News

LFK, the media regulator for the state Baden-Württemberg in Germany, has announced its plans to expand the DAB+ digital radio network in the southwestern German state, as well as to trial small-scall DAB broadcasting.

100% Radio, the radio station based in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, is counting on DAB+ digital radio to help extend its network and launch in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Montpellier in the near future.

The UK ad market is expected to grow by 4.9% in 2020, up from 3.2% in 2019, according to Zenith's latest Advertising Expenditure Forecasts. Driving that growth will be a 6.9% jump in digital spending, Zenith said - and by 2022, the agency expects that 71% of UK adspend will be allocated to digital media.

Youth broadcaster, and community radio station, Edge Radio, will be allowed to provide a DAB+ digital radio service in Hobart despite being in the RA3 licence area for the city.

Private broadcasters in Austria have launched the biggest DAB+ campaign to date in the country, estimated at approximately 2 million euros. Austria launched national DAB+ earlier this year, and with population coverage already standing at 77%, most of Austria's industry bodies have requested a new legislation mandating digital radio in receivers.

Paneda has carried out a large live demo of its unique Emergency Warning System over DAB. The test has been performed in the smaller city Flåm in Norway and has included the rescue service with fire brigades and police as well as representatives from relevant authorities.

New regulation put into force by Agcom, the Italian regulator, requires national network operators for digital radio to guarantee access to DAB+ broadcasts for new broadcasters defined as independent.

German State Secretary for Rhineland-Palatinate Heike Raab and Dorothee Bär, Minister of State for Digital Affairs, discuss the benefits of DAB+ digital radio in light of Germany's recent introduction of a new law requiring all new car radios - and certain types of consumer receivers - to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio from 21 December 2020.

Despite a number of stations launching on DAB+ in recent years, much of the radio landscape in Poland has remained unchanged since DAB+ first launched in 2015. However, as confirmed at the WorldDAB General Assembly 2019 in Brussels, Poland is now preparing to resume the development of its DAB+ network.

According to the public broadcaster's CEO René Zavoral, DAB+ population coverage in the Czech Republic is set to reach 95% in 2020, with new digital stations set to come hand in hand with the expansion.