Cable television in Ireland
Encyclopedia
In the early years of television Irish viewers had access to the BBC
via signals coming from Northern Ireland
and Wales
. By 1959 Northern Irish viewers had access to one public service broadcaster (BBC
) and one commercial broadcaster (Ulster Television). The Secretary of the Department of Post and Telegraphs - Leon O’Broin -had tried to progress the idea of an Irish channel since 1953, this new medium coming from the north was to spur the Irish government into action. Teilifís Éireann began broadcasting on the 31st of December 1961. During these years many Irish radio listeners where listening to BBC Radio
so the interest in BBC Television
would continue, some had been watching since 1953 via spillover signals. 1963 saw the first cable service from RTÉ under the name RTÉ Relays, these tests were in preparation for the building of the Ballymun
apartment blocks, which were be built during these early years of RTÉ Television. RTÉ relays would opt to provide their service with the BBC and Ulster Television (later Cablelink would also provide HTV
from Wales).
PAL
television channels in Band I, Band III, Hyperband and possible Band IV, depending on area. Premium services may be provided scrambled, with most providers using Jerrold
or General Instrument
decoders for this purpose. Beyond premium services, set top boxes are only provided if the customers television is unable to handle VHF signals, as some imported from the UK (which has no VHF television and generally encrypted cable television) may. However, in Cork the analogue cable network was entirely encrypted since the late 1980s and a Jerrold
set-top box was required for access to almost all channels.
There is no set frequency plan. Most cable networks for analogue use Harmonically related carriers (carrier frequencies of exact 8 MHz multiples). Some cable networks such as Limerick use Irish terrestrial channel alignments or even a mixture of the two-channel plans.
Digital cable operates using DVB-C
, although encryption, as well as other platform details varies by provider. Certain channels may be unencrypted, such as EuroNews
or Channel 6
which are unencrypted on UPC.
Smaller, older networks are usually, for analogue, standard coaxial cables boosted and tapped at regular intervals, which can lead to serious signal degradation problems, particularly on overhead networks. Digital networks have far more sophisticated trunking systems. The five main Cities (Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford), along with towns like Dungarvan, Clonmel, Kilkenny etc. now enjoy state of the art Fibre optic-driven networks which are used to deliver a myriad of services, including analogue and digital TV, broadband, and VoIP phones.
Overhead cables are common in areas constructed before the foundation of the local cable firm, or where the cable firm did not have a construction agreement with the builders; underground cables are more common in developments build post-1985.
Analogue MMDS specifications were legally set in 1998 by the then Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in the document "Technical conditions for the operation of analogue programme services distribution systems in the frequency band 2500-2686 MHz"
UPC Digital MMDS uses a DVB-C variant on ex NTL MMDS and a variant of DVB-T on ex Chorus MMDS networks.
, started re-broadcasting the UK's three terrestrial TV channels in some cities and larger towns.
The first major City outside Dublin to build a purpose-built Cable TV network under the new 1974 regulations was Waterford, which initially delivered service to some 6,000 homes in 1974. It now supplies an analogue service to an estimated 14 - 16,000 homes in Waterford City, along with almost 5,000 cable broadband customers, and is now commencing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony services.
Other cities followed suit, but not until the 1980s. First Cork, then Galway and finally Limerick were cabled. However, due to legislation regarding the use of microwave links at the time, companies were forced to lay untold kilometres of cable to get from the headend
to the City.
The cable connecting Cork to the Comeragh Mountains was 100 km (60 mi) in total: the longest cable TV route ever built in Europe. Casey Cablevision of Dungarvan, County Waterford held the Irish record previously, with a 25 km (16 mi) line connecting to the Comeragh Mountains headend. The Cork cable TV operator had initially built a head-end in the Knockmealdown mountains, but reception there was less than satisfactory and a deal was done after a few months in 1982 to use Casey Cablevision's headend.
The majority of major cable systems in Ireland now use a mix of both microwave links and satellite, along with various fibre-optic feeds.
Effectively CATV systems, those owned commercially generally began adding additional services in the early 1980s as English-language services started to appear on satellite, and with most new houses cabled from construction by the late 1980s, it has become the most common multi-channel television reception system, beating satellite television and long-distance UHF reception of foreign channels in to second and third places.
