Declining on-air broadcasting market and debt pile possible sales factors
Arqiva responsible for the UK's television and radio transmitter towers, four Freeview multiplexes and numerous DAB multiplexes is up for sale. Its chief executive, telecoms industry veteran Simon Beresford-Wylie, is targeting growth in the mobile market as revenues from broadcasting are in long, slow decline. Today the company has a near monopoly over UK transmission towers.
Broadcasters and authorities demand operators to activate new smartphones
Commercial broadcasters research unit PILOT has observed the activation of FM reception capabilities in popular smartphones since 2012, and has reported its findings throughout the period.Then the percentage of smartphones with FM reception capability was in the single digits. Now however, an important milestone has been reached. In the third quarter of 2016, the number of top-selling smartphones sold with FM reception capability enabled by at least one carrier has for the first time matched those sold without FM capability.
BFBS will continue on FM, satellite and online.
Forces radio station BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) will come off the national digital radio multiplex Digital One in March after carrying out analysis over the costs. The station says to RadioToday that it can no longer justify the cost of the platform, but the radio service will continue as normal with no job losses.
Norwegian government close to a national broadcasting failure.
In the balance before February 8: Trøndelag and Geneva.
After starting the switch-off of FM transmitters for nationwide radio in Nordland county January 11 many listeners had sparse or no DAB reception at all. Quite different from what the public service broadcaster NRK has promised. There are strong indications that DAB will not be complete and sufficient replacement for FM. Now the government has to decide upon a switch-off postponement for the rest of the country. But the official picture of the switch-off is still bright with pomp and circumstance.
New Swedish emergency system will interrupt FM radio listening
Ambulances in Stockholm are testing a system that interrupts in-car audio systems to warn drivers that they need to get through. The solution was developed by students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. It broadcasts a voice warning, while a text message also appears in the radio display. It uses an FM radio signal to jam drivers' speakers and stop music playing according to BBC News. It will be able to alert cars with their FM radios turned on
and also interrupts Bluetooth connections.
No DAB for U.S. commercial radio. Will never turn off FM
The Norwegian parliament’s forced turn-off of many FM analog radio stations in favor of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) is causing not just static, but outright anger. Opinion polls indicate 66 percent of Norwegians oppose the shutdown, with only 17 percent in favor. The angst stems from the fact that the shutdown could leave tens of thousands of people without access to some of their favorite free and local radio stations. On the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) policy blog Christopher Ornelas, Chief Operating Officer, asks if it could happen in the United States.
