RTE admit signal will affect BBC and HTV
January 1978
RTE have finally admitted that it is likely that television signals for its new channel RTE 2 (to begin transmitting later this year) will interfere with reception in the south-east of Ireland of British channels BBC and HTV.
Journalists from Wexford, Wicklow, Carlow, and Kilkenny were invited to a press reception in Donnybrook on Thursday last, where RTE technical experts explained the measures they are taking to try prevent interference with the stations that people along the south east coast in particular have enjoyed for years.
But at the same time, no guarantees have been given that there will not be interference, and the alternative of ‘piped television’ looms large, where viewers would pay a regular fee to a provider to have the English stations brought into their homes. This is all very well for areas where signals at present are weak (such as Carlow and Kilkenny due to them being further from Wales) but for most of County Wexford, where viewers can get the stations for free by simply erecting an aerial on their rooftop, it is not very satisfactory. Additionally, people in rural areas are unlikely to be able to avail of ‘piped television’, so while much of the country would be gaining an extra channel (going from one to two), they would in effect be losing two (going from having RTE, BBC 1, BBC 2 and HTV to just being able to rely on RTE 1 and RTE 2 since the English stations may be unwatchable due to interference).
RTE says that will soon be commissioning test broadcasts on the same frequency on which the new RTE 2 will be broadcast and that these should show what areas are most at risk of interference and how atmospheric conditions are likely to affect signals too. They say this will allow them to smooth out any problems ahead of RTE 2 going ‘on air’ but it was pointed out to them at the press conference that this means people will just have interference earlier instead, and for no gain either as they will not even have a ‘proper’ television channel causing that interference.
Overall this is an issue which looks like it will not be easily solved and which many people in Wexford are annoyed about.