Wireless Telegraphy (Programme Services Distribution) Regulations, 1999.
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

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paragraphs: These Regulations may be cited as the Wireless Telegraphy (Programme Services Distribution) Regulations, 1999.
Interpretation.
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paragraphs: (1) In these Regulations—
“authorised officer” means a person appointed by the Director in writing to be an authorised officer for the purpose of these Regulations;
“digital roll-out plan” means the digital roll-out plan specified in Part V of the licence;
“Director” means the Director of Telecommunications Regulation appointed under the Telecommunications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1996 (No. 34 of 1996);
“distribute” means receive or originate a programme service and convey it over the system, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
“feeder” means a transmission path forming part of a programme services distribution system, which path may consist of a metallic cable, optic fibre or any combination thereof;
“force majeur event” means any of the following:
(a) fire, flood, earthquake, elements of nature or act of God;
(b) riot, civil disorder or act of war; and
(c) strikes or other industrial action (unless the action affects only the licensee);
“gross revenue” in respect of a licence year means the aggregate of all payments (excluding value-added tax, charges for installing or providing apparatus for receiving the services distributed by the licensee under the licence and any payments for pay per view services) paid or payable to the licensee, or to any other person for the benefit of the licensee, for the distribution in that licence year by the licensee of licensed programme services;
“headend” means equipment which is connected to receiving antennas or other signal sources and also connected to the remainder of the system to process the signal to be distributed;
“insolvency related event” in respect of a licensee means any of the following:
(a) becoming insolvent or holding a meeting with or making a composition or arrangement with creditors or putting a proposal to creditors for a voluntary arrangement for a composition of debts or a scheme of arrangement or taking any preparatory steps in relation to any of the foregoing;
(b) having a receiver or similar official or other encumbrancer take possession of or be appointed over or having any distress, execution or other process levied or enforced on the whole or any substantial part of the assets of the licensee (and not discharged within 7 days);
(c) ceasing or threatening to cease to carry on business or becoming unable or being deemed to be unable to pay debts within the meaning of section 214 of the Companies Act, 1963 (No. 33 of 1963);
(d) having a petition presented or making any other form of application for bankruptcy or windingup of the licensee or the appointment of an examiner or similar official to the licensee or any preparatory steps being taken in relation to any of them or convening a meeting or taking any preparatory or other steps to convene a meeting for the winding up, bankruptcy or dissolution of the licensee (other than for the purposes of a solvent amalgamation or reconstruction); and
(e) having any event analogous to any event referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) occur under the laws under which the licensee is incorporated;
“licence” means a licence under section 5 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 (No. 45 of 1926), to which Regulation 3 of these Regulations applies and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
“licence term” means, in relation to a licence, the period during which the licence continues in force;
“licence year” means a period of 1 year beginning on the date of commencement of the licence and each subsequent period of 1 year beginning immediately after the end of the previous period of 1 year occurring during the licence term;
“licensed area” means the area in the State in which the licence authorises the licensee to distribute licensed programme services;
“licensed programme service” means any of the following programme services:
(a) television broadcasts (within the meaning of the Wireless Telegraphy (Television Programme Retransmission and Relay) Regulations, 1991 ( S.I. No. 252 of 1991 )) that originate in another Member State of the European Communities and that fall within the fields coordinated by Council Directive 89/552/EEC1 of 3 October 1989 as amended by Council Directive 97/36/EEC2 of 30 June 1997;
(b) a television programme service (within the meaning of the Regulations referred to in paragraph (a)) that originates in a state (other than a Member State of the European Communities) being a party to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television done at Strasbourg on the 5th day of May, 1989 and that complies with the terms of the Convention;
(c) a programme service, other than a programme service to which paragraphs (a), (b) or (d) relate, approved of, for the time being, by the Director;
(d) a programme service that originates in the State, other than a programme service to which (a), (b) or (c) relate, authorised, for the time being, by law;
“licensee” means a holder of a licence;
“pay per view service” means a licensed programme service consisting of programme material provided at the specific request of individual customers, with charges payable by those customers for the provision of the specifically requested programme material;
“programme service” means a service which consists of sound or visual programme material of any description, or a compilation of both, intended for general or approved reception, whether encoded or not;
“quarter” means a period of 3 months beginning on the date of commencement of the licence and each subsequent period of 3 months beginning immediately after the end of the previous period of 3 months occurring during the licence term;
“receiver lead” means a lead which connects the system outlet to the subscriber's equipment;
“sound programme” means a programme intended for general or approved reception in sound only;
“subscriber's feeder” means:
(a) as regards a wired broadcast relay system, a feeder connecting a subscriber's tap to a system outlet or, where the latter is not used, directly to the subscriber's equipment; and
(b) as regards a television programme retransmission system, a feeder connecting a subscriber's antenna and downconvertor to a system outlet or, where the latter is not used, directly to the subscriber's equipment.
“system”, in relation to a licence, means the system used by the licencee for the distribution of licensed programme services, starting at the headend and ending either at the system outlets or, in cases where the licensee provides subscribers with a device incorporating specialised decoding means, at the output port of such device, and including all other apparatus directly or indirectly connected between those points, as more specifically described in Part II of the licence;
“system outlet”, in relation to a licence, means a device for connecting a subscriber's feeder to a receiver lead;
“television programme retransmission system” means a multipoint microwave distribution system used for the retransmission of programme services on a point to multipoint basis.
(2) In these Regulations,