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Interviewed by Euradio to mark the launch of DAB+ in Lyon and Strasbourg, WorldDAB's Jean-Marc Dubreuil touches on the future of radio, the rollout of DAB+ in France, and the latest developments of DAB+ in Europe and beyond.

Following the launches in Paris, Marseille, Nice and Lille, DAB + is now available in Lyon and surrounding areas in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. 46 DAB+ radio stations are expected to be on air in the region in coming weeks.

DAB+ continues its successful rollout across France as it launches in the French region of Alsace. A total of 43 DAB+ stations are expected to be available in the Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin regions of Alsace in the near future.

Factum Radioscape’s DAB+ broadcast technology, ENMUXA, has been deployed in conjunction with the small-scale Portsmouth and Glasgow DAB+ multiplexes.These will therefore benefit from the same ENMUXA functionality a national or large commercial broadcaster would expect to receive, including a high-quality audio codec, dynamic configurations and redundancy.

DAB+ broadcasting will be available in and around the Lyon area as of December 5th, 2018, giving listeners more choice and a better listening experience. Once population coverage in across the country reaches 20%, France will trigger a law requiring manufacturers to include a DAB+ chip in their equipment.

Having recently launched in Lyon, Lille and Strasbourg, as well as Nice, Marseille and Paris in 2015, 20% population coverage is expected to be achieved in France by the end of 2018, at which point a law requiring all receivers to be equipped with DAB+ will be triggered.

The directive will, amongst other things, require all new car radios sold in the EU to include digital terrestrial radio. The legal act is set to be signed on 12 December and published in the EU Official Journal on 17 December. It will enter into force 3 days after publication.

WorldDAB, the principal sponsor of the event, will update delegates on the latest DAB+ developments in the Asia Pacific region and around the world, including market updates, in-car digital radio progress, and information on how broadcasters are employing broadcast and IP. The theme of the 2019 DBS conference is “Digital Transition and Transformation”.

This Christmas campaign, which features Santa Claus, has been launched off the back of research which found 21% of radio listeners surveyed in Australia would buy a new digital radio in the next 12 months.

Since the start of October, eleven new radio programs have appeared on DAB+ in Neuchâtel. DAB + is gradually replacing the FM, which is expected to disappear in Switzerland by 2024 at the latest.