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Meanwhile government to object to BBC going FTA

NTL and Chorus have appealed to the Government to subsidise their roll out of digital MMDS, according to today's Irish Times. Details of the proposal are rather unclear at present. It is unknown as to whether this service would be free to air, or whether they are seeking a subsidy for their existing commercial activities. (This could hardly be justified however). It is also unknown as to whether the proposed service would run alongside the existing Chorus Digital and NTL MMDS Digital services, or whether it would replace these services.

Meanwhile the Government is to complain to the British Government over the BBC's plans to go fee to air later this month, according to todays Times and Irish Independent. The Irish Business and Employer's Confederation has called on the BBC to charge Irish viewers for the service. Such a move is technically impossible without also charging British viewers, which the BBC is not allowed to do under the terms of its Charter and Licence and Agreement. It is likely that any calls for the decision to abandon to Sky/NDS' conditional access system will go unheeded, which is a good thing for the Irish viewer, who will now be able to access BBC THREE, BBC FOUR, CBeebies, and CBBC for the first time. (BBC NEWS 24 became available to Irish viewers via the BBCi service last month).

You can discuss this story on our ICDG Cable and MMDS forum, or our ICDG Satellite Forum.

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