Boxer TV Ireland - Launch Plans

Launch Plans

Boxer's business plan submitted to the Commission detailed a service on the following lines.

Free to air "Saorview" channels:

• RTÉ One
• RTÉ One +1 (proposed)
• RTÉ Two
• RTÉ Three (proposed) - Timeshares during weekends with RTÉ Sport
• RTÉ News Now
• RTÉ Sport (proposed) - Timeshares during weekdays with RTÉ Three
• RTÉ HD (proposed)
• TV3
• TG4
• Irish Film Channel
• Houses of the Oireachtas Channel
• The Den - Timeshares with RTÉ Two from 6am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and from 7am to 1pm Saturdays
• Two Tube - Timeshares with RTÉ Two from 5.30pm to 7pm (Monday to Friday)
• Cúla 4 - Timeshares with TG4 from 7am to 7pm
• Property TV (proposed)
• Women's TV (proposed)

The "Boxer Starter Pack" includes 7 channels for € 9.99 per month (provisional):

• BBC One
• BBC Two
• UTV
• Channel 4
• Discovery
• Eurosport
• BBC News 24

The "Boxer Pack" includes the Starter Pack and 11 channels for € 22.99 per month (provisional):

• Sky One
• Living
• Sky News
• Film 4
• MTV (time-share)
• Nickelodeon (time-share)
• Disney Channel
• E4
• Setanta Ireland
• BBC Ireland (new channel composed of BBC 3, 4, CBBC and CBeebies it would also require more participation than normal from BBC)
• ITV Ireland (new channel composed of ITV 2, 3 and 4 it would also require more participation than normal from ITV)

Two "Premium Packs" for € 24.99 each per month:

• Three sports channels from either Sky Sports, Setanta Sports or rightsholders.
• Three movie channels from Sky Movies, UPC or rightsholders.

Boxer pay features might have included "pay as you go", "plug and play" installation and a selection of portable card options for different customer requirements.

Some commentators point to potential media concentration conflicts due to Communicorp involvement in radio and the Irish Independent Newspaper as shareholder in receiving competition regulatory approval. However, Boxer did not intend to produce content, but rather run a platform, so would have argued that such concern does not currently arise in its current business model.