Dead and Buried - Parliament Confirms Rejection of DAB Radio in Sweden

Public radio continues on FM and will push for extending its remit to include digital radio online.

The Constitutional Standing Committee (KU) in Riksdagen (the Parliament) has processed the government missive regarding the 2015 National Audit review of digital radio in which the proposal for a transition from FM to DAB+ in 2017-2022 was rejected. After a short debate and without objection from any of the eight political parties Riksdagen today appended the missive to the protocol. This marks the end of 24 years of efforts to replace FM with DAB in Sweden.

Country Music Dominates U.S. Airwaves

Will the format continue its amazing growth?

Country’s dominance of U.S. radio continued unabated in 2015, registering a fourth-consecutive year of growth in the number of stations. There were 2,125 country stations in December 2015, a 2% increase over 2014, according to Inside Radio’s PrecisionTrak database.  - News/talk remained No. 2 with 1,354 outlets and  Spanish-language stations jumped 4% last year to 872, to rank third.

Apple Will Entertain Online in More Than 100 Car Models

CarPlay might signal the end of traditional in-car radio  

CarPlay made a splash last week, with auto makers like Ford, Chrysler and Volkswagen incorporating the sleek iOS-like infotainment interface  With CarPlay expanding throughout the automotive industry, Apple has finally launched a dedicated website to track which car makes and models now support the standard.

Digital HD Radio for Bangladesh

First two HD Radio stations in South Asia on air soon

Two HD Radio stations will be start broadcasting in early 2016 for Betar, the national government broadcaster for Bangladesh. The HD Radio broadcasts on mediumwave, supported by two GatesAir Flexiva 10kW transmitters, will cover the capital city of Dhaka and surrounding regions. Thus Bangladesh is not following neighboring India which have adapted DRM30/DRM+ for digital terrestrial radio.

New York to Replace Pay Phones With Superfast Free Wi-Fi

On-line radio and television consumption will be free and more accessible
New York City will begin this month replacing thousands of pay phones with free Wi-Fi hot spots. The city expects to have 500 hot spots installed by July, and eventually about 7,500 units will be replaced. The project, called LinkNYC, is being run by the company CityBridge, which is investing more than $200 million. CityBridge says its Wi-Fi will deliver broadband speeds of 1,000 megabits a second, about 100 times typical speeds provided by wireless carriers. 

DAB Scandal in Norway: License Fees Fund Guarantee for Private Radio

Government forced to release secret deal. Will the new minister of culture reconsider the FM closure plan?

The former CEO of the public service broadcaster NRK, Hans Tore Bjerkaas, has put his signature on a secret deal between the DAB promotion company Digitalradio Norge and the broadcast provider Norkring. The deal worth 63 million NEK is safeguarding the Swedish broadcaster MTG participation for DAB+ distribution for its network P4 Radio Hele Norge. This means that license fee funding has been used in order to prop up a private foreign owned company.

Spotify Takes Command of In-Car Music Listening

New Tesla deal might put broadcast radio in the shadow

Tesla's Model S electric car series will now ship with Spotify Premium integration, replacing former music partner Rdio, in Europe, Australia and Hong Kong. Current Model S owners will also benefit from the feature thanks to an over-the-air software upgrade, according to The Telegraph. 

Broadcast Provider Signs Long Time FM Contract with Swedish Public Radio

Agreement indicates weak prospects for a future transition to DAB 

Teracom AB has been following a public procurement with an agreement to deliver a nationwide terrestrial network for FM and RDS to Swedish Radio (SR) which launched the tender in April 2015. The basic requirements from SR is a population coverage of at least 99.8% and tightening requirements for reliability and robustness.

European Community Media Gets New President

Platform with Third Media Sector expertise in 16 countries strengthened

At its General Assembly in Madrid Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) the Board of Directors got three new members. Judith Purkarthofer (Austria) takes over as President after Ciáran Murray (Ireland) . Vice presidents are Larry Fergeson (Cyprus) and Gabriella Velics (Hungary). Treasurer is Helmut Peissl (Austria). Together with former board members new in the Experts Group is Lina Chawaf MD of the Syrian expat radio station Radio Rozana in Paris. 

Television Fee Funds Support to Community Radio in Denmark

Community radio receives 2,35 million euro in state aid for 2016

The Radio and Television Board has now distributed operating aid for non-commercial local radio and television. As in previous year, the total contribution is DKK 43.8 million (€5,8 M) of which the radio receives 40% and television 60%. 153 community radio stations have received support with a maximum amount of DKK 122.444 per station. 

Danish Report: DAB Radio Will Not Replace FM in The Near Future

Digital radio is increasingly the Internet. Will DAB be scrapped?

There are no prospects that digital radio in the foreseeable future will match the wide spread of FM radio in Denmark today. In six years, at least half the radio listening will still be on FM. This is evidenced in a market research report from the Media Authority now out for consultation.
Is the fixed line telephone on the way back? No, and niether is DAB. This should have been asked by the politicians, when they in the spring of 2015 was about to decide to put a very tight deadline to switch off FM favor of DAB. Had they done so, it would have been almost as it is also thought that fixed line phone was to replace the mobile phone, said John R. Kristensen, president of the copyright organization Gramex to Berlingske Business. He says that the report clearly indicated that the DAB technology is not adopted by the consumers.

European Commission Likely to Stop State Aid for DAB

EU Court Confirms Decision on Recovery of Spanish State Aid to Digital Terrestrial Television

The EU General Court in Luxembourg confirms the Commission’s decision ordering the recovery of State aid granted by Spain to the operators of the terrestrial television platform. The measures adopted by the Spanish authorities did not respect the principle of technological neutrality. The digitisation of broadcasting  can be carried out technically via terrestrial (DTT), satellite or cable platforms or through broadband Internet access. This decision will also have implications for state aid regarding digitisation of radio (DAB etc).