While "cable" television generally refers to services provided by cables, as the name might suggest, legally MMDS television distribution systems, which are widespread in rural Ireland, are classified as cable television. MMDS propagation began in 1989, with the network of 29 cells forming a "national grid" being regulated for, if not intact by 1998.
and satellite channels).
Cablevision rolled out CATV systems in Waterford and Galway.
In 1981 Marlin Communal Aerials Ltd. acquired Phoenix Relays Ltd and formed Dublin Cablesystems Ltd. (DCS). The Canadian company Rogers Cable
owned Cablevision and Dublin Cablesystems through their purchase of Perimer Cablevision in 1980. In 1984 RTÉ proposed to buy 75% of DCS in an aim to modernise cable systems that had an “urgent need for modernisation and development which was impossible under present conditions”.
There was little regulation of cable systems during the early years, often it was there to redistribute British channels and improve RTÉ's reception. With this in mind RTÉ was allowed buy a 75% share in DCS and 1986 formed Cablelink. Cablelink had approximately 200,000 subscribers. By 1990 almost 300,000 homes had cable subscriptions and the Government began to regulate the MMDS system.
One of the first MMDS operators provided 11 channels, but RTÉ One
or Network 2 did not appear on the service, rather their CEO insisted on the RTÉ News that customers could already receive those transmission terrestrially and his product was about providing more choice.
In 1973 the government introduced a levy to all cable company for 15% of their fee to be given to RTÉ due to losses incurred from advertising revenues, any company with less than 100 subscribers were exempt from this levy. By 1974 43 cable companies had been licensed. From 1981 new cable companies were allowed in areas without “off‐air”/spillover signals. In 1985 314,000 homes had access to cable television, with 80% of those home taking up the services provided.
There was some unauthorized access to cable service by customers which caused radio disruption, while older systems lacked the two-way communication while new cable had only some two-way communications. The Committee was advising that cable be treated as a national infrastructure and to be dealt with in a manor ready for the information age. It continued to suggest that new services such as local and community TV, Pay TV, pay per view and interactive services could be used on the cable networks. Direct Satellite Broadcasting was ready to begin in Europe by 1986. The committee looked at both Belgium
and Canada
as they had similar take-up of cable as Ireland.
Cable was an integral part of Ireland Information Infrastructure and the Department of Communications took an active role in regulating it technical and in regards content.
In 1985 VHF band I and III were used to carry six television stations, while VHF band II carried radio stations, however it was thought that up to 15 channels could be provided on the cable services. They were advised that 30‐50 channels could be provided, but this would be at huge infrastructure costs and was not in the interest of customers, since many only had a 15-channel dial
With the merger of RTÉ Relays and DCS many customers were beginning to see better reception due to the integration of both systems, Cablelink had begun to reduce head‐ends which help with reception issues.
The Cable Systems Committee recommended further penetration of the network around the country. Issues surrounding copyrights were an issue, however at this time the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF) was being discussed in Europe, it was recommending that once content was legally transmitted in one jurisdiction that it should be permitted in others.
The committee spent some time investigating interactivity; while it came to no conclusion about the need for interactive services it did suggest that cable licensees set about upgrading their systems in case such services become popular in the future. The committee also investigated planning laws; it was felt that each planning authority at the time had different rules for the laying of cable. There should be a more uniformed approach, they did not go as far as to suggest that cable companies be given the status of utility companies thus providing them with access to private property, they did suggest that those not wishing to have equipment on the premises should then be charge for the re‐route should they ever want cable in the future. It was also pointed out that some Local Authorities put levies on cable systems, which cable companies were not aware of when applying for their licence, thus having the need to request price increases. It was not thought that unauthorised access should be made a criminal offence, but rather that cable be placed underground as this had cause reductions in unauthorised access in other countries. It was also felt that cables should be earthed to prevent any electrical danger it may cause to people in their homes.
At the time RTÉ received a 15% percent levy from the cable companies for money lost through advertising revenue, as RTÉ now owned 80% of Cablelink the largest cable supplier it was thought that this should be reviewed as it had a near monopoly in the country. Administration costs were also to be reduced and the commission suggested that a 6 monthly list of customers should be provided to the Department rather than a monthly one. Local adverts provided on the cable company's line up of channels should be allowed however the companies should have the same constrains as RTÉ Television
.
