News

Despite RTÉ’s efforts, DAB will continue to be on the periphery of Irish life until commercial stations start using it. (subscription only)

Pending the government’s timetable to rollout DAB+ for the east Belgian German speaking community of Eupen, Belgischer Rundfunk initiated the test-period to simulate DAB+ broadcasts, which started on December 9.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has today announced that it will give commercial analogue radio stations greater freedom to increase their choice under new rules. The government also intends to seek powers to enable Ofcom to license overseas services on UK DAB.

The JACK team in Oxfordshire is to launch another JACK branded radio station next year, on the D2 national multiplex, using DAB+. The as-yet-unnamed station will launch before Easter.

As the name suggests, this is the last one: the end of the Subaru WRX STI in the UK and, indeed, Europe.

Norway has completed the move from analog to digital radio, making it the first country to shut down national FM radio broadcasts.

DAB actually has significant advantages over FM. It offers a range of new features, including real-time information like song titles, music type and news or traffic updates up to 128 characters in length. It also contains local time information, which can be used to make real-time adjustments.

As of last Wednesday, FM radio can no longer be found in Norway, which eliminated the stations as part of a national technology upgrade towards the DAB+ standard.

Norway has become this week the first country in the world to permanently turn off the FM band to switch fully to digital radio. Conversely, France is lagging behind, with digital terrestrial radio taking off very slowly. Only the cities of Paris, Marseille and Nice have been covered since 2014. Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg will soon follow. However, the CSA promises to accelerate the pace by organizing national tenders on areas that are easier to make profitable.

For the first time, the media authority KommAustria has granted approval in Austria for the regular operation of a multiplex platform for digital terrestrial radio in DAB+. The license, effective April 3, 2018, goes to RTG Radio Technikum GmbH for a period of 10 years; it will initially carry 11 radio programs as well as an electronic program guide and, if required, a hazard warning service in the Greater Vienna area and in parts of Vienna's surrounding area a technical reach of around 2.25 million people will spread.