News

A South-London based group called Trash Can Radio is expected to launch on DAB in the London area soon. The station has a launch countdown on its website saying it is launching on Sunday 12th October. Ofcom has just awarded the station a Digital Sound Programme Service licence to feature programmes consisting of a broad range of music from the past 60 years with varied speech content. Programmes will typically carry 90% music and 10% speech.

Sky Radio Christmas, playing non stop Christmas themed music went live on DAB+ today to help get listeners in the mood for the happiest season of the year.

Polish Radio is increasing its digital radio coverage, adding Lodz and Opole, reports Rpkom.pl. Digital radio coverage has thus reached 9.7 million inhabitants (25.4%).

Italian network operator Club DAB Italia has rolled out the countrys nationwide DAB service with help from 2wcoms FlexNsert and FlexXtract . In a technical first for Italy, the 2wcom technology was deployed to allow the DAB network to be fed with an ETI stream and distributed over a large geographical area.

Digital One, the national commercial DAB digital radio network, is commissioning a number of new transmitters to strengthen and extend its coverage. Four new sites will be added to the network between now and the end of this year, with a further five sites being planned for 2015. This new phase of expansion will up the number of operational transmitters to beyond 150, making it one of the largest digital radio networks in the world.

There have been 80 successful applications for the Digital Radio Certification Mark, known as the 'tick mark', since the launch of the programme in June, it has been revealed. The tick mark aims to give consumers assurance that the DAB digital radio products and services with the mark are future-ready and comply with the minimum specification. This includes compatibility with FM, DAB and the newer DAB+ technology, which is in a trial period.

Philippe Gault, President of SIRTI, specified that "this law was passed, the CSA organized a call for nominations, licenses have been issued, we took our responsibilities and publisher’s risks, and we expect a very simple thing, which is that the law that was passed be applied without waiting for further changes."

In a panel discussion on in-car digital broadcast radio at the recent IBC broadcast exhibition in Amsterdam, digital radio executives made their case for the technology. Most major car brands offer DAB or DAB+, the European digital radio standards, as an option or as standard feature. According to WorldDMB, 63% of new cars sold in Norway and 55% in the UK come with DAB and DAB+. The two countries are among the most successful in pushing digital radio, according to a recent article published by WorldDMB.

The Swedish Broadcast Authority have announced licenses for commercial digital radio. A total of 25 channels have been awarded a license. 21 of which are national licenses and four are regional channels. 12 of the national channels are unique to digital radio and not broadcasted in FM. The licensing allows for a significant increase in range of programs throughout entire Sweden.

Ofcom has confirmed the awarding of a second national digital commercial multiplex will be a competitive process. The news comes as the regulator extends the closing date, to allow a prospective licence applicant sufficient time to obtain information from Arqiva, which owns many DAB transmitter sites. The closing date has been extended from October 30th 2014 to January 29th 2015.