Government's digital TV plan unlikely to be viable-report

The Government will have to foot the bill for digital television as the private sector is no longer interested, according to a consultant's report to the Government, as reported in the Irish Times today.

The briefing paper, which was prepared by the national Economic Research Associates, concludes that the Government's plan to establish a commercial digital television network is now "extremely unlikely" to be viable.

The report says that the lengthy delay between the first failed attempt by the Government to launch a commercial service in 1999, and the present, has undermined the chances of success for a commercial project.

According to the report the Government has two choices: doing nothing, and perhaps ensuring that digital terrestrial television (DTI) is never available in Ireland, or implementing the proposed DTI service itself.