News

Published this morning by the UK Government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, the Digital Radio and Audio Review assesses future trends in listening and makes recommendations on ways of strengthening UK radio and audio. Chapters cover listeners and ensuring the appeal of radio and audio, the future of radio and audio devices used in home and vehicles, digital audio platforms and voice-activation, and future radio distribution and coverage.

From next year, Czech Radio will finance the development of DAB+ by switching off AM. Said Karel Zýka: "At the end of the year, we are shutting down AM and its resources will be set aside for digital broadcasting. Czech Radio now has all its stations on DAB+". Czech Radio plans to further improve signal coverage and in the next phase of coverage, the focus will be on indoor reception. Commercial network operators are also keen to develop DAB+ in the Czech Republic.

Radio listeners across North Rhine-Westphalia can listen to a wider selection of programmes from 29 October with 16 services via DAB+. Said Jan-Uwe Brinkmann: “Finally, a real radio market will also emerge in NRW with attractive nationwide providers and competition in private radio. According to estimates by market observers, up to 100 million euros in advertising money per year are wasted because the previous politically wanted radio landscape was unable to offer the appropriate advertising space. We and the other platform programmes will now change that with our nationwide offers. In this respect, the launch of DAB+ in NRW opens up a new multi-million market."

Since 12 October, France Bleu, the local network of Radio France, can now be received on DAB+ by nearly 16 million inhabitants. Ditto for other radio stations in the group (France Inter, Franceinfo, France Culture, France Musique, FIP and Mouv’), thanks to 28 DAB+ transmitters going live.

Twenty-five new small-scale DAB multiplex licenses have now been awarded by media regulator Ofcom, completing its first round of licensing for the new technology. “The rollout of this innovative technology will give listeners across the United Kingdom an unprecedented choice of locally produced content — serving communities and audiences across the country in a way never seen before,” said Kevin Bakhurst, Ofcom’s group director of Broadcasting and Online Content. “The UK’s commercial and community radio industry continues to go from strength to strength.”

No fewer than 87 local radio stations have expressed interest in joining a DAB+ pilot project in Flanders, Belgium. West Flanders has the most interested parties, followed by East Flanders and Antwerp.

DAB+ stations whose programme feed is interrupted due to interference receive the programme terrestrially from another DAB+ station, convert it to a different frequency (channel) and broadcast it again with a short time delay. The programme that has been distributed in this way can now be received by other DAB+ stations and broadcast on a different frequency. In this way, comprehensive broadcasting coverage can be achieved even in the event of a disaster. Manufacturers of receivers and receiver chips, as well as the automotive industry, are invited to test their receivers with regard to re-broadcasting.

Based on its recent analysis of the North American connected car media market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Xperi with the 2021 North American Company of the Year Award. A leading service and software provider, Xperi® was commended for the strong culture of innovation it has cultivated in order to expand in the connected radio market. The company's recent collaborations with Japan's radiko and Germany's SWR have enabled it to combine metadata and content from Japan's and Germany's largest radio broadcasters.

After conducting a public tender procedure, the Croatian Network Regulatory Agency (HAKOM) issued a license for the management of a DAB+ digital radio network to Odasiljaci i Veze (OiV). The licence was issued for the period from 16 November 2021 to 31 December 2036.

A new digital radio campaign has launched on commercial radio as part of a Digital Radio UK initiative to help educate older radio audiences about platforms and content. The 3 x 40” radio spots focus on problem-solving ‘Digital Radio Conundrums’ with each representing one of the three common barriers that older listeners encounter in accessing digital radio content – downloading a station app, listening to radio on a smart speaker, and understanding DAB+.