Commercial Radio Against Digital Switchover Plans

British broadcasters put up a fight for FM

Ed Vaizey, the minister for culture, communications and creative industries, is due to clarify the government's switchover plans on December 16. A group of broadcasters has called on the government to abandon plans for digital radio switchover, claiming the move would jeopardise local radio and cost households "several hundred pounds" each.

The consortium representing 80 stations across the UK listened to by 6 million people a week issued a joint statement. The group said the switchover posed a serious risk of listeners losing access to radio because most households only have an analogue set. It estimates that there are about 100m analogue sets still in use in UK homes.

The World Loves Smartphones

Explosive development of mobile broadband

Smartphones is driving the mobile net developments and is expanding the platforms for media including radio.
- The number of mobile subscriptions worldwide has grown approximately 7 percent year-on-year during Q3 2013. The number of mobile broadband subscriptions grew even faster over this period – at a rate of 40 percent year-on-year, exceeding 2 billion in 2013. The number of mobile subscriptions will be tenfold by 2019 increasing to 9,3 billion and of this 5,6 billion will be smartphones as Ericsson forecasts in a report.

Community Radio Makes Its Stand for FM Radio in Brussels

A statement to the European Commission is issued by the two pan-european community radio organizations against an FM switch-off. For a future transition DRM+ is the preferred digital alternative to DAB+

CMFE and Amarc Europe were invited to contribute a meeting in Brussels of  the "Working Group on Communications Broadcast Issues (CBISS)", part of Communications Committee (COCOM) of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks.

Radio in Smartphones Will Kill DAB

The mobile phone will become the major radio listening device - but without DAB+

Today, mobile phone are with most people in the world. It is becoming the most common radio receiver also in developing countries as in India and in Africa. You are listening via the built-in FM-receiver which can be found in quite stripped down devices as well as in more advanced smartphones as Samsung S-series and Nokia Lumia - or you are listening via streaming audio on the Internet.

However,  there are no mobile phones with built-in DAB-receivers on any market even not in DAB-established countries as Denmark and the UK. 

Impatience and Skepticism Over DAB at Radio Day Debate

One public broadcasting boss is skeptical regarding DAB+

The commercial sector wants government funding to go DAB+

At the yearly Radio Day in Stockholm a recurrent event is the discussion between the managing directors of the four biggest radio broadcasters; the two public service companies Sveriges Radio (SR) and the Educational Broadcaster UR and the two commercial broadcasters; MTG radio and SBS Discovery.

Impatience and frustration over the slow political process regarding the formal introduction of DAB radio was observed. A government co-ordinator will report on the process not until November next year.

EU Ruling Will Stop State Aid to DAB Radio

DTT operators must pay back incompatible subsidies

The European Commission has concluded that a Spanish €260 million scheme to finance the digitisation and extension of the terrestrial television network in remote areas of Spain was incompatible with EU State aid rules. The measure favours the terrestrial digital technology to the detriment of others. The operators of terrestrial platforms received a selective advantage over their competitors using other technologies and therefore have to pay it back to the Spanish taxpayer.

This decision strongly indicates that any similar state aid scheme for the DAB radio platform also will be contested by the Commission. Especially as there are also competing technical system as DRM+, HD Radio and DVB-T.