More conspiracy theories

GavinS

Anyone remember all the fuss over Valencia and the great (Sir) Tony? That he might end up owning Chorus, Independent Media, Eircom and several other media organisations giving him effective Gates-like power in the media in Ireland?

Well our wonderful politicians have decided that its perfectly ok for our Tony to buy Eircom, and according to Mata Harney this does not break any competition laws. There are however stipulations to his control of Eircom - he has to promise not follow what goes in in the upper echelons of Chorus.

Now Harney and O'Rourke admit that they have no way to enforce this - but if they ever find out that Tony was abusing his power they might prosecute (oooooh hes sooooo scared!)

Added to this are the dubious tax laws that were passed by Charlie McC, to allow to buying of Eircom by Sir Tony. When the Irish Times tried to obtain details of these changes under the freedom of information act, Tony promptly blocked it with a High Court Order...hm

Now if FF or the PDs were to gain more 'political donations' from the most generous and loaded Tony, and a certain 'Communications Bill' or anything similar were to fall by the wayside - FF could be back in government next year thanks to Tonys love of democracy - FFs pockets would be bulging for fighting a general election...

just a theory

Gav

Boston

well given that he couldnt sell chorus if he wanted to( and he does) there wasnt much point in forcing it, he probably told them he would close up the company if he was forced to.

dahamsta

Added to this are the dubious tax laws that were passed by Charlie McC, to allow to buying of Eircom by Sir Tony. When the Irish Times tried to obtain details of these changes under the freedom of information act, Tony promptly blocked it with a High Court Order...hm

Be a howl if the entire membership of IrelandOffline sent in FOIA requests to the Department of Finance for the relevant documents, wouldn't it?

adam

Boston

well thats what the mailing list is for, if you requested that every member do it, alot would. and it would get us noticed by some people, theaming up with the irish times isnt a bad idea either

billy the squid

well given that he couldnt sell chorus if he wanted to( and he does) there wasnt much point in forcing it, he probably told them he would close up the company if he was forced to.

I may be wrong but dont chorus hold franchises for most of the geographical area of the country closing them down would leave most of the country back in 2 channel land (ok four channel land )

talk about holding the government to ransom

MarcusGarvey

I think Sky will take what customers Chorus has, especially once RTE start broadcasting from space.

Its annoying that Eircom and Chorus have Fixed Wireless Access licenses now. One of these should really be given back, or given to someone who wants it. Would anyone take it ?