[3] Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone TV and Eir among others, provide similar digital television services to Irish viewers.
By the end of the 1950s, 60% of the population could receive the UK's BBC TV and ITV from spillover from Northern Ireland, Wales and the west of England.
The Department of Finance at this time were worried about the cost of setting up a new television service and dismissed the possibility on several occasions during the 1950s.
RTÉast Networks also broadcast test DVB-T with analogue TV and radio channels from the Clermont Carn transmitter in the Cooley Mountains, County Louth with some signal bleed into Northern Ireland.
ITS wanted to offer broadband internet access using the DVB-RCT standard (which while high bandwidth at up to 30 Mbit/s, is not fast enough with 20,000 people on one mast).
The government also planned to privatise RTÉ's transmission network at this time but this too failed in October 2002 following the withdrawal of ITS Digital Limited DTT licence application and a number of other factors.
[24][25] TV Access, a coalition of organisations that promote issues surrounding individuals with disabilities and senior citizens, began a campaign to highlight the switchover from analogue to digital television (DTT) broadcast services in its contribution to the Oireachtas Communications Committee heard on Wednesday, 1 April 2009.
[26] TV Access aimed to make the wider public aware of the needs of aging and disabled viewers; they also launched a website.
[28] On 1 February 2010 Ireland's then-Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan signed an agreement with the UK's Ben Bradshaw.
[32] This agreement was designed to ensure viewers within Northern Ireland could watch RTÉ One, RTÉ2 and TG4 on a free-to-air basis after the digital switchover.
[33] While initial reports suggested that BBC services would equally be made available free-to-air in the Republic of Ireland at the same time, this was not to be the case.
[33][34][35] In practice all BBC satellite channels can be received freely in the Republic of Ireland, due to overspill from the United Kingdom.
[36] Following a broad range of technical work, the two governments agreed an effective way to provide for the continuing provision of TG4 by building a new, low power TV multiplex in Northern Ireland.
The Commission for Communications Regulation issued its response to Consultation 08/44 about interest in multi-city mobile TV licenses that could cover up to 40% of the population that would lead to the Award of available UHF spectrum in the urban areas of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
This results in third parties having access through agreements with the wholesale mobile network operator as Other Mobile TV Service Providers (OMTSPs) in a timely, reasonable, non-discriminatory and transparent manner to the network to provide their own services and electronic programme guide from up to 20 channels maximum space.
The winner of that contest would have two years to build the network and agree terms with Other Mobile TV Service Providers.
[40] The Information Notice provided in ComReg's plans to issue one 8 MHz frequency channel in the UHF band in the areas of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford and invited candidates to tender for the licence in the fourth quarter of the year of 2010 and announce the licence results by the end of 2010.
The two responders addressed points regarding automatic additional spectrum and ComReg outlined that it was minded to consider later award of mobile TV license when a national network for same would be possible of for other uses.
The main concern was to whether there is demand for broadcast mobile TV, given experiences elsewhere or whether the award be made post ASO when international spectrum co-ordination is clearer.
The figure dropped slightly in the early years of the 21st century due to the increased popularity of satellite reception, notably Sky, but has stabilised recently.
Virgin Media offers digital cable television services in cities and towns throughout the country (with the exception of Cork, where the network is digital-only).
For most of the 1990s however, Sky's DBS customer base in Ireland was dwarfed by the large numbers receiving its channels via cable.
Imported "Grey market" (as the contract the operator has doesn't permit direct sales outside the intended Geographic area) satellite receivers are sometimes used to watch both FTA and subscription channels from visitors home countries (e.g., Cyfrowy Polsat) Following the failure of the commercial DTT process in May 2010 RTÉ submitted a revised DTT plan including an FTA satellite option to the Dept of Communications in mid-June 2010 for approval.
RTÉ said the combined offering was designed to be the most cost-effective solution for viewers and broadcasters; to offer for the first time 100% coverage of free-to-air public service television services in Ireland, and to provide full national backup coverage on satellite in the event of an emergency or catastrophic failure of the DTT system.
Approval for the revised National DTT plan and the new Saorsat satellite service was announced by the Minister for Communications at the end of July 2010.
Virgin Media Ireland provided a wireless cable service over an all digital MMDS network reaching over 80% of the country.