By 1981 Dublin had two major cable companies, DCS and RTÉ relays and a few smaller companies around the city. Allied Combined Trust (ACT), a subsidiary of Allied Irish Investment Bank, held 20% of Cablelink by 1986, while 80% was held by RTÉ. The Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell asked for a review of the Restrictive practices in Dublin caused by a virtual monopoly that had been built by the new company.
The takeover of the DCS system by RTÉ Relays had been approved and a number of reasons for the merger were put forward:
New set-top boxes could be used to provide free satellite channels, Pay TV, Pay per View and interactive services.
The issues surrounding the monopoly insisted that the cable company had some competition from other sources:
However
It was felt that more than one operator would provide smaller areas and two to a house was unworkable, it didn’t matter how many cable companies were available since most areas would only ever have one those providing a monopoly in that area.
The committee wanted local television to be defined; Cablelink pointed out that within the network each area was made up of 3000 cells so this would not be an issue should areas require their own local TV service. The company was also in good finances; some smaller operators could end up out of business due to the high cost of maintaining their network. There was also a feeling that the CEO of a larger company did not listen to their customers as they were so far removed from the customer, small local cable companies had the CEO as the area manager. By 1986 Cablelink had made no approaches to the Minister for the addition of services via satellite, there was a suggestion that RTÉ was preventing new services from appearing on screen however Cablelink insisted that it wanted to launch the services across Dublin rather than in bits and pieces as it upgraded their network.
1968: RTÉ
with its subsidiary RTÉ Relays cables the Ballymun Flats.
1970s: Phonix and Marlin merge to form Dublin Cablesystems (DCS) owned by Rogers Cable
Canada
1980 Preimer Cablevision is bought by Rogers Cable which owns Cablevision Waterford and Galway
In the early 1980s Westward cable provide cable to Limerick City , Cork city is cabled by Cork Communications
1990s Princes Holding buy Cork Communications and rebrand as Limerick and Cork Multichannel
CMI: Cable Management Ireland begin to buy up small town franchises
1990s RTÉ sells a 60% share of Cablelink
to Telecom Eireann
, in 1999 both are forced to sell their shares, NTL
buys cablelink.
Mid 1990s Cork and Limerick Multichannel become Irish Multichannel
2000 Irish Multichannel buy CMI and Nore‐Suir Relays and rebrand as Chorus
2004 Independent Newspapers sell their 50% of chorus to Liberty Global
2007 Virgin Media
sells NTL Ireland
to Liberty Global. The two largest cable companies in Ireland merge and form Chorus NTL
owned by UPC
.
Several smaller providers remain in some smaller towns. The biggest being Casey Cable in Dungarvan which was set up in the 1970s.
Further modifications to the Wireless Telegraphy Act allowed for the start of MMDS in 1989.
The major revision of the legislation, Wireless Telegraphy (Programme Services Distribution) Regulations of 1999, brought in a new class of licence. This introduced the concept of non-exclusive franchises, which had existed in theory with competing cable and MMDS firms in certain areas, and allowed for the introduction of digital cable and MMDS transmission.
Cable companies are obliged to carry national terrestrial television and RTÉ radio by both Regulations, although analogue MMDS operators are exempted from carrying all but TV3
of these.
Regulation will include free-to air and commercial DTT shortly, putting it on a similar footing to cable and satellite in terms of copyright, regulations and so forth under the enacted Broadcasting Act 2009 . For more see the article on it and debates and status.
Some local television did run during the 1990s. Cablelink's "Link Channel" shared space with The Children's Channel
. "Link" provided some local news in Dublin, Waterford and Galway. It also ran local text ads during its off hours (while broadcasting Sky radio)
In Waterford City, Cablelink's Cabletext service (a rolling noticeboard, which included programming such as the Munster Game and CTV) ran uninterrupted from 1988 until it was replaced by City Channel in 2007. A highly successful and popular service, it was manned voluntarily exclusively by local Cablelink engineers. In essence a truly local service. It also carried a programme called 'Waterford at 8' for several years which also proved very popular.
There are a number of local channels currently broadcasting, including City Channel
- part owned by UPC Ireland
- and a number of community channels DCTV (Dublin Community Television), CCTV (Cork Community TV) and P5TV
.
