Television service in jeopardy

Television service in jeopardy


Houses across Mayo face channel blackout as signal set to be withdrawn

Neill O’Neill

UP TO 150 households in the south west Mayo region near Drummin will be without terrestrial television channels from September 30 next, as the Chairman of Mayo Community TV Ltd warns that there is a real danger of the service also being withdrawn from many more areas of the county.
The switching off of the transmission to the area will directly affect homes in Drummin, Bohea, Liscarney, Carrakennedy, Erriff and other surrounding areas, and notice is being given to allow people three weeks to arrange alternative ways of receiving a television signal.
Now in their third decade of providing non-subscription television to between 30,000 and 40,000 homes county-wide, the company are finding it increasingly difficult to operate because of a lack of funds and an unwillingness in many households to pay a voluntary €75 annual contribution charge.
A mast near the Mayo border in Connemara was switched off by the company last February with a loss of TV channels to the region, and with the cessation of services in Drummin imminent, Joe Gibbons has stated that services in Louisburgh and Newport are also in immediate danger.
This will mean that without subscribing to a pay monthly Sky TV package, many households outside of Mayo’s major urban centres will only be able to receive a limited and often poor quality television signal. The county is also served by RTE antennae – but households that can benefit from these will only be able to receive RTE One, Network 2 and TG4. However, this excludes the Drummin area where the RTE signal cannot penetrate, and at present, Mayo Community TV Ltd are the sole transmitters of RTE on the terrestrial network in Drummin. The company also transmits BBC1, BBC2, UTV, and Channel 4 right across their network, and all these channels will be permanently lost wherever their service ceases.
“Since 1988 we have been transmitting in Drummin,” Mr Gibbons told The Mayo News, “and traditionally we have had to use money from other areas to maintain this service financially. We invested €14,000 in the transmitter in Drummin in the last two years (including having a new mast dropped in place by a helicopter), and though it costs €3,000 to run annually, our last collection in the area yielded just €530 – the price of three television licences. We now regret that as a result, we will be switching off the transmitter in Drummin on September 30 next.”
According to Mr Gibbons, when collectors called to some houses in the Drummin area they were told that Sky TV had been installed and found people saying that they no longer use the services of Mayo Community TV Ltd, and therefore would not pay the €75.
“The problem is that while people may have Sky on their main television there is usually another TV set in the house with terrestrial channels showing, and this is not being paid for. The average household has five television sets these days, and we have no way of demanding they pay us for this so we are essentially paying to provide some people with a free television service. This is threatening our overall business and we will run out of money if it continues. We realise that not everybody has Sky but we feel we have no choice but to take this action. The real pity is that the households – especially those where elderly people reside – where our service is appreciated and where the €75 is paid, will also now lose their television signal because of this. We cannot and will not borrow money to maintain the service.”
For every €75 Mayo Community TV Ltd receive they are left with €20 to run the service on, by the time they pay VAT, IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation) subscription, licence and collectors’ fees and insurance. When they began bringing television to Mayo in the late seventies they received IR£30 per household per year, and could keep it all.
RTE provide no financial assistance to Mayo Community TV Ltd, but have in the past encouraged them to invest in upgrading their transmission equipment. The company serves most of the county with a network of eight masts, and also facilitates the provision of broadband services by carrying broadband antennae on their masts when requested to do so. Joe Gibbons said that he is aware that another terrestrial television service provider in the Belmullet area is experiencing similar difficulties as Mayo Community TV Ltd.