O'Brien group told January DTT launch is a 'fantasy'
Delays are expected in DDT launch
DENIS O'Brien's €165m play for Ireland's paid-TV market is facing delays of up to nine months, the Irish Independent has learned.
Mr O'Brien's Communicorp group recently got the green light to offer paid-for TV services on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform that will soon replace traditional "rabbit ears" analogue services.
Celebrating the win two weeks ago, Mr O'Brien's Boxer DTT consortium promised to roll out commercial DTT in early 2009, mooting a January launch.
But yesterday it emerged that the network for DTT won't be "reliable" until "June at the earliest", making a January launch a "fantasy".
Blow
And in a further blow to Boxer DTT's timeline, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan yesterday said he expected commercial DTT to launch "in tandem" with public service DTT, which is due to be launched by RTE in October 2009.
Communicorp yesterday declined to comment on the potential timeline delays, and it is understood the Boxer DTT group has yet to begin formal discussions with either the minister or RTE's network division, which controls the DTT infrastructure. Sources close to Communicorp, however, said the company would take a "commercial sensible approach" to the project.
"We're not going to be clashing with the minister or RTE on it, we have to work together," said one source.
"We'd like to launch early in the year, RTE would like to launch late, hopefully we can meet somewhere in the middle."
Network
Sources at RTE, however, said the network simply wouldn't be ready in time for an earlier launch.
"Doing something in January is a fantasy because the network just won't be there," one source said.
"You could launch some services in February or March, but they'd be very unreliable. It won't be reliable until July at the earliest.
"We've gone for an October launch because we know it will be reliable by then; to launch any earlier you'd risk giving the whole system a bad name."
Communicorp sources said while they wanted to launch the project "as soon as possible", they wouldn't jeopardise quality for speed.
"We're investing a lot of money in this and once we start the clock starts ticking on that, so we won't start until we're ready," a source said.
A joint venture between Communicorp and Boxer, a Swedish TV group, Boxer DTT has the contract to offer commercial DTT for 12 years from the system's launch.
The group scooped the contract after fighting off competition from two other consortia -- one backed by RTE and cable operator UPC, and another backed by TV3, Setanta, Eircom and UK company Arqiva.
Boxer is planning a €165m investment in the TV platform, and is hoping to secure a peak of 225,000 subscribers and be "cash flow positive" by its third year.
- Laura Noonan