(like most other cable operators in the world) provides what NTL initially marketed as triple play
: Telephone, television and internet access. This has become a reality in more recent years with 25% of their customers taking up their broadband package and 11% taking up their telephony package. This has caused UPC to make major infrastructural developments in the old networks which had been badly maintained by the both the owners and not regulated by any government bodies. Ireland has several small independent CATV operators around the country - the biggest provider is that of Casey Cablevision in Dungarvan
. The rest of the country is covered by UPC (previously known as Chorus NTL).
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
via signals coming from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. By 1959 Northern Irish viewers had access to one public service broadcaster (BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
) and one commercial broadcaster (Ulster Television). The Secretary of the Department of Post and Telegraphs - Leon O’Broin -had tried to progress the idea of an Irish channel since 1953, this new medium coming from the north was to spur the Irish government into action. Teilifís Éireann began broadcasting on the 31st of December 1961. During these years many Irish radio listeners where listening to BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
so the interest in BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
would continue, some had been watching since 1953 via spillover signals. 1963 saw the first cable service from RTÉ under the name RTÉ Relays, these tests were in preparation for the building of the Ballymun
Ballymun
Ballymun is an area on Dublin's Northside close to Dublin Airport, Ireland. It is infamous for the Ballymun flats, which became a symbol of poverty, drugs, alienation from the state and social problems in Ireland from the 1970s...
apartment blocks, which were be built during these early years of RTÉ Television. RTÉ relays would opt to provide their service with the BBC and Ulster Television (later Cablelink would also provide HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
from Wales).
Technology
Analogue cable television in Ireland generally operates by providing unencrypted System IBroadcast television system
Broadcast television systems are encoding or formatting standards for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. There are three main analog television systems in current use around the world: NTSC, PAL, and SECAM...
PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
television channels in Band I, Band III, Hyperband and possible Band IV, depending on area. Premium services may be provided scrambled, with most providers using Jerrold
Jerrold
Jerrold or Jerold are masculine English given name variants of Gerald, a German language name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ger- and suffix -wald . Jerrold was initially brought to Great Britain by the Normans. There are feminine nicknames, including Jeri. Jerrold is uncommon as a...
or General Instrument
General Instrument
General Instrument was an electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, PA specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. The company was active until 1997, when it split into which was later acquired by Vishay Intertechnology in 2001, CommScope and NextLevel Systems General...
decoders for this purpose. Beyond premium services, set top boxes are only provided if the customers television is unable to handle VHF signals, as some imported from the UK (which has no VHF television and generally encrypted cable television) may. However, in Cork the analogue cable network was entirely encrypted since the late 1980s and a Jerrold
Jerrold Electronics
Jerrold Electronics was a provider of cable television equipment, including subscriber converter boxes, distribution network equipment , and headend equipment in the United States.-History:...
set-top box was required for access to almost all channels.
There is no set frequency plan. Most cable networks for analogue use Harmonically related carriers (carrier frequencies of exact 8 MHz multiples). Some cable networks such as Limerick use Irish terrestrial channel alignments or even a mixture of the two-channel plans.
Digital cable operates using DVB-C
DVB-C
DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
, although encryption, as well as other platform details varies by provider. Certain channels may be unencrypted, such as EuroNews
EuroNews
Euronews is an international multilingual news television channel.It covers world news from what it claims to be a 'European' perspective.Criticisms are that the perspective is in fact that of the European Commission - a major and growing funder of Euronews....
or Channel 6
Channel 6 (Ireland)
3e is a commercial television network in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 5 January 2009 . The channel is operated by Kish Media a subsidiary of TV3 Group owned by Doughty Hanson & Co.-The TV3 Group:The TV3 Group was established in January 2009...
which are unencrypted on UPC.
Smaller, older networks are usually, for analogue, standard coaxial cables boosted and tapped at regular intervals, which can lead to serious signal degradation problems, particularly on overhead networks. Digital networks have far more sophisticated trunking systems. The five main Cities (Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford), along with towns like Dungarvan, Clonmel, Kilkenny etc. now enjoy state of the art Fibre optic-driven networks which are used to deliver a myriad of services, including analogue and digital TV, broadband, and VoIP phones.
