RTE Irish Digital Is Going Private

A major political row is brewing in Ireland over government plans to force state-run Irish Television, RTE, to sell off almost all of the country's planned digital transmission network to the private sector. The government action, word of which began to emerge in Irish media reports Monday, February 28, 2000, means that virtually the whole digital television service in Ireland will be privatized. An Irish Broadcasting Bill, progressing through the legislative process, has been amended by the Irish government in what appears to be a dramatic U-turn of digital broadcast policy. The move reportedly follows a disagreement between RTE and the minister responsible for the television sector, Sile de Valera. The clash, which is holding up passage of the Broadcast Bill, occurred over the projected value of the digital transmission network. Source: The Hollywood Reporter