This second phase of the pilot will involve a trial with an initial panel of 500 public participants, who have been drawn from the Dublin and Louth areas. This will rise to 1,000 participants over the lifetime of the trial.

Commenting on the launch of the public participation phase, Minister Dempsey said; “This latest phase in the Digital Terrestrial Television pilot will provide a unique insight into the issues involved in the provision and attractiveness of DTT services to Irish viewers. Members of the public will have an opportunity to test the first Irish DTT trial service and to provide feedback to the Department on their experiences of the services on offer. This will help us to gear up for the 2012 switch off proposed by the European Commission.”

The objective of the trial is to identify the issues associated with a transition from an analogue terrestrial TV platform to a digital terrestrial TV platform. Digital TV is currently available on a number of platforms, such as cable, MMDS and satellite but this is the first time digital TV will be available from terrestrial transmitter systems in Ireland.

Each trial participant will be provided with receiver equipment which has been specially adapted for the trial. Content will be provided from a number of sources (for a full list please see notes to editors). Some additional radio and TV channels may come on stream at a later stage in this phase of the trial.

The pilot will continue until August 2008, during which time DTT broadcasts will transmit from the Three Rock site in Dublin and the Clermont Carn site in County Louth.

“I am committed to ensuring that Ireland keeps ahead of developments in digital broadcasting across the EU. A DTT service is capable of providing much more for Irish viewers in the long-term in terms of quality, service and additional channels than an analogue service,” continued the Minister.

This phase of the Pilot works in tandem with legislation currently being brought through the Oireachtas. The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2006 sets out a framework for the future licensing of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in Ireland with a view to facilitating national DTT roll-out. It also provides for consideration of analogue switch-off.

“The pilot will play an important part in informing the development of Ireland’s long-term broadcasting strategy. It will also encourage stakeholder and public interest in DTT,” concluded Minister Dempsey.