Overhead cables are common in areas constructed before the foundation of the local cable firm, or where the cable firm did not have a construction agreement with the builders; underground cables are more common in developments build post-1985.
Analogue MMDS specifications were legally set in 1998 by the then Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in the document "Technical conditions for the operation of analogue programme services distribution systems in the frequency band 2500-2686 MHz"
UPC Digital MMDS uses a DVB-C variant on ex NTL MMDS and a variant of DVB-T on ex Chorus MMDS networks.
History
Cable first started in the 1960s, when several companies, including state broadcaster RTÉRaidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
, started re-broadcasting the UK's three terrestrial TV channels in some cities and larger towns.
The first major City outside Dublin to build a purpose-built Cable TV network under the new 1974 regulations was Waterford, which initially delivered service to some 6,000 homes in 1974. It now supplies an analogue service to an estimated 14 - 16,000 homes in Waterford City, along with almost 5,000 cable broadband customers, and is now commencing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony services.
Other cities followed suit, but not until the 1980s. First Cork, then Galway and finally Limerick were cabled. However, due to legislation regarding the use of microwave links at the time, companies were forced to lay untold kilometres of cable to get from the headend
Cable television headend
A cable television headend is a master facility for receiving television signals for processing and distribution over a cable television system. The headend facility is normally unstaffed and surrounded by some type of security fencing and is typically a building or large shed housing electronic...
to the City.
The cable connecting Cork to the Comeragh Mountains was 100 km (60 mi) in total: the longest cable TV route ever built in Europe. Casey Cablevision of Dungarvan, County Waterford held the Irish record previously, with a 25 km (16 mi) line connecting to the Comeragh Mountains headend. The Cork cable TV operator had initially built a head-end in the Knockmealdown mountains, but reception there was less than satisfactory and a deal was done after a few months in 1982 to use Casey Cablevision's headend.
The majority of major cable systems in Ireland now use a mix of both microwave links and satellite, along with various fibre-optic feeds.
Effectively CATV systems, those owned commercially generally began adding additional services in the early 1980s as English-language services started to appear on satellite, and with most new houses cabled from construction by the late 1980s, it has become the most common multi-channel television reception system, beating satellite television and long-distance UHF reception of foreign channels in to second and third places.
While "cable" television generally refers to services provided by cables, as the name might suggest, legally MMDS television distribution systems, which are widespread in rural Ireland, are classified as cable television. MMDS propagation began in 1989, with the network of 29 cells forming a "national grid" being regulated for, if not intact by 1998.
Multichannel
Long before any coaxial cable had been laid for the distribution of television in Ireland, the Irish were enjoying multi-channel TV. Even before Teilifís Éireann had begun to broadcast, Irish viewers were watching the BBC and ITV. The BBC signal was available to 40% of the population in the Republic by the late 1950s. Many had already installed outdoor aerials to get signals from Northern Ireland or Wales. Not all of the country could get access to the BBC and ITVs signals, so they were introduced to television by the new Irish television service Teilifís Éireann, by the time the 1960 Broadcasting Act had been produced around 50,000 television set had been sold in Ireland. During this time Ireland experienced economic growth and the beginnings of Community Access Television (CATV) or Cabled television broadcasts. RTÉ set up their relays service for viewers in Ballymun providing both the BBC and Ulster Television on their service known as RTÉ Relays. Even before the advent of Sky Digital in Ireland and later FTA UK Satellite, over 75% of households had ITV (UTV or HTV).Laying Ireland’s cable
There were two prevailing reasons for cable. The attraction of the British channels and hence more choice, and better reception for many people, analogue terrestrial signals cover about 90% of the population. Cable companies around Dublin (such as RTÉ Relays, Marlin Communal Aerials Ltd., and Phonix Relays Ltd.) provided the 3 main British broadcasters at the time (later they would also provide Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and satellite channels).
Cablevision rolled out CATV systems in Waterford and Galway.
In 1981 Marlin Communal Aerials Ltd. acquired Phoenix Relays Ltd and formed Dublin Cablesystems Ltd. (DCS). The Canadian company Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable Inc., a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, in Manitoba, Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.The...
owned Cablevision and Dublin Cablesystems through their purchase of Perimer Cablevision in 1980. In 1984 RTÉ proposed to buy 75% of DCS in an aim to modernise cable systems that had an “urgent need for modernisation and development which was impossible under present conditions”.
