the questions I asked.
I am answering the Deputy's questions. Her claim that I blithely disregarded IRFU finances is not true. We should consider the fundamental question of whether the financial success of the sport in the long term is dependent on a fan base or a broadcasting contract. I believe that if one loses a supporter base or 80% of one's audience by moving away from a free-to-air service——
Answer the question.
What does the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, think?
The answer to the question is I believe that is a factor.
Scandalous.
Allow the Minister to respond.
The prospect of losing an audience is the biggest threat to the revenue stream of any sporting body.
That is a shocking reply.
He is entitled to respond anyway he likes, I am afraid.
That is a fact which all of us must take into account.
What is the opinion of the Minister, Deputy Hanafin?
If Deputy McManus supports the position, I presume she would agree with the point that holding on to an audience is important for future commercial revenues.
I ask the Minister to reply to Question No. 25.
It is an absolute disgrace.
I would argue the point with the Deputy if she made a detailed case.
I have called Question No. 25.
What is the opinion of the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, on this matter?
We are moving on to the next question.
If I may answer the question——
No, you may not.
I will return to it when we come to oral questions. I am happy to debate the matter for as long as possible.
25 Deputy Simon Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he will announce a new support scheme for microgeneration; and the form that the scheme will take. [23544/10]
I accept that uptake on the current microgeneration support scheme has been slow to date. This scheme is provided by the ESB and offers a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour of electricity produced and exported to the grid.
In line with my objective to increase deployment of microgeneration technologies, my Department is working closely with the Sustainable Energy Authority to build on the experience gained from the field trials undertaken and to assess the options for increased market deployment. Technical and safety standards are being developed and options for possible new support measures are being explored.
The existing ESB scheme is focused on domestic scale technologies with an 11 kV size limit. I have asked my Department to examine a range of larger scale technologies which would be appropriate for deployment at farm, small business and community level. I am pushing to get this work completed as soon as possible because I am keen for people in rural areas to benefit directly from the natural resources that are available.
I will endeavour to get an answer from the Minister. He has become one of the great deflectors in terms of giving out information.
I thought deflectors were banned.
I ask the Minister for the date on which we will have a new scheme to support microgeneration across the country. This is something he has promised repeatedly for at least the past eight months and it was my understanding that we would see it before the summer break. Can he give the industry, farmers and business people factual information rather than another explanation as to why it makes sense? When will people see a new support scheme for microgeneration so that we can harness natural resources in the ways that the Minister desires?
We are committed to ensuring that microgeneration works and we have demonstrated his commitment by a series of delivered measures, including changes to planning regulations to make it easier for people to construct microgeneration facilities.
The grant scheme is being considered by Sustainable Energy Ireland to ensure we get the standards right and avoid an industry developing on poor standards which does not take off in the long run. Between 12 and 18 months ago, the ESB, encouraged by me, agreed to introduce a price of up to 19 cent. Previously, one could not even sell back into the system.
When progress is not being made as fast as I would like, we will test the scheme and introduce a revised one. I will do my best to get the scheme right before introducing it. The scheme is not yet right because this is a technical and complex matter. We are committed, however, to adding further measures to those we have consistently introduced over the past three years.
It is difficult to have faith in the Minister when he tells us one thing on the record in committee before completely revising his statement on the floor of the House. This also occurred in the case of the so-called one stop shop for broadband which has been totally remodelled. Those involved in the micro-generation industry are concerned that a new scheme will not be introduced before the summer. The livelihoods of people who have invested in micro-generation industries, whether wind turbines, micro-CHP or other technologies, are on the line. They made investments on the back of assurances provided by the Minister that he would establish a new support scheme, whether one modelled on the scheme implemented and working in Britain or the scheme implemented in Germany. I ask the Minister to provide certainty as to when the new and necessary measures will be introduced. We cannot keep an industry hanging on forever. Its financial position precludes it.
I have consistently told the industry that a phased approach would be taken. The Department must ensure safety issues and standards are addressed properly. We stated we would start on a smaller scale of micro-generation, of up to 11 kW, before introducing a further scheme. At each stage, I indicated we would take a phased approach which would take time and require a series of different measures to be introduced, rather than introducing a big bang change.
The Minister told us this would be done by the summer.
I would like to get it done before the summer and will push my Department in that regard. While I hope we will be able to do so, first and foremost, we will ensure we get the best type of support scheme. However, I still hope to deliver on the timeframe to which the Deputy referred.
