From humble beginnings 31 years ago the CAI has developed in to the representative body for TV and Radio Signal Reception across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It was only a matter of time that we would be invited to go across the Irish Sea and extend our remit across Ireland as a whole.
So the CAI broke new ground with its first Roadshow especially geared towards developing its membership in a country that up until now has seen little reward for the members it already has across its wide expanse. The Republic of Ireland has faltered in its quest to achieve digital switchover within its original time frame and there is an obvious void of representative knowledge the CAI could fill once we galvanise the aerial trade and talk to the Irish government and broadcasters.
That was our message and the CAI administration had no pre-conceptions on what response we would achieve with our visit but the resulting turnout was truly amazing. The doom merchants were silenced as around 90 installers turned up eager to find out what the CAI was all about.
That was probably the only pre-conception. This show was purely to showcase what the CAI can achieve when it mobilises its troops. Alongside the ‘usual suspects’ manufacturer and distributor-wise, new recruits Electroplus and Bcon Communications - who trade across Ireland – were present as exhibitors and we have to thank all our distributor members for the sterling effort they put in to make this show a tremendous success.
The seminar programme centred on an open forum led by CAI executives Tim Jenks and Kevin Dawson ably supported by CAI directors. On this trip Steve Atherton, Keith Bail, Guillermo Fernadez, Trevor Paintain, and Derrick Walker flanked CAI Vice-Chairman Robert Oliver. The issues became obvious. Ireland is obviously in somewhat of a time warp with regard to the strong installer view that Sky TV dominates the domestic market and terrestrial TV is heading towards a painful death as a result. The gathering doubted that the CAI could offer little to change that situation.
The CAI has of course been down this trail before in the early 1990’s with the emergence of multi-channel TV led by Sky all over the UK. But we also know now how the market can shift with Freeview thumping home a capture of 10m homes in a very short space of time. The big question now is whether the Republic of Ireland government and broadcasting structure is ready to listen to a strong collective body of installers and distributors that will provide the supply chain link to the viewing consumers across that special place called ‘Ireland’. This hinges on installers willing to go down the path of assessment, evaluation and work to a set of proven standards.
Time will tell…
Tim Jenks Cert Ed FSCTE
Senior Executive CAI