There was little regulation of cable systems during the early years, often it was there to redistribute British channels and improve RTÉ's reception. With this in mind RTÉ was allowed buy a 75% share in DCS and 1986 formed Cablelink. Cablelink had approximately 200,000 subscribers. By 1990 almost 300,000 homes had cable subscriptions and the Government began to regulate the MMDS system.
One of the first MMDS operators provided 11 channels, but RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
or Network 2 did not appear on the service, rather their CEO insisted on the RTÉ News that customers could already receive those transmission terrestrially and his product was about providing more choice.
The Report of the Cable Systems Committee of 1984
The Report of the Cable Systems Committee of 1984 recommended the upgrading of the current cable systems in Ireland. There seemed at this time to be no mandate for community or local broadcasts. According to the committee Ireland's cable network had evolved to gain better access to “off‐air” signals coming from Britain. In 1961 the limited use of aerials saw the development of Irish cable. In 1966 RTÉ was given the task of providing cabled services to the Ballymun area. Cable saw restrictions put in places as RTÉ sought to establish itself as a television broadcaster. Only areas with over the air access to ITV and BBC signals were permitted to have cable services (to improve receptions they already had), within those areas only one building or ten houses could use the one link, in 1970 this was increased to 500. This was to try to prevent RTÉ having a monopoly, but they remained in the market with RTÉ Relays.In 1973 the government introduced a levy to all cable company for 15% of their fee to be given to RTÉ due to losses incurred from advertising revenues, any company with less than 100 subscribers were exempt from this levy. By 1974 43 cable companies had been licensed. From 1981 new cable companies were allowed in areas without “off‐air”/spillover signals. In 1985 314,000 homes had access to cable television, with 80% of those home taking up the services provided.
There was some unauthorized access to cable service by customers which caused radio disruption, while older systems lacked the two-way communication while new cable had only some two-way communications. The Committee was advising that cable be treated as a national infrastructure and to be dealt with in a manor ready for the information age. It continued to suggest that new services such as local and community TV, Pay TV, pay per view and interactive services could be used on the cable networks. Direct Satellite Broadcasting was ready to begin in Europe by 1986. The committee looked at both Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as they had similar take-up of cable as Ireland.
Cable was an integral part of Ireland Information Infrastructure and the Department of Communications took an active role in regulating it technical and in regards content.
In 1985 VHF band I and III were used to carry six television stations, while VHF band II carried radio stations, however it was thought that up to 15 channels could be provided on the cable services. They were advised that 30‐50 channels could be provided, but this would be at huge infrastructure costs and was not in the interest of customers, since many only had a 15-channel dial
With the merger of RTÉ Relays and DCS many customers were beginning to see better reception due to the integration of both systems, Cablelink had begun to reduce head‐ends which help with reception issues.
The Cable Systems Committee recommended further penetration of the network around the country. Issues surrounding copyrights were an issue, however at this time the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF) was being discussed in Europe, it was recommending that once content was legally transmitted in one jurisdiction that it should be permitted in others.
The committee spent some time investigating interactivity; while it came to no conclusion about the need for interactive services it did suggest that cable licensees set about upgrading their systems in case such services become popular in the future. The committee also investigated planning laws; it was felt that each planning authority at the time had different rules for the laying of cable. There should be a more uniformed approach, they did not go as far as to suggest that cable companies be given the status of utility companies thus providing them with access to private property, they did suggest that those not wishing to have equipment on the premises should then be charge for the re‐route should they ever want cable in the future. It was also pointed out that some Local Authorities put levies on cable systems, which cable companies were not aware of when applying for their licence, thus having the need to request price increases. It was not thought that unauthorised access should be made a criminal offence, but rather that cable be placed underground as this had cause reductions in unauthorised access in other countries. It was also felt that cables should be earthed to prevent any electrical danger it may cause to people in their homes.
At the time RTÉ received a 15% percent levy from the cable companies for money lost through advertising revenue, as RTÉ now owned 80% of Cablelink the largest cable supplier it was thought that this should be reviewed as it had a near monopoly in the country. Administration costs were also to be reduced and the commission suggested that a 6 monthly list of customers should be provided to the Department rather than a monthly one. Local adverts provided on the cable company's line up of channels should be allowed however the companies should have the same constrains as RTÉ Television
RTÉ Television
RTÉ Television is a department of Ireland's state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann.The first channel to broadcast was Telefís Éireann which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961...
