THE decision to give the licence for l 5 digital channels to the British Digital Broadcasting consortium last week shows clearly where British policy on digital television lies.
We now know that Rupert Murdoch will not dominate it, to the extent he might have wished. We also know that the driving force will be cheap and cheerful television rather than anything innovative and challenging.
It also places Ireland in stark contrast to Britain. The Independent Television Commission in Britain now envisages terrestrial digital television, that is digital television that can be picked up by an ordinary TV aerial, being transmitted to homes by the autumn of next year. Mr Murdoch is also planning 200 new satellite digital services next spring.
Ireland, on the other hand, has no policy for the introduction of digital television, even though cable companies will include British digital channels as soon as they become available to overcome the problem of limited capacity.
British digital television will he available in Ireland as soon as the set top boxes that unscramble digital signals become available.
British Digital Broadcasting comprises two powerful media giants, Granada and Carlton. It did include BSkyB, of which Mr Murdoch owns 40 per cent, but the ITC said it would not grant it the licence if BSkyB remained part of the consortium. The ITC said it had "fundamental concerns" about BSkyB's strength in the pay TV market.
Mr Murdoch does, however, remain powerful. He will be supplying film and sports channels to the new digital service.
That is the second point, that the driving force will be cheap and cheerful All observers agreed that the rival Digital Television Net work offered much more innovative television. However, by awarding the licence to British Digital Broadcasting, the ITC has indicated that it will be sports and movies that will force the pace towards pay-per-view and subscription digital television.
However, the decision, even if it was bad news for Mr Murdoch does show that Britain is moving much faster towards a fully digital future than many other European countries. France, Germany and Italy might have been first off the blocks, but caution has taken over and slowed things considerably.
Europe's giant media companies have not been convinced that digital television is going to repay investment quickly enough.
Unfortunately Ireland cannot afford the cautious approach, developments in Britain will probably force the pace here. As more digital television becomes available in Britain and Northern Ireland, the pressure to make it available here will increase.
Next year UTV, the BBC and Channel 4 will be available on digital.
Cable companies have limited space left. Cablelink, the largest, cable TV provider, has less than seven spare channels, across its service. It is under increasing pressure to allocate those. It has to hold one for TV3 and possibly one for Britain's Channel 5. But Cablelink has made it clear it will offer digital channels as soon as practicable.
But there are important cultural implications of having our television services being forced ahead by those in Britain. The Government will have to view what is taking place in Britain seriously: and make decisions that suit the Irish broadcasting environment, or else Ireland will find it is dominated by both the commercial, technological and programming imperatives of Britain.
