In August 2006, The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources commenced a trial of Digital Terrestrial Television. This trial concluded on 31 July 2008.
The Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources would like to express its appreciation to all those who participated in the trial - the trial participants, the content providers and those directly involved in the operation of the pilot BT, NEC, RTÉNL, Amarach Research and Mason Analysys.
DTT Trial
The purpose of the trial was to bring momentum to the transition to digital terrestrial broadcasting and to test and trial various aspects of the service. In doing so, the trial aimed to identify issues associated with a national rollout and provide information, which will help find solutions to these issues.
The trial covered Dublin and North Leinster. The transmission sites are at Three Rock, Co. Dublin and Clermont Carn in Co. Louth. The trial provided the opportunity for interested parties to conduct technical tests of DTT services while allowing for viewers to experience the new service at user level. There were 18 television channels including HDTV and Oireachtas TV and 16 radio channels with content from various content providers. Amarach Research, a market research company, had been conducting surveys on a quarterly basis to highlight participants’ reactions to the DTT Trial. Click here for information.
The DTT trial consisted of four phases
-
Friendly User Trial
-
Public Trial
-
HD Trial
-
Information Services Trial
The trial generated awareness and discussion among broadcasters, TV distribution companies, telecommunications companies and other interested parties regarding a move towards a full national rollout of DTT. As part of the trial a Pilot Stakeholders Group (PSG) was formed to review and resolve issues associated with the trial. This group included members of the DCENR, RTÉ, TV3, TG4, British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, Chellomedia services Ltd, Communicorp Group Limited, Eircom, Channel 6 Broadcasting Ltd, Setanta Sports Channel Ireland Ltd, Digital Audio Productions, UPC Ireland, Todayfm, 98fm, Phantom 105.2, Capital Radio Productions Limited, BT Ireland, RTÉNL, The Consumer Electronics Distributors Association (CEDA), the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The National Disability Authority (NDA) and the National Council for the Blind in Ireland (NCBI) also participated.
Since the trial, RTÉ has developed a specification for the Irish market. This specification is available from the RTÉ website at http://www.rtenl.ie/