NTL Communications (Ireland) Limited was a cable television and
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) company in Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by
Liberty Global Europe
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
(see history, below), having been divested by NTL. It was rebranded as UPC Ireland (now called
Virgin Media Ireland
Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and ...
).
Services
The company held cable television licences for
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
, and
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
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, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
cities (with the Dublin licences also covering
Leixlip
Leixlip ( or ; , IPA: lʲeːmʲənˠˈwɾˠad̪ˠaːnʲ is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between ...
, County Kildare,
Dunboyne
Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants.
Location
Dunboyne is centred on the ...
, County Meath, and
Bray, County Wicklow). It also held MMDS franchises for cells covering the above counties, as well as
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...
. It provided an analogue cable television service (with a very high take up in its areas passed), which provided the Irish terrestrial channels, plus
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
,
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
,
UTV,
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
,
Sky1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
and a small number of other channels. It also provided a digital television service, with over a third of its customer base taking a digital service. The company also converted its entire MMDS network to digital, with an offering of approximately seventy TV and radio services, while MMDS was switched off.
In its final years, the company rolled out broadband and enabled one third of its Dublin and 100% of its network in Galway and Waterford for broadband, becoming a major broadband provider in Ireland.
History
RTÉ / Telecom Éireann ownership
The company began operations in 1970 as RTÉ Relays, a subsidiary of
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
. It carried four channels – RTÉ Television, BBC1, BBC2, and Ulster Television. In 1984, the company merged with Dublin Cable Systems, itself the product of a merger of Marlin Cable with Phoenix Relays. In 1986, the
Irish Government
The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.
The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...
began to allow Irish cable companies to carry non-terrestrial (i.e.
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
) services. In the same year, RTÉ merged all of its cable operations (including two other cable companies, Galway Cablevision and Waterford Cablevision) to form Cablelink Limited.
As Cablelink, the company was Ireland's largest cable company by far, and expanded to a fifteen channel service (plus premium channels) gradually. In 1990,
Telecom Éireann
Telecom Éireann (; meaning "Telecommunications of Ireland") was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs ...
acquired 60% of the company from RTÉ. The biggest controversy the company managed to embroil itself during this time was a dispute with
British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
over carriage fees for Sky One and Sky News. This led to the two channels being pulled from the platform from 1992 to 1994. The "return of
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' ...
" was prematurely announced by Cablelink several times before the channels actually reappeared.
The company also wished to develop broadband services in 1997/1998 but there was an embargo on developing and selling Internet services by the main shareholders,
Telecom Éireann
Telecom Éireann (; meaning "Telecommunications of Ireland") was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs ...
, but the management felt if it were developed and a trial launched then there would be no stopping this. To conceal this from the Board, they hired a small Dublin company The Communications Interactive Agency to manage and run the trial. To this end all purchases of equipment and Internet Services were done in their name. At the time they were one of the first to demonstrate VoIP in Ireland as a commercial service which was done by the then managing director Alex Gogan at the Press Launch, by dialling live the Speaking Clock in New York using
Net2phone.com service.
At the time they were one of the first companies in Europe to trial and launch Broadband services. What stopped the trial from becoming a full roll out across their network was the purchase by NTL. It took the company almost four more years to integrate NTL Broadband service.
Sale to NTL
In 1999, as part of the privatisation of
Eircom
Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
, the Government put pressure on the shareholders of Cablelink to sell the company. Part of the reason was that Eircom was regarded by some as a "spoiler shareholder" in Cablelink, refusing to allow the company to compete in the voice telephony market that it dominated. The company was put up for auction, with bidders including
Esat Telecom Group, NTL, and
UPC, as well as CMI Cable and
Irish Multichannel. It was eventually announced that NTL would acquire the company for
IR£
The pound (Irish: ) was the currency of the Republic of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or IR£ for distinction). The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin cir ...
535.18m (nearly €680 million).
