DTT suffers blow from Boxer

The consortium that won the contract to provide pay DTT services in Ireland has handed back its licence, citing changed economic conditions that the company says mean that operating a service is no longer economically viable.

Boxer and Irish company Communicorp won the licence in mid-2008 and were expected to start offering a three-multiplex service this year.
Boxer beat two other bidders, Easy TV, a combination of state broadcaster RTE and MSO Liberty and One Vision, which comprised local telco Eircom, technology company Arqiva and content suppliers Setanta and TV3. The One Vision consortium has now been offered the licence. If it does not take it, it will be offered to Easy TV.