Private radio cannot go DAB without official funding
The nation-wide distribution of the Berlin private radio stations Kiss FM on the national DAB+ network is terminated prematurely on March 31 2014. Kiss FM will continue broadcasting on VHF (FM), cable and on the Internet and mobile applications the company FOM GmbH & Co. KG announced.
Reason for the decision were , among others, irreconcilable differences with the transmission network operator Media Broadcast and also insolvent other private participants in the nationwide DAB + multiplex (Probably LoungeFM ). The attitude of the broadcast media in this insolvency proceedings would endanger the already difficult refinancing of the considerable expense of this new broadcasting technology, says FOM . These differences could be either out of court or litigated.
The introduction of the DAB structure was wrong as it de facto had to be completely financed by the station operators while the costs for the public radio are funded by the household fees. Private channels must therefore bear very high and long term losses.
Kiss FM will now put more efforts into the existing FM distribution as well as via the Internet and mobile applications. Especially as the Apps Kiss FM is now very successful with more than 425,000 downloads. (TecTime TV)
Last summer Lounge.FM left the national DAB+ multiplex in Germany. According to latest polls FM is still the dominant listening platform in Germany while DAB+ has only a few percent listening on a weekly basis in spite of full national coverage.
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