Comments on: Denis O’Brien awarded all three Irish television multiplex licenses http://funferal.org/blog/2008/07/21/denis-obrien-awarded-all-three-irish-television-multiplex-licenses/ engraved and retouched and edgewiped and pudden-padded Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:48:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian Greene http://funferal.org/blog/2008/07/21/denis-obrien-awarded-all-three-irish-television-multiplex-licenses/comment-page-1/#comment-2864 Brian Greene Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:55:43 +0000 http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1320#comment-2864 I don't think anything less than the 4 mux as a group are viable. I don't think PPV DTT is viable either when it wasnt viable in the UK but freeview is and our pop in 20 times smaller. When will Boxer start asking for access to Mux 5&6 to make it all viable. But on the other hand UPC put EWTN on the limited NTL MMDS digital and exclude DCTV! "licensing amounts to a gift of public resources to private monopolies" it does! and we only have to think of Denis Digifone award & sale to see that. Here we go again. O'brien owns ~29% of Independent news papers. Our own Murdoch in the making. While evidence of abuse of this position are thin, I had to scream at the radio when on Thursday evening, independent news paper columnist Kevin Myres ended a 1 way traffic interview with Mary Harney on Newstalk, he finished with the words "thank you, you are a patriot" I don’t think anything less than the 4 mux as a group are viable. I don’t think PPV DTT is viable either when it wasnt viable in the UK but freeview is and our pop in 20 times smaller. When will Boxer start asking for access to Mux 5&6 to make it all viable. But on the other hand UPC put EWTN on the limited NTL MMDS digital and exclude DCTV!

“licensing amounts to a gift of public resources to private monopolies” it does! and we only have to think of Denis Digifone award & sale to see that. Here we go again. O’brien owns ~29% of Independent news papers. Our own Murdoch in the making. While evidence of abuse of this position are thin, I had to scream at the radio when on Thursday evening, independent news paper columnist Kevin Myres ended a 1 way traffic interview with Mary Harney on Newstalk, he finished with the words “thank you, you are a patriot”

]]> By: Andrew Ó Baoill http://funferal.org/blog/2008/07/21/denis-obrien-awarded-all-three-irish-television-multiplex-licenses/comment-page-1/#comment-2812 Andrew Ó Baoill Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:08:36 +0000 http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1320#comment-2812 I understand the attractiveness to operators of having multiple multiplexes, in terms of marketing synergy, etc. - it's obviously cheaper to market a single branded product than three separate products. However, I'm not sure I'd accept your argument about duplication of content. The existing stations (RTÉ, TG4, TV3) will be on the RTÉ multiplex, so the multiplexes will not be expected to carry that material. Given that, there is room for each to specialize in particular areas, or to provide different versions of certain niche channels - one with Al Jazeera English, another with CNN, perhaps. One with National Geographic, another with the Discovery channel. I understand the attractiveness to operators of having multiple multiplexes, in terms of marketing synergy, etc. – it’s obviously cheaper to market a single branded product than three separate products.

However, I’m not sure I’d accept your argument about duplication of content. The existing stations (RTÉ, TG4, TV3) will be on the RTÉ multiplex, so the multiplexes will not be expected to carry that material. Given that, there is room for each to specialize in particular areas, or to provide different versions of certain niche channels – one with Al Jazeera English, another with CNN, perhaps. One with National Geographic, another with the Discovery channel.

]]> By: Antoin O Lachtnain http://funferal.org/blog/2008/07/21/denis-obrien-awarded-all-three-irish-television-multiplex-licenses/comment-page-1/#comment-2797 Antoin O Lachtnain Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:14:56 +0000 http://funferal.org/blog/?p=1320#comment-2797 The thing about the three separate licences had more to do with avoiding a situation where the option had not been offered to the market. I don't think anybody really thought it would be viable to have two or three players in the Irish market. It just doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons. For a start, a lot of content would have to be duplicated between the multiplexes and this would reduce customer choice. For another, the marketing/startup costs would be too big. The thing about the three separate licences had more to do with avoiding a situation where the option had not been offered to the market. I don’t think anybody really thought it would be viable to have two or three players in the Irish market. It just doesn’t make sense for a variety of reasons. For a start, a lot of content would have to be duplicated between the multiplexes and this would reduce customer choice. For another, the marketing/startup costs would be too big.

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