.
By 1981 Dublin had two major cable companies, DCS and RTÉ relays and a few smaller companies around the city. Allied Combined Trust (ACT), a subsidiary of Allied Irish Investment Bank, held 20% of Cablelink by 1986, while 80% was held by RTÉ. The Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell asked for a review of the Restrictive practices in Dublin caused by a virtual monopoly that had been built by the new company.
The takeover of the DCS system by RTÉ Relays had been approved and a number of reasons for the merger were put forward:
- A more integrated approach to Dublin cable which had grown in a patchwork of different companies
- A new primary network was to be laid covering 140 km, with 80 km underground
- A new technical processing centre in Ternure to provide other services
- Cells of 3,000 homes
- Increase number of stations available to the public
New set-top boxes could be used to provide free satellite channels, Pay TV, Pay per View and interactive services.
The issues surrounding the monopoly insisted that the cable company had some competition from other sources:
- RTÉ ONE and TWO are available free‐to‐air
- BBC 1, BBC2, UTV, HTV, S4C and C4 were available through roof-top aerials
- Direct satellite broadcasters were currently broadcasting direct to home satellite systems
However
- It was felt that FTA RTÉ ONE and TWO was not sufficient
- There was limited use of roof top aerials for the British channels
- It was at that time illegal to own a satellite
It was felt that more than one operator would provide smaller areas and two to a house was unworkable, it didn’t matter how many cable companies were available since most areas would only ever have one those providing a monopoly in that area.
The committee wanted local television to be defined; Cablelink pointed out that within the network each area was made up of 3000 cells so this would not be an issue should areas require their own local TV service. The company was also in good finances; some smaller operators could end up out of business due to the high cost of maintaining their network. There was also a feeling that the CEO of a larger company did not listen to their customers as they were so far removed from the customer, small local cable companies had the CEO as the area manager. By 1986 Cablelink had made no approaches to the Minister for the addition of services via satellite, there was a suggestion that RTÉ was preventing new services from appearing on screen however Cablelink insisted that it wanted to launch the services across Dublin rather than in bits and pieces as it upgraded their network.
A brief timeline of the Cable and MMDS industry in Ireland
1963: Marlin cables part Ballymun1968: RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
with its subsidiary RTÉ Relays cables the Ballymun Flats.
1970s: Phonix and Marlin merge to form Dublin Cablesystems (DCS) owned by Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable Inc., a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, in Manitoba, Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.The...
Canada
1980 Preimer Cablevision is bought by Rogers Cable which owns Cablevision Waterford and Galway
In the early 1980s Westward cable provide cable to Limerick City , Cork city is cabled by Cork Communications
1990s Princes Holding buy Cork Communications and rebrand as Limerick and Cork Multichannel
CMI: Cable Management Ireland begin to buy up small town franchises
1990s RTÉ sells a 60% share of Cablelink
Cablelink
Cablelink is a subscription-based cable antenna television system operator and broadband Internet service provider in the Philippines, commenced its CATV operation in 1995. It is owned and operated by Cable Link and Holdings Corporation...
to Telecom Eireann
Telecom Éireann
Telecom Éireann, or formally Bord Telecom Éireann - The Irish Telecommunications Board, was created by the Postal & Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, Ireland, under the leadership of the Minister for Posts & Telegraphs...
, in 1999 both are forced to sell their shares, NTL
NTL Ireland
NTL Communications Limited was a cable television and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service company in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by Liberty Global Europe , having been divested by NTL...
buys cablelink.
Mid 1990s Cork and Limerick Multichannel become Irish Multichannel
2000 Irish Multichannel buy CMI and Nore‐Suir Relays and rebrand as Chorus
Chorus Communications
Chorus Communications was a communications provider in Ireland, it offered internet, television and telephone services. It was owned by Liberty Global Europe, and ultimately controlled by John C. Malone's Liberty Media. It was based in Limerick, and owns the cable television and MMDS TV licences...
