RTE is progressing its plans to launch Ireland’s new digital terrestrial television (DTT) service called Saorview and has appointed the Teracom TV services company to test receivers or decoders for compatibility with the country’s free-to-air signal. Saorview is due to come into play when the old analogue signal, received through aerials, is switched off in two years from now. Viewers will then either switch to Saorview or sign up to an operator such as Sky or UPC (Chorus/NTL) for a paid-up service.

Saorview will be available free to viewers, giving access to RTE1, RTE2, TV3, TG4 and some other channels. A commercial operator is due to provide DTT services, allowing people to subscribe to various paid-for extras, which would include movie packages.

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