News

French union of independent radio SIRTI has welcomed a new report presented by French minister Aurore Bergé calling on the acceleration of the DAB+ rollout in the country, citing it as "an essential condition for the modernisation of the radio media and the maintenance of state sovereignty", and that the impending launch in Lyon and Strasbourg will trigger a clause requiring all new radio receivers to be digitally compatible.

Research conducted by Digital Radio UK and Radioplayer has revealed that voice control devices keep driver's eyes on the road, whilst allowing them to get to the stations they want to listen to faster than if they were using a regular touch-based device. Nine drivers were tested on a designed test track and asked to tune to a national and local station on a traditional ‘touch-based’ radio screen, then tune to the same stations using voice control, and then explore more advanced radio features using voice control.

Just before its summer recess the European Parliament voted in favour of proposals that will require new cars to feature radios capable of receiving digital radio signals. The proposals for digital terrestrial radio in the updated Communications Code are designed to further encourage member states in either implementing the technology or moving existing networks to the point where a digital switch-off (DSO) can be considered.

The Media Council of the Bavarian State Center for New Media (BLM) has approved two national stations to be assigned digital transmission capacity for ten years each. Radio Teddy and Radio Arabella Plus will be allotted a DAB+ slot from 2019.

The new system contains a complete system with multiplexers, audio encoder and is installed as fully redundant. The system is provided as virtual machines installed in two separated network locations and uses VMware technology and also contains the Paneda SMART content redundancy switching.

Rai is working on the creation of an association to bring together all Italian radio stations to ultimately form a Radioplayer app for the country. Rai Radio director Roberto Sergio: "We are about to constitute the Radio Player Italia association, which will include all Italian, national and local radio stations. Rai believes a lot in this project and we have already made contact with Radioplayer UK."

DAB+ radio frequencies will be available for tender for the first time in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in Belgium, after the regulator CSA has approved the tender process to proceed. Successful tenders will be awarded for nine years.

Rai is working on the creation of an association to bring together all Italian radio stations to ultimately form a Radioplayer app for the country. Rai Radio director Roberto Sergio: "We are about to constitute the Radio Player Italia association, which will include all Italian, national and local radio stations. Rai believes a lot in this project and we have already made contact with Radioplayer UK."

Broadcaster Czech Radio plans to expand DAB+ services into three more cities across the country from November with a new multiplex that will enable up to 40% of Czechs to receive DAB+ radio.

For the sixth time, Sky Radio Christmas has started broadcasting on DAB+ radio, temporarily replacing Sky Hit Radio on channel 11C in the Netherlands. Last year, Sky Radio reached 5.8 million Dutch people with its Christmas music.