RTÉ HAS said it is “reviewing” the legality of a service offered by a broadband company giving people access to all the Republic’s terrestrial channels via the internet without the need to buy a television licence.
Magnet WebTV was launched five weeks ago and offers live web streams of RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2, TV3, e3 and TG4. The broadband company plans to enhance its offering to include both Dáil and Seanad TV in time for the first sitting of the 31st Dáil on Wednesday.
It says its service is a “small, but welcome, relief to cash-strapped consumers” and claims it will let people “eliminate TV licence fees and costly cable subscriptions”.
While the numbers watching its live streams remains small – just 600 users have been watching daily since it was launched at the end of January – the service now has more than 10,000 registered users and if it continues to grow, it will negatively impact on RTÉ’s revenues from licence fees.
An RTÉ spokeswoman said it had been in correspondence with Magnet about the issue in recent weeks. “The regulatory and legal framework around it is complex. We are currently reviewing it,” she said. Magnet, however, insists there is nothing complex about its new service and says it is entirely legal. A spokesman said it represented a “paradigm shift in how TV is viewed”.
He said the company would continue to offer the free service to everyone whether they use Magnet’s broadband packages or not. He said streaming live television online was allowed for under the Broadcasting Act 2009 provided the channels were free-to-air.
“Under this Act everyone in Ireland is entitled to receive the free-to-air channels irrespective of the device they wish to watch it on,” he said. “The Act and its obligations refer to the Republic of Ireland only and to this end Magnet WebTV has geo-blocked the service to ensure it is only available within the Republic.”
