A New Terrestrial Broadcasting Platform Envisioned

French white paper indicates 5G will be cornerstone of needful modernization.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the French telecom TDF tested broadcasting some of the public service broadcasters' radio and television channels to 100 smartphones. Now, TDF is publishing a white paper that, according to the company, marks an important step towards bringing together stakeholders in France and Europe around a common vision: to make 5G Broadcast a cornerstone of the modernization of digital terrestrial television (DTT) and its future.

The white paper builds on the cross-industry working group that brought together the main French broadcasters - workshops from April to June 2025. Read below what the white paper summarizes.

New Record: 53 Million in Germany Listen to Audio On-line

Declining listening to terrestrial FM and DAB+ radio. 

The Online Audio Monitor 2025 survey shows that online audio is firmly entrenched in everyday life. Web radio is still a solid anchor in audio consumption: 39 million people (56%) regularly listen to linear radio content online. Smart TV has become the second most important platform for online audio content after the smartphone.

When it comes to platforms, Spotify is the undisputed leader among people under 30, while YouTube continues to grow in importance for podcasts and audiobooks. 24 million people listen to podcasts, preferably on politics and society. Ahead of the 2025 federal elections, more than half used podcasts as a supplementary information medium.

5G Broadcast Field Trials On Air in the Netherlands

New technology breakthrough at exhibition in Amsterdam

Netherlands will join other European countries in order to get the new digital terrestrial radio and television system on air.  At IBC2025, public broadcaster NPO and broadcast provider Broadcast Partners are showcasing a live 5G Broadcast transmission, highlighting the latest developments in over-the-air media delivery and announcing a nationwide field trial in the Netherlands set to begin in Q4 this year.

5G Broadcast enables live TV, radio and media content to be transmitted over-the-air directly to smartphones without consuming mobile data and without dependencies on mobile telecom networks. The technology uses a separate frequency band to efficiently deliver one signal to all users simultaneously. As the spreading of the media works completely independent from the internet and mobile infrastructures, the technology is excellent for future emergency communications; and is already compatible with the current LTE (Further Enhanced) standard and can be integrated into future smartphones with relative ease and low cost.

Parliament Wants to Postpone FM Radio Shutdown in Switzerland

Another DAB setback. Forced shutdowns are seen as endangering private broadcasters.

The National Council - the upper house of parliament - has adopted a proposal for new FM licenses from 2027. This is intended to prevent the planned shutdown of analogue radio. The council adopted a proposal from the transport committee by 124 votes to 62, with 8 abstentions. The proposal called on the Federal Council (government) to refrain from shutting down FM broadcasts on December 31, 2026. Instead, the current FM radio licenses should be extended or new licenses should be put out to tender from January 1, 2027, if necessary through an auction.

The transport committee argued that the forced shutdown endangers private radio stations and would lead to a shift of listeners to foreign stations. The SRG (the public broadcaster) had already lost 25 percent of its listeners after the FM shutdown at the end of 2024 – such a decline would be “devastating” for advertising-funded private radio stations. (Read more below)