30,000 homes face €350 bill to get digital TV

Around 30,000 households will face additional costs averaging over €300 to ensure they can still watch their favourite TV channels following the switch off of analogue TV signals on Oct 24.

The Department of Communications has admitted that the 2% of households which cannot receive coverage from the free digital TV service Saorview due to geographical location, will need to access the free-to-air satellite service, Saorsat, or alternatively pay for TV services from providers like Sky or UPC.

It is estimated the average cost of accessing Saorsat, which requires the purchase and installation of a satellite dish and a low noise blockdown converter in addition to the set-top box required for Saorview, is around €350. The set-top box needed to access Saorview costs about €50.

The department has admitted that some regions including parts of west Cork, Kerry and Donegal, will not be able to access Saorview services which provides all the main existing Irish TV channels including RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, TV3 and TG4.

However, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte insisted yesterday that there had been no real change in the availability of TV services.

“There were always 2% [of the population] who had to make special arrangements,” he said.

Mr Rabbitte pointed out that such viewers traditionally had to make other arrangements to access TV signals which usually required some form of payment.

Mr Rabbitte said there were no plans to provide any financial assistance to TV viewers affected by the digital TV switchover.

Mr Rabbitte announced that every home in Ireland will receive a switchover booklet within the next few days. He also said he was satisfied that nobody should be unaware of the plans for the official Oct 24 switch-off date as a result of the Government’s awareness campaign.