Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Czech Republic launches large T-DAB+ trial; Apple Music will be below standard audio quality; a rough outlook for indie Internet radio. Continue Reading
The BBC announced that it has expanded its DAB coverage. Over the past two months, the broadcaster has added 11 sites to its list of supported stations. Its end goal is to cover 97% of the population by the end of 2015. Continue Reading
Media Broadcast has set a goal of increasing the number of DAB+ broadcasting locations from 61 to 110 by December 2016. The expanded network is projected to boost the range of digital radio from 60% to 82% indoors, while mobile reception coverage should grow from about 63% to 93%. Continue Reading
France’s Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, also known as the CSA, has announced that it plans to launch a public consultation about digital terrestrial radio by the end of May. This consultation is expected to decide which regions of the country should be the next to receive digital radio infrastructure. More than a dozen French cities are up for consideration, and the new digital stations are projected to go on-air by September 2016. Continue Reading
Norway has become the first nation to set a timeline for mandatory shutoff of FM broadcasting. The country will go all-digital (DAB and DAB+) in 2017, as decided by the Ministry of Culture. More than half of the Norwegian population has a DAB receiver, and 56% of the population uses DAB every day. Continue Reading
UK media regulator Ofcom announced that it is testing a new technology that could make digital broadcasting more financially feasible for small radio stations. The new system is currently dubbed “small scale DAB,” based on freely available software rather than the expensive hardware of current DAB systems. Continue Reading
Listeners in the UK are getting a new set of DAB station options next year thanks to a new national digital radio multiplex getting assigned an operator. Sound Digital, which is a consortium of Arqiva, Bauer, and UTV Media GB, will run the set of 14 new stations. The consortium will be responsible for upgrading the equipment at these stations and reaching 75% of households with the set of stations. It will be required to begin broadcasting the new DAB stations by the middle of 2016. Continue Reading
James Cridland Weekly Links is a column by the U.K.’s radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: A new DAB radio multiplex in the U.K., and a boatload of hand-picked great reading about radio and digital radio. Continue Reading
Joan Warner, Asia PacifIc Chair of WorldDMB and Commercial Radio Australia CEO, recently gave a keynote address the Digital Broadcasting Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, about the need for a transition to digital or HD radio. “Streaming does have a… Continue Reading
Two experts from the European Broadcasting Union wrote an article for Radio World about some of the ideas that have emerged as central components of successful digital radio adoption. David Fernández Quijada, senior media analyst, and head of radio Christian Vogg dubbed those common threads the “five Cs” formula. Continue Reading
WorldDMB released an infographic compiling data about use of broadcast digital radio in Europe and Australia. The report highlighted three of the key trends emerging in digital radio for those regions: Digital switchover is firmly on the agenda in Europe; network coverage is now over 90% of the population in the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands; in the UK, 61% of new cars sold have DAB as standard, and in Norway over 60% have DAB/DAB+ fitted. Continue Reading
More than half of Norway’s radio listeners are using digital radio, according to a survey carried out by TNS Gallup. Digitalradio Norge CEO Ole Jørgen Torvmark said that the data included DAB, Internet, and digital TV in the definition of digital radio. The results showed that 53% of the country’s listeners have switched over to digital, with 36% using DAB radio and 17% using the Internet. Continue Reading