THE complex legal and technical difficulties in licensing TV deflector systems are becoming clearer, now the Government has published its proposals.
The issues were debated at great length during a marathon High Court case which came to an end in November 1995. The judgment ran to almost 200 pages and was one of the longest given by the High Court.
South Coast Community Broadcasting Service, based in Carrigaline, Co Cork, had sought an injunction requiring the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications to reconsider its application for a licence.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Keane said he was satisfied that in refusing to examine the case for licensing the group's system, the Minister had failed to act fairly and judicially.
He said the group began with a transmitter in the Comeragh mountains in 1985, extending its range of operations over time so that by the time the proceedings began, its signals were received in most parts of Co Cork outside Cork city, and in the western part of Co Waterford.
The franchise for MMDS transmissions in the Cork region was granted to Cork Communications in 1986.
Mr Justice Keane said the Carrigaline group's operation was unarguably in breach of the law from the time it began rebroadcasting in 1985. A court could not condone that conduct. But neither should it punish the offender by depriving him of his constitutional rights.
It had been possible, since the group first set up in 1985, to accommodate it within the UHF band, as the group operated regionally. This was the case even though a new national channel was planned.
If the Carrigaline group was granted a licence it would be difficult to refuse other groups licences for similar systems.
Again, however, bearing in mind that those other systems would operate on a regional basis, the evidence suggested they could be accommodated.
The judge said there was no evidence that the existence of the group's rebroadcasting system had affected the economic viability of the cable system operated in Cork city by Cork Communications for the previous 13 years.
There was no evidence that the signals transmitted by the group were received to any significant extent in Cork city. The evidence was that the group discouraged any attempt to transmit them to that area.
The implications of the judgment were under consideration until recently within the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. Until then no decision was made on a new application for a licence, which the Carrigaline group submitted on foot of the High Court judgment.
HE Minister, Mr Dukes, has now decided to refuse the Carrigaline application, on the basis that the group should submit another application under the new licensing regulations he proposes to introduce.
When he outlined his proposals last week, Mr Dukes was careful to stress the new scheme "will have the effect of introducing competition for the provision of multi-channel television in non-cable areas".
Most of the subsequent commentary has overlooked one simple question: if competition is good for non-cable rural areas, then why does the same rule not apply in cabled urban areas?
At present, cable companies in Cork, Dublin, Galway and elsewhere charge far higher prices for their services than are the norm in countries without such monopolies.
If South Coast Community Broadcasting Service is granted a licence, it will be able to provide a multi-channel service in rural parts of Co, Cork. It seems likely that it will be expressly precluded from offering the same service in Cork city, although there are no technical reasons to prevent it from doing so.
There are major differences between cable and the more primitive deflector system. Cable systems can carry many more channels, and will soon be able to offer subscribers a wider range of services, including Internet access and pay-per-view films. Deflector systems rebroadcast the existing British channels and will be limited to four channels.
Many residents in Cork and in other cities, however, may feel the limited service offered by the deflector groups is all they want. But they will not have the option of subscribing to the cheaper deflector systems, under the new regulations, simply because they do not live in the country.
It is rural discrimination in reverse, this time directed against city folk who may envy their country cousins the cohesive identity which manifested itself in the powerful rural campaigns of recent months. It remains to be seen if it comes back to haunt the next government.