2004 Independent Newspapers sell their 50% of chorus to Liberty Global
2007 Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
sells NTL Ireland
NTL Ireland
NTL Communications Limited was a cable television and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service company in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by Liberty Global Europe , having been divested by NTL...
to Liberty Global. The two largest cable companies in Ireland merge and form Chorus NTL
UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
owned by UPC
UPC Broadband
UPC Broadband is a Pan-European Communications company owned by Liberty Global and is active in several European countries providing bundled cable television, internet and telephone services....
.
Several smaller providers remain in some smaller towns. The biggest being Casey Cable in Dungarvan which was set up in the 1970s.
Regulation
Early cable television operated in an unregulated grey market, with providers laying cables wherever possible from their signal collection point, often the local electrical store. The system was eventually regulated by the Wireless Telegraphy (Wired Broadcast Relay Licence) Regulations of 1974 in to an exclusive franchise system, where one company holds a franchise to provider analogue cable television and radio services to a specific area. Franchisers under this system are referred to as having "1974 licences"Further modifications to the Wireless Telegraphy Act allowed for the start of MMDS in 1989.
The major revision of the legislation, Wireless Telegraphy (Programme Services Distribution) Regulations of 1999, brought in a new class of licence. This introduced the concept of non-exclusive franchises, which had existed in theory with competing cable and MMDS firms in certain areas, and allowed for the introduction of digital cable and MMDS transmission.
Cable companies are obliged to carry national terrestrial television and RTÉ radio by both Regulations, although analogue MMDS operators are exempted from carrying all but TV3
TV3 Ireland
TV3 is a free-to-air commercial television network in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 20 September 1998 it was Ireland's first commercial broadcaster. The channel is owned by TV3 Group a subsidiary of Doughty Hanson & Co.-The TV3 Group:...
of these.
Regulation will include free-to air and commercial DTT shortly, putting it on a similar footing to cable and satellite in terms of copyright, regulations and so forth under the enacted Broadcasting Act 2009 . For more see the article on it and debates and status.
Local Television
In 1995 the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) successfully prevented Cablelink from selling local advertising on some of the channels on their network, however it is unlike that they would have been let provide such opt-outs by the channel owners.Some local television did run during the 1990s. Cablelink's "Link Channel" shared space with The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a television station in the United Kingdom, Benelux and Scandinavia, which was owned by Flextech . It began broadcasting on 1 September 1984, and was closed on 3 April 1998...
. "Link" provided some local news in Dublin, Waterford and Galway. It also ran local text ads during its off hours (while broadcasting Sky radio)
In Waterford City, Cablelink's Cabletext service (a rolling noticeboard, which included programming such as the Munster Game and CTV) ran uninterrupted from 1988 until it was replaced by City Channel in 2007. A highly successful and popular service, it was manned voluntarily exclusively by local Cablelink engineers. In essence a truly local service. It also carried a programme called 'Waterford at 8' for several years which also proved very popular.
There are a number of local channels currently broadcasting, including City Channel
City Channel
City Channel was an Irish television network that began broadcasting in October 2005, which focused primarily on local and regional television. It operated three stations: City Channel Dublin, City Channel Galway, and Channel South.-Launch:...
- part owned by UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
- and a number of community channels DCTV (Dublin Community Television), CCTV (Cork Community TV) and P5TV
P5tv
Province 5 Television is a community access TV Station on NTL/Chorus in Navan, broadcasting programmes made by, about and for the Navan community....
.
The use of cable today
UPC IrelandUPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
(like most other cable operators in the world) provides what NTL initially marketed as triple play
Triple play (telecommunications)
In telecommunications, triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of two bandwidth-intensive services, high-speed Internet access and television, and a less bandwidth-demanding service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple play focuses on a combined business...
: Telephone, television and internet access. This has become a reality in more recent years with 25% of their customers taking up their broadband package and 11% taking up their telephony package. This has caused UPC to make major infrastructural developments in the old networks which had been badly maintained by the both the owners and not regulated by any government bodies. Ireland has several small independent CATV operators around the country - the biggest provider is that of Casey Cablevision in Dungarvan
Dungarvan
Dungarvan is a town and harbour on the south coast of Ireland in the province of Munster. Dungarvan is the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford. The town's Irish name means "Garbhan's fort", referring to Saint Garbhan who founded a church there in the seventh century...
. The rest of the country is covered by UPC (previously known as Chorus NTL).