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Please note, information on this page is rumoured, and has not been confirmed by the companies concerned...

6/3/03
NTL Ireland for sale?
The Irish Independent today reported that NTL Ireland is for sale. The paper indicated the asking price for the company may be as low as EUR 100,000, a far cry from the EUR 800m that the company was purchased for from the then Bord Telecom Eireann in 1999. This is not the first rumour of this nature however, newspaper rumours of this nature began almost as soon as the sale was through...

2/10/02
UTV to launch new ROI sub-opt on Sky Digital?
There are reports in various internet fora that UTV will launch a dedicated ROI sub-opt on Sky Digital on 21st October. The new UTV South service - which would be ITV1's 28th sub-region - would carry most of the UTV schedule, but would substitute alternative programming - possibly from the Ulster Television archive - for some Granada programmes such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale for which TV3 holds the rights. The new service would open up the possiblity of seperate ROI advertising too.

12/9/02
Sky about to launch Sky Active Ireland?
There are reports in our Digital Satellite forum that some Irish Sky viewers have been able to access interactive services at various times this week. Is a launch of Sky Active Ireland about to take place? We are heading towards Q4 2002, so perhaps?

17/5/02
MTV to set up seperate Irish service?
It appears MTV may be gearing up to launch a seperate Irish service in September. A competition to "be the face of MTV Music Television Ireland" is currently running on Ballygowan mineral water bottles. 20 tickets to the MTV Lick Party Dublin, and three finalists presenting MTV UK & Ireland Select, are the prizes on offer. The ultimate prize is to appear in a promo to run on "MTV in Ireland" in September. Make up your own mind on what that means...

MTV Networks Europe have also registered the mtv.ie web domain, incidently...

15/3/02
It'sTV finance almost sorted.
This week's Business and Finance has reported that It'sTV has almost completed a deal with two US venture capital firms to back its Digital Terrestrial Television service. The article goes on to so say that the DTT contract may be awarded to It'sTV in April. Meanwhile the sale of RTE's transmission network DTTN is to proceed once the contract is awarded.

4/3/02
TV3 and TG4 on way to NTL Home Digital NI
Digitalspy.co.uk has reported that TV3 and TG4 are to be launched on NTL Home Digital in Belfast in the next few months. This would tie in with their possible availablity on Sky soon, and would be part of a forthcoming relaunch of NTL Home Digital including a new EPG (which, given that NTL Home Digital uses the same EPG as NTL Go Digital, may mean ROI customers may also find themselves with a new EPG also).

23/6/01
Chorus sale to begin "within weeks"?
Rumours continue to abound regarding what exactly is to be done about Chorus. Independent don't regard it as a core asset yet seem in no hurry to sell. Now the Sunday Tribune is reporting that Liberty Media, the other shareholder in Chorus, seems willing to also sell. "Market sources indicated that the sale process could be triggered in the coming month to six weeks", it reports. Comcast, which quit the UK several years ago - it sold out to NTL CableTel - and venture capital houses are said to be interest in Chorus.

6/5/01
Sky to launch Nickelodeon Ireland?
The next channel to get the advertising opt-out treatment may be Nickelodeon UK, according to reports in this week's Sunday Tribune. The Dublin advertising industry is apparently encouraging Sky towards such a move, as RTE's Den2 and UTV's Children's ITV are struggling against the satellite service. Sky has earned about £5m in revenue from the Irish versions of Sky One and Sky News launched on 1/9/00. Nickelodeon UK does not have quite the universal coverage that these channels do however - while all NTL homes recieve the service, not all Chorus homes do (it is only carried for a few hours in the morning on analogue MMDS and not at all in most ex-CMI regions - Cartoon Network having been preferred by CMI). In addition, Sky only owns 50% of Nickelodeon UK, the rest being owned by Nickelodeon US, a Viacom (via MTV) subsidary. No doubt any deal by Sky to produce a Nickelodeon Ireland would resolve both these issues though. The article also suggests Irish versions of Sky Sports are on the cards.

26/3/01
NTL to sell off Irish operation for £380m?
The Sunday Times (Irish Edition) has reported that NTL is looking to sell its ex-Cablelink franchises for £380m, a depreciation of £240m on the price NTL bought them for two years ago.
It may be rather hard for NTL to find buyers - Chorus has looked hard for a buyer, but hasn't yet come up with anything. The coming week will see a decision from the regulator over what to do with NTL's licence - the 31st March deadline to have 100,000 homes passed looks very, very unlikely!

14/11/00, updated 31/1/01
UTV, RTE to bid for 3G licence?
It was reported by the Irish Sunday Times and the Irish Independent in November, that UTV plc will bid for one of the UMTS mobile phone licences to be awarded by the ODTR later this year. It has now also been reported that RTE may bid for a 3G licence also. It would allow it to offer RTE INTERACTIVE services, including content from RTE ONLINE and its new digital channels, over the wireless network. RTE was a failed bidder for the second GSM licence several years ago, that was won by (the now-BT Cellnet owned) Esat Digifone.

14/10/00
NTL NI subscribers to get cheaper cable modems?
Cablenews UK has reported that NTL subscribers in the North may be one of a number of regions on line to get cheaper cable modem access - which currently costs £40 a month (£50 in the Republic). Especially exciting would be a £4.99 a month entry package for a 64KPS line - not a lot faster than a modem, but the same as ISDN and a lot cheaper too. Several price points are currently being trialled in Surrey in England.

18/7/00:
Channel 5 in negotiations with NTL?
ICDG EXCLUSIVE
Sources at NTL have informed ICDG that they are in negotiations with Channel 5 Broadcasting over general carrige of the channel from Q4 2000. It seems likely that the channel will be available to Digital Plus viewers, although it is not known whether analogue viewers will also recieve the channel. No further information is available. It would be the first time the channel has been made generally available in Ireland.