Under NTL, the company was renamed NTL Ireland on 3 July 2000, and began offering telephony and internet services. The company began to upgrade its network and in 2001 launched its digital television service. However the company lost two
managing directors during the time NTL ran the franchise. The biggest crisis erupted in early 2001, when NTL stopped selling its direct telephony and high-speed internet services, and halted the roll out of its upgraded hybrid fibre coax network. This led to a very public row with the
Commission for Communications Regulation
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) ( ga, An Coimisiún um Rialáil Cumarsáide) is the general communications regulator for Ireland, covering almost all possible types of communications.
Founded on 1 December 2002, ComReg too ...
, and the resignation of Ian Jeffers, the NTL executive who had been assigned to the Dublin operation upon the NTL takeover. Some years later, the company was forced to suspend its telephone service after problems with the equipment emerged.
Sale to Liberty Global
Despite NTL Ireland turning a profit as a result of its expected merger with
Telewest
Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also o ...
, the Irish assets were then considered non-core. In May 2005, NTL sold its Irish business to
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
(on behalf of
Liberty Global Europe
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
(then called UGC Europe)). MS Irish Cable Holdings, a subsidiary of
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
, held the stake on UGC's behalf, until the deal received regulatory clearance.
However a
Competition Authority investigation into the proposed resale of the company to Liberty Global Europe took place. On 4 November 2005 it was announced the Competition Authority had cleared the deal, subject to the appointment of an independent director to the board of UPC Ireland and restrictions on the influence of
John C. Malone
John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, for twenty-four years from 1973 to 1996. ...
on the running of the Irish business.
The deal was approved by the then
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment ( ga, An tAire Fiontar, Trádála agus Fostaíochta) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The current Minister for Ent ...
,
Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ireland), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence since Decembe ...
on 5 December 2005, and closed on 12 December 2005. At the time, Liberty used the "Chorus NTL" brand (under licence) in Ireland. Most aspects of the company were merged with
Chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
(billing, website etc.).
After a period branded as "Chorus NTL", the company carried out an extensive upgrade of the cable television networks it acquired, then re-launched as UPC Ireland.
In early 2006 the two companies were placed under a single management team. On 3 July 2006 it was reported on
RTÉ News
RTÉ News and Current Affairs ( ga, Nuacht agus Cúrsaí Reatha RTÉ), also known as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, nationa ...
that as part of the merger, up to 350 jobs would be lost, including the closure of NTL's
call centre
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...
in
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
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. In December 2006 NTL's customer service department closed, and customer service was transferred to the former Chorus call centre in Limerick. In January 2007, billing was transferred to a new system.
Rebranding
On 25 January 2007, NTL Ireland updated the
electronic programme guide
Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...
software to remove the NTL logo and all mention of the NTL name. However the UPC name did not replace it, the areas which contained the NTL logo simply being left blank. The colour scheme was still NTL's. From 31 January 2007, NTL and Chorus began advertising jointly, although the adverts were simply the ongoing campaign from NTL with the Chorus logo added to them.
In a
Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
article on 11 February 2007, UPC Ireland's marketing manager revealed that the rebrand was due to take place no later than May 2007. That did not happen, although, from July 2007, a composite "Chorus NTL" logo has been used in all advertising, with the tagline "A UPC Company" below. It was then expected that the full rebrand would take place in early 2008. In late September and early October NTL included a leaflet with its bills stating a new logo would appear on bills from 21 October. Although many took that to read that the relaunch would happen on that day, this did not occur.
On 14 August 2007 NTL launched a
personal video recorder
A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...
, the UPC Mediabox. Chorus then launched the same device in its cable areas in Autumn 2007. This was followed, on 30 October 2007, NTL and Chorus' websites were merged under a single site, though the composite Chorus NTL logo was used on the site rather than the UPC logo.
Most users of the EPG were switched fully to the new UPC EPG, taking the NTL EPG off air.
The company was rebranded on 4 May 2010.
References
External links
IrishTelecoms.com – Guide to Telecoms in IrelandUPC IrelandThe Communications Interactive Agency IrelandAlex Gogan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ntl Ireland
Irish companies established in 1970
2010 disestablishments in Ireland
Mass media companies of Ireland
Internet service providers of the Republic of Ireland
Former state-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland