On Oct 29th 2010, the Saorview Digital TV service went live. It’s nationwide coverage initially was around 90%.  Initially it was a limited service (Only the RTE owned channels) but on Nov 3rd 2010, TV3 was added to the channel list and on the 17th Nov 2010, TV3s sister channel 3e was added too.   In November RTE2 started broadcasting in HD only but this was reversed to include a standard definition RTE2 to accomodate those views who only had SD Digital Receivers.

There was meant to be a limited public information campaign in November to inform people of the Saorview turn on, however this was very limited.   Some shops and outlets started receiving Saorview approved boxes around November and December time.   Generally, these were the Walker boxes and were retailing around 99euro.  There were meant to be a limited  umber of Saorview approved TVs in shops too, altough I have yet to see one locally yet.

This blog post is basically to outline the possible timeline for the rest of the Saorview Digital TV roll-out and for the switch off of the analogue TV signal.

Below are best guess estimates and may change as time goes on but as of now they are based on best available information.

• From February 2011, there is to be a major publicity drive regarding Saorview
• From April/May onwards there should be much more variety in Saorview Set Top Boxes as more arrive on the market.
• After the public launch of Saorsat (Saorview’s Satellite Counterpart) around May timeframe, there will be full information campaign about the analogue switchoff.
• In 2012, you can expect all the RTE owned channels to be broadcasting in HD on Saorview.
• Also you can expect the nation wide coverage of the Digital Terrestrial TV signal to be around 98%. (Saorsat is going to overlap here and make up the additional 2% aswell as offering people more choise in how they receive it)
• From Oct 2012, the analogue signal will begin to be turned off.
• At the latest, Feb 2013 will be when all of the analogue signal will be switched off.
• Towards the end of 2013, we expect to have TV3 in HD and possibly 3e.

As I say, this is a rough guide to the Saorview timeframe.   This may change over time but if you want to ensure your Saorview compatibility now, you will ahve to either upgrade/replace your Digital TV receiver and / or buy yourself an MPEG4 HD Digital TV.   This of course only applies to those who do not subscribe to the LIkes of NTL or Sky but even at that, if you want to have a free to air option along side your subscription package without paying for mulit room, then this is something you will have consider doing in the near-medium term.