Another blow to a continued DAB radio introduction
The new public service contract between Danmarks Radio and the government set a 20% reduction of its budget for five years. Around 400 positions will be axed. DR’s six television channels will be reduced to three and three of eight radio channels will be closed. The radio channels to be closed are DAB-only channels (P6 Beat, P7 Mix and P8 Jazz). DR Radio will continue with five channels on both FM and DAB+
Essential also for radio but not in Norway.
Next year, next generation mobile broadband 5G will be introduced globally. The transmission capacity will be about 10-20 times higher than with 4G. Ten European 5G test projects connected to public broadcasting in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and the U.K. In Norway trials of LTE Broadcast (LTE-B) technology is ongoing in Selje in Sogn og Fjordane county since beginning of 2017 as reported by the EBU.
DRM is making global progress but still DAB has its grip in Europe.
New digital broadcasting standards are being introduced in Russia. The frequency bands 65.9-74 MHz and 87.5-108 MHz will be allocated for use by digital terrestrial broadcasting of the DRM+ standard. This will have a significant impact on the development of the broadcasting market in the country, according to the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications. Russia is the second major nation after India to introduce DRM on a national level.
Request free market for local FM radio as national broadcaster go DAB.
The year after the decommissioning of the nationwide FM broadcasts, the national radio listening have fallen with 400.000 daily listeners. The introduction of DAB and the closure of the FM network must being regarded to be the main cause according to the Norwegian Radio Listeners’ Association (NRLF). In a letter to all 169 politicians in the parliament (Stortinget) NRLF requests that local radio be given unlimited broadcast access on the FM band.
Broadcasting might interfere with military communication
The massive NATO exercise in Norway known as Trident Juncture is starting this week. It can interfere with DAB radio signals. It’s unclear whether the country’s communications network will meet the demands placed on it. The NATO exercise will involve 40.000 soldiers from all 29 NATO countries plus Sweden and Finland. Telecom provider Telenor can’t rule out ill effects on both DAB and mobile signals. - Long time freguency conflict between broadcasters and military still unsolved.
This might also signal an end of future DAB radio.
How soon will TV aerials become redundant? The Swiss government has paved the way for the country to become the first nation in Europe to ditch digital terrestrial TV (DTT). In a new concession, or charter, the government has provided public broadcaster consent to switch off DTT by the end of 2019. And more countries will follow.
DTT replaced traditional analogue TV signals received via a rooftop or indoor aerial as part of a digital switchover across Europe during the last decade. Switzerland completed its switchover in 2008.
Podcasts and smart speakers are fueling the online audio market.
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analyze e.V. (agma) this week published the latest data on the use of digital audio services in Germany. According to the ma 2018 IP Audio III measurments, the online audio market continues to grow dynamically. Each month, there are listening streaming sessions 280 million times, with an average session time of 48 minutes.
But online radio will expand on many devices
According to a report from die medienanstalten published this week FM continues to be the dominant listening platform in Germany. This year 92,2 percent of the households have at least one FM receiver compared with radio via cable/satellite 22,8%, DAB 17% and Internet 10,7%. There are approximately 135 million FM receivers in active use in Germany. Cable/satellite is losing its position to DAB and online radio.
Norwegians are going for DAB success in Oslo and Brussels
Being a small country and not an EU member it is notable how Norway is involved in European DAB-promoting in Brussels. And two Norwegians companies will put their hopes to the latest proposal (see separate story below) to the European Parliament which is the outcome of many years of aggressive lobbying. The most powerful resources regarding DAB comes from the EBU. For more than 8 years the EBU office in Brussels has an annual budget officially at 1-1,2 million euro.
However, consumer and eurolegal backlash is looming.
The European Electronics Communications Code (EECC) will include a new provision that any radio equipment integrated in a new car which is put on the market for sale or rent in the Union shall be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio broadcasting. The political agreement on the EECC had been reached in June 2018 . This might be a step forward for the DAB system, but technical developments for mobile broadband might kill the whole setup.
Important step for broadcasting, but LTE 4G still sufficient for radio
Telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson says the first smartphones supporting 5G will become available during early 2019. The June Ericsson Mobility Report makes three major other assertions: 1) 5G will kick off with enhanced mobile broadband as its first use case. 2) By the end of 2023, there will be 1 billion 5G subscriptions, accounting for around 20% of mobile data traffic. 3) A massive increase in 5G subscriptions is expected to be fueled by third-generation chipsets, which will be available from 2020 on a variety of frequency bands
Increasing political and business demands for a return to FM
For the first time daily listening to national radio is down under 50% in Norway. Last week down to 48,5% from 51,2% the week before according to Kantar TNS. Although the Norwegians now have an increased number of on-air channels to choose from there is a widespread discontent with DAB replacing FM. For several reasons DAB is far from becoming popular as projected by the public broadcaster NRK and other promoters.
