News

PELI ONE has launched a test broadcast "Black Music for Adults" from Hamburg since last week, with the broadcast to be aired across Berlin and Hamburg via DAB+.

The Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Nikiforov, held a meeting on 17 April in Moscow with the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (GKRC) during which the possibility of deploying DAB+ was discussed, where appropriate and dependent on availability of spectrum.

Sound Digital, the national DAB radio platform, is seeking expressions of interest from broadcasters interested in obtaining a channel on its network of transmitters covering England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The use of digital radio is increasing steadily, and by 2017, 86 percent hear digital radio daily. Digital radio listening includes PC / Mac, mobile radio, tablet, internet radio, DAB radio and DAB radio in car (including adapter), DAB pocket radio and digital TV receiver.

The Russian Commission presented a report on the possibility of working in Russia on DAB+ networks. It was decided that DAB+ technology could be used, pending certain conditions and availability of frequencies and changes in regulation. In South Africa, communications authority ICASA plans to conduct a survey to launch terrestrial digital radio in South Africa.

The group Bauer Media has decided to rebrand its radio station in Manchester Key 103 to become Hits Radio. The station will broadcast on its FM frequency in Manchester and the rest of the country in DAB.

Norkring have opened new support channels, and increased the bitrate from 64 to 80 or 96 kbps for DAB+ stations in Brussels and Flanders.

In Flanders and Brussels,the bitrates of almost all radio stations are increased to either 80 kbps or 96 kbps, which has resulted in a significant improvement of DAB+ coverage and audio quality.

Manchester's Key 103 is to become "Hits Radio" and become available on various local DAB multiplexes across the country. Hits Radio will go live on 4 June 2018.

The allocation of frequencies was done by the State Commission on Radio Frequencies following the meeting held on April 16. The band planned for usage is 175.872 to 228.128 MHz and the possibility of using these frequencies was confirmed by the Research Institute of Radio, which conducted tests of compatibility of DAB + networks with networks already operating in Russia.