Television Licensing: 2001 Act

Section 36, 38, 39 and 41 Television services

The Broadcasting Act, 2001 gave responsibility to the BCI to licence content on digital, cable, MMD and satellite systems. The BCI will sign contacts with the services for content only. The carriage of these services, either on satellite, cable or mmd, will be a matter to be negotiated between the applicants and the carriage operators themselves. The licensing of content for these services is an ongoing process with no timeframe for applications and no competitive licensing process.

Additional television services are licensed under section 36, 38, 39 and 41 of the Broadcasting Act, 2001. The Commission has decided that Section 39 licences will be the subject of open competition, given that these services must be carried cable and MMD systems. Further details on each of these content contracts can be found below:

Please click on either of the links below for further details on each of these services:

• Section 36: Satellite Content Contracts
• Section 38: Local Content Contracts
• Section 39: Community Content Contracts
• Section 41: Cable/MMD Content Contracts

Television Licensing policy document

The Television licensing policy document was launched in July 2004 to provide a framework for the licensing of additional services under the 2001 Act. Key issues in the document include:

• The Process for Developing Licensing Policy                       
• The BCI’s guiding regulatory principles
• The legislation framework
• A summary of key policy objectives
• Licensing strategy and procedures for the award of content contracts
• Provisions for review of policy

Show me the Television Licensing policy document

The Ownership and Control policy document

The Radio and Television Act 1988 required the BCI to create and apply a policy that takes account of plurality of ownership and diversity of content in broadcasting.  The Broadcasting Act 2001, which allows for the introduction of a host of new analogue and digital radio and television services, also addresses the issue of diversity of sources and of content, in the interests of listeners and viewers. The Ownership and Control policy document covers:

• guiding regulatory principles
• legislative framework
• policy objectives and
• policy details.

Show me the Ownership and Control Policy Document.

The Commission will commence a review of its Ownership and Control policy in the first quarter of 2005 and will launch the revised policy in the Autumn.