RTÉ spent close to €6 million on the planned sale of its transmission network, which has now been abandoned. The station announced yesterday it was halting the sale process initiated at the direction of the former Minister for the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ms De Valera.

A number of consultants were engaged for the process, including Rothschild Bank in London, and there was also significant expenditure on separating the network from the rest of RTÉ.

The station's accounts show that €7.6 million was allocated to the sale process in 2001. About half of this was for employee-reduction costs and so was not used. The rest was for consultancy fees, due diligence and the separating of the network operation from the rest of the station.

A further €2 million was spent this year on consultancy work and other matters. Initially three parties were interested in buying the network but the collapse of the Government's intended sale of a licence for digital television means the value of the network has plummeted.

A year ago an estimated value of up to €100 million was being put on the network. But with digital TV encountering problems across Europe and with the Government's plans for digital TV in disarray, the network may now be worth in the region of €20 million to €30 million.

It is thought the Government spent €2 million to €3 million on the digital licence process, which it abandoned about 10 days ago.

In a statement yesterday, RTÉ said the authority had carried out a full review of the network sale. The review took into account the fact that the authority had recently been informed that the sole applicant for the digital multiplex licence (It'sTV) had withdrawn its application.

The decision was also influenced by current market and economic conditions and the Government's announcement that it intended to review all options on the roll-out of digital TV.

"Having completed this review and considered all of the circumstances, the authority has decided to terminate the transmission network sale process," the statement said.

The sale of the network was progressing in the wake of the licence-award process as the value of the network would be influenced by the business plan submitted by the winning applicant for the licence.

The network is currently used by RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, with the latter stations paying RTÉ for the use of the network.

The station has been preparing since 2000 for the parting of ways with the network and is now likely to keep the operation ring-fenced in preparation for any future sale.