The TV standard in Ireland is going digital
On 11th November 2011 the Minister issued a notice to Retailers, Distributers and Manufacturers notifying of the change to the TV standard in Ireland. The notification is available here. The accompanying press release is available here
Size of TV Market in Ireland
In Ireland, there are about 1.65 million households in Ireland and about 1.6million of these have television sets. There is an average of 2.5 televisions per household.
About 80-84% of TV households use a Pay TV service which means that between 16-20% of TV households rely on the analogue TV network as their only access to TV.
In addition, many other TV households use the analogue TV network as a back up to their pay-TV service. At least 32-36% of TV households have an aerial which can be used to receive the analogue TV network. A map of Ireland showing the Saorview transmitter sites is available from RTÉ Networks Limited (RTÉNL). Details of Pay TV Operators are available on our cost and options page.
National Digital Terrestrial Television Network (SAORVIEW)
Ireland’s national subscription free digital TV network is owned, built, operated and maintained by RTÉ, Ireland’s main public service broadcaster. RTÉ has called the network “SAORVIEW”. “Saor” is the Irish language word for Free. Information on the network is available at http://www.saorview.ie/.
Building the network began in 2008 and was completed in 2011. RTÉ launched the network to over 97% of the population on 26th May 2011. The network uses 51 transmitter sites instead of the c.150 used by the analogue TV network.
In addition to SAORVIEW, RTÉ is planning to launch a free satellite TV service. This is expected to use a new Eutelsat satellite with a footprint limited to Ireland.
SAORVIEW Digital Receiver Specification
RTÉ has developed the SAORVIEW digital receiver specification. The specification is aligned with the Nordig MPEG-4 receiver specification used in Nordig countries. The RTÉ specification also requires receivers to be equipped with the MHEG-5 (v 1.06) middleware product which is used in the UK.
The RTÉ receiver specification has been in the public domain since 2008 and has recently been updated in line with modifications to the Nordig specification. Information on the specification is available from RTÉ at http://www.rtenl.ie/.
Testing and certification process
RTÉ has developed the “SAORVIEW” logo which can be used by all receivers passing the SAORVIEW receiver specification.
RTÉ has contracted Teracom in Sweden to test products against the SAORVIEW receiver specification. Before being permitted to use the logo, RTÉ requires all receivers to be laboratory tested against the SAORVIEW specification. Further information is available from RTÉNL.
Equipment and Receivers
Information on Saorview approved receivers (set top boxes and televisions) is available on http://www.saorview.ie/