DTT switchover progress report: No progress

Thursday, 26 November 2009 11:21

In written answers to Dáil questions and in a face-to-face meeting with TV Access representatives, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, has confirmed that there will be no further movement on the DTT rollout until the conclusion of the commercial contractual arrangements between the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, RTÉ and the OneVision consortium.

The Dáil questions and the Minister's answers confirmed that although the European Commission has set January 2012 as the date for analogue switch-off throughout Europe, this is unlikely to be met in Ireland and there is growing impatience on all sides.

This is worrying since we believe that it is vital to begin planning for the switchover and the protection of vulnerable consumers as far in advance as possible. There is currently an information vacuum surrounding DTT and the switchover process. Anecdotal reports suggest that many people think 'digital' means 'satellite' or even 'pay TV'. There have also been reports of Irish consumers being sold 'digital ready' TVs which are in fact designed for the UK Freeview system and will not work with Irish DTT when it arrives. It is vital that a public awareness campaign is launched soon, to prevent a situation where vulnerable consumers are exploited by marketing campaigns and sold equipment and service subscriptions that are not needed, not wanted or even not working.

Meeting with Minister Ryan

TV Access representatives held a meeting on 23rd November to discuss these and other issues with the Minister and the staff within his Department responsible for the DTT switchover. This was a follow up to a February meeting with Sean Power, then Minister of State with responsibility for the Information Society, in which we were given assurances that:

  • Nobody will be left behind in the switch to digital TV;
  • TV Access members will be involved in stakeholder discussions regarding all aspects of the DTT switchover;
  • A public awareness and assistance campaign funded by the Department will be rolled out with the assistance of community groups and TV Access representative organizations.

In our meeting with Minister Ryan, we pointed out the lack of progress on these issues during the intervening 9 months and made two requests:

  • That a firm date be fixed to begin work on planning the public awareness and assistance campaign.
  • That TV Access representatives be included on the Department's Analogue Switchover Group.

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful on both counts. The Minister reiterated that nothing will happen until the commercial situation has been resolved. Her expects this to happen by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The Analogue Switchover Group will remain, for now, an internal group of the Department without representation from stakeholder groups including broadcasters, manufacturers and TV Access.

Missed opportunity

We believe that an opportunity is being missed here. There is a great deal that can and should be planned for now, with the full involvement of stakeholders, even if the full picture has yet to emerge. In terms of a public awareness and assistance campaign, most of the parameters are already known. We know who the public are, we know who the vulnerable consumers are and what issues they may face, and we know which organizations have contact with these groups and the skills to work with them. Although the financial situation is not yet known, or even whether there will be a commercial DTT service at all, we know enough to start scoping the exercise and working out the logistics of how it will be delivered. Once the commercial situation is clarified, we will need to hit the ground running in order to get things done in time for the programme of digital switch-ons and the final analogue switch-off. We will have great difficulty doing that if we don't start preparing right now.