A too expensive step with an already strong Internet presence
The media authority National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) has evaluated the results of the DAB + standard test of digital sound terrestrial broadcasting in the region of Riga, carried out by the State Radio and Television and decided not to continue this testing, nor to support the introduction of digital sound broadcasting DAB + in Latvia for the next five years. NEPLP has been taking into account a number of aspects, including the long-term effectiveness of the standard in question, the benefits to society of the costs of implementing this standard, as well as the potential impact on Latvian broadcasters and the advertising market.
FM switch-off continues to hit NRK. P3 losing its young listenership.
AS the public service NRK has closed its FM transmitters in most of Norway, more than 20% of their listeners lost. This is evidenced by the latest listening poll from Kantar TNS. NRK had a total of 39.6% this week compared with 49.9 one year ago. It represents a decrease of over 20% in a year. The youth channel NRK P3 now has a share of 5.9%, which is half compared with a year ago.
Adaptors for DAB + can transmit on FM far beyond the inside of car.
DAB adaptors can be used in cars that originally lack a built-in DAB radio. They receive the DAB signal and transmit to the car stereo system either via line input (AUX) or via the adaptor that transfers the sound to the car stereo via FM. Many DAB adaptors can connect to someone else's phone call in the car. Now it turns out that this can happen even at relatively long distances from the car. Now many in cars rather switch to local radio on FM or listen on-line than trying to get a decent reception via an adaptor.
The global system change might kill terrestrial digital broadcasting
In 2025 it is predicted that all young people and adults in the world will own a smartphone, which will replace other devices as stand-alone radio- and tv-receivers. As the number of internet-connected devices continues to grow exponentially, smartphone ownership now is virtually universal. On-line digital radio and FM will become the future listening platforms. The billion sets markets will rule, not the million sets markets.
35 regional licenses are also upcoming. Withering future for DAB.
The media authority has now issued national licenses for analog commercial radio. In order to improve commercial conditions radio companies have long been asking for wider broadcast areas,. Not unexpectedly, the licenses were awarded to three already well-established actors in Sweden; German owned Bauer (Network 1), French NRJ (Network 2) and Swedish MTG (Network 3). The licenses are valid from 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2026.
Listeners abandoning national channels as DAB is not living up to its promises.
Thanks to the fact that the national channels (with public broadcaster NRK in the lead) are leaving FM, many local radio stations are increasing their audiences. It shows the listening polls for the third quarter. The two most outstanding counties (fylken) is Hedmark and Telemark, but also in the other counties the increase is pronounced. Several reports show a clear trend that large-scale listeners will remain on FM while many also complement and expand their channel selection with radio via mobile broadband even by car.
