Martinique

Arcom has decided to renew the authorisation granted to the company Fusion for an experiment in DAB+ broadcasting, from 4 October 2023 to 30 June 2024, and from three sites in Martinique, of the services Radio Fusion, Fusion 100% Infos, Fusion Compas, Fusion Salsa Kl@moson, Fusion Gold, Maknet Jazz, Mixx FM Martinique, Radio Évangile Martinique, Radio Actif Martinique, Identité Radio and Martinique La 1ère.

Martinique La 1ère has received regulatory approval to join the DAB+ trial in Martinique. Arcom says: "As part of the authorisation granted to Imédias Group to experiment with DAB+ broadcasting of radio services from three sites in Martinique from 1 January to 30 September 2023, Arcom has decided not to oppose the modification of the service plan by adding the Martinique La 1ère radio service."

i-médias Group, a media and marketing company based in the Antilles-Guyane (the French West Indies), is adding a raft of DAB+ stations to a multiplex in Martinique. The island is a single territorial collectivity of the French Republic. i-médias Group, which owns several FM radio stations in the Antilles-Guyane, initiated the five DAB+ stations on Jan. 23 — Fusion DAB+, Fusion Gold, Fusion Salsa, Fusion Compas and Fusion 100% News. It plans to launch four more stations after a 9-month test period: Radio Evangile Martinique, Radio Identity, Mixx FM and Maknet Jazz. The company expects to have 12 DAB+ stations in total, with plans to grow its DAB+ offering throughout the Antilles-Guyane. According to regulations, Martinique is allowed a total of 50 DAB+ stations.

New WorldDAB member Sumatronic has brought DAB+ to Martinique and hopes to support other regions of the world where the population has few or no DAB+ receivers. In our first ‘member focus’ article of 2023, we learn how Sumatronic recently launched its "DAB4all" campaign, in our interview with CEO Peter Matter.

French communications regulator Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique (ARCOM) has authorized the first DAB+ multiplex in Martinique. A ten-station multiplex launched on Channel 5B from three sites on the Caribbean island and is authorised to operate as a trial service through the end of September 2023. As part of the agency’s 2022–2024 roadmap for digital radio, ARCOM called for interest in launching trial DAB+ services in the “Outre-Mer,” those portions France outside of the Europe. Several islands in the Caribbean, North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, as well as French Guiana in South America, are regions, collectivities, or territories of France, and broadcasting in these areas is overseen by ARCOM.

The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, Arcom, has authorised an experiment involving the broadcasting of a multiplex of ten services from three sites in Martinique, from 1 January to 30 September 2023. In its 2022-2024 roadmap for the continued deployment of DAB+, Arcom indicated that it would give priority to authorising trials in the overseas territories so that the stakeholders and the public in the overseas territories can familiarise themselves with DAB+ broadcasting, while declaring its readiness to continue the planning work prior to any calls for applications in these territories in the light of the results of the trials. Services scheduled to be broadcast from the start of the DAB+ trial in overseas France: Radio Fusion, Fusion 100%, Fusion Compass, Fusion Gold, Fusion salsa kl@moson.

The CSA has authorised an experiment in DAB+ broadcasting of Radio Fusion, Radio Évangile Martinique, Radio actif Martinique, Radio identité, Fusion 100 % Infos, Fusion Compas, Fusion salsa kl@moson, Fusion Gold and Maknet Jazz from three sites in La Trinité, Rivière-Pilote and Le Diamant for a period of one year starting on 1 September 2021.