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Ofcom is today opening applications for small-scale DAB in South East England, including London. This will be the fifth round of small-scale DAB licensing, and the largest to date, with a closing date of 30 June 2023. In addition to the 31 areas, there are three re-advertisements from other regions available. Ofcom says it will announce all the winners from London and the SE at the same time at some point in 2024, although the extra three will be announced prior.

Digital terrestrial radio has reached a new stage in its deployment with the launch of DAB+ radio stations in Brittany. Since this Tuesday morning, a large number of stations have been broadcasting their programmes in Rennes on DAB+. Arcom has set 28 March 2023 as the date of entry into force of the authorisations to operate terrestrial radio services in digital mode in the Rennes local area. Thus, since yesterday morning at 10am, 11 radio stations (13 in a few days) are available.

After the commissioning of the last multiplex at the Heide site and the migration of previous pilot projects in Lübeck, Kiel and on the island of Sylt, private radio stations in Schleswig-Holstein can now be heard throughout the state via digital radio DAB+. After several switch-ons and switch-offs, the provisional allocations should now be on the network. In the future, even more stations are expected. Radio 21, for example, also wants to supply large parts of Schleswig-Holstein with its rock programmes on DAB+.

“Audio is the new cool, so we need to become the leader of audio,” said Charles-Emmanuel Bon from Radio France during a panel discussion at RDE23. “We need to segment in the way audiences use digital media, not in the traditional way through age demographics. Audiences need to be profiled by understanding their content interests and how they consume content… “We aim to produce less content, but more targeted content by forging links between our marketing and programming areas to inform our content and delivery.” Bon explained that his station segments content by thinking it through, producing it and distributing the content on a targeted platform.

The UK Government has published a draft Media Bill which aims to help public service broadcasters better compete with streaming giants. The reforms also include additional provisions to help manage an eventual switchover of radio to digital and to enable Ofcom to licence overseas radio stations. Matt Payton, CEO of UK commercial radio trade body Radiocentre, said: "The commercial radio sector welcomes this important recognition of the vital role that it plays in the media landscape."

It is the fourth nationwide DAB+ multiplex in Germany in which the party station of the ffn media group from Hanover is represented. Radio Bollerwagen can now also be received on DAB+ in Flensburg and on Sylt. "After our successful launches in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Hamburg, we are pleased to now also broadcast on DAB+ in Schleswig-Holstein - in Flensburg and on Sylt to be precise - and to reach new target groups," says Harald Gehrung, CEO of the ffn-mediengruppe.

UK media regulator Ofcom has published its Plan of Work for 2023/24, which includes continued DAB licensing. The regulator's Plan states: "We will expand listener choice by licensing new small-scale DAB digital radio services throughout the UK and renew the licences for the multiplexes which carry local DAB and Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) services."

The radio station 89.0 RTL continues to expand its broadcast area and can now finally be received by more than 3.7 million people in the Free State of Saxony. The young format had already secured one of the coveted spots on the state-wide private DAB+ multiplex on channel 12A last year. The station is thus continuing its steady growth and will be receivable nationwide via DAB+ digital radio in five federal states when it goes on air in Lower Saxony later this year.

Today, Tuesday 28 March, TDF is launching DAB+ digital radio broadcasting from its broadcasting site in Cesson-Sévigné (Ille-et-Vilaine). Listeners in the Rennes area can now receive thirteen radio stations broadcast in DAB+ digital quality: Africa Radio, Canal B, Chérie FM Rennes, C'Lab, Euradio, Inrocks Radio, NRJ Rennes, Océane, Quartier des Ondes, Radio Caroline, Radio Laser, Radio Pitchoun and Radio Rennes.

Xperi has launched a new service that can deliver high quality rich content to listeners’ dashboards and give new insights for programmers into how people are using radio in cars. Speaking at Radiodays Europe, Joe D’Angelo and Desmond Fuller unveiled DTS AutoStage, which “unleashes the power of audio through UX and analytics.” It also puts radio back into a strong position again as auto manufacturers make plans for enhanced entertainment options in autonomous driving cars.