Minister sets out digital TV proposals

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, is preparing to bring new proposals on digital television to Cabinet.

It is believed the proposals, which come at the end of months of discussions between her Department and RTE, will involve amendments to just three of the Broadcasting Bill's 56 sections.

The Minister has received the report of the former ICTU president, Mr Phil Flynn, who was acting as a facilitator in discussions between RTE and the Department. She expects to be able to bring proposals to Cabinet before the end of July.

The dispute, which has delayed RTE's plans to introduce three digital television stations, centres on the stake RTE will hold in the new digital broadcasting entity.

The Minister met members of the new RTE Authority before their first meeting on Friday. She told them they had been selected from a broad cross-section of Irish life to help RTE meet the challenges it would face with the advent of digital broadcasting.

The station's new chairman, Mr Paddy Wright, has said he is confident RTE will retain a significant stake in the new joint-venture company that will take over the transmission network and upgrade it to carry digital signals.