News

The BBC is “not proactively putting a date on a digital switchover or anything stupid like that,” Director General Tim Davie has said, but rather sparking a “broader conversation across the UK for when we do move across.” Davie said that he was “being provocative” in the recent landmark speech when he discussed an internet-only future. “We should have an aggressive plan but that is not a plan to remove things used by lots of people too soon,” he added, speaking to the UK government’s Public Accounts Committee. “The BBC has a fantastic record of not leaving people behind, whether it’s in terms of Freeview or DAB—that is not the proposal.”

Levira's DAB+ digital radio transmitter started operating on 11 January at the Pehka transmitter station, as a result of which the coverage area of digital radio now extends not only to Tallinn and Central Estonia, but also to Lääne-Viru county. Thanks to the transmitter in Haljala municipality, digital radio can now be listened to in almost all of Lääne-Viru County. On the Tallinn-Narva highway, digital radio reaches as far as Aseri and beyond under favourable conditions. Currently, 11 radio stations can be listened to on DAB+: Raadio Elmar, Raadio Kuku, Raadio MyHits, Raadio Duo, Narodnoe Radio and DFM, as well as Star FM Eesti, Klassikaraadio, Äripäev Raadio, Power Hit Radio and Tre Raadio.

After the recent rumours on possible interventions on the occupation of the FM band, Minister Adolfo Urso, during the hearing at the Chamber of Deputies (IX Transport Commission) on the programme of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit) for communications, reassures: DAB+ development is central for radio, and no divestment of analogue for as long as it is necessary.

KTO was selected by Arcom on 11 January 2023 as the 26th station on the national digital terrestrial radio frequency. Vincent Montagne, President of KTO, commented on this news: "KTO continues its deployment and and begins a new phase in its history. This digital access strengthens our offer of multimedia services. We are very pleased to have been selected and look forward to launching this new project." KTO TV is the French-speaking Catholic channel, it offers insights into subjects of reflection or debate and accompanies the prayer life of its viewers.

“DAB+ has had a significant impact on broadcasting,” says John Kyriakides, CEO of London Greek Radio, in an interview with the Cyprus Mail. “London Greek Radio has been broadcasting in the DAB+ digital format for the past eight years. Since DAB+ will expand media options and offer clearer signals free from interference from competing radio stations, we have been promoting it in Cyprus. It is environmentally sustainable, and we are happy to see that the Cypriot authorities are considering it. Hopefully, the voice of London Greek Radio can soon be heard throughout Cyprus, bringing together British Cypriots and everyone else in Cyprus.”

Südwestrundfunk (SWR) continues to expand its transmitter network for digital radio reception DAB+. The commissioning of the Palzem site, on Wednesday, 11 January 2023, will improve DAB+ coverage in frequency block (channel) 11A on the Upper Moselle along the B419 and in the area of Palzem, Kreuzweiler, Dilmar, Esingen, Helfant, Wehr and Wincheringen. From Südwestrundfunk, the stations SWR1 Rhineland-Palatinate, SWR2, SWR3, SWR4 Rhineland-Palatinate (with the regional programmes SWR4 Kaiserslautern and SWR4 Koblenz, SWR4 Ludwigshafen, SWR4 Mainz and SWR4 Trier) as well as SWR Aktuell and DASDING can be received.

The small-scale DAB digital radio multiplex for Coventry is now on-air following its licence award in August 2022. It will officially launch on Friday 20th January 2023 and currently has Radio Plus and Vanny Radio on its line-up. Coventry DAB was awarded its licence in October 2022 as part of Ofcom’s Round 3 and started ‘testing’ just before Christmas. Simon McAusland, Chief Executive of Coventry Community Digital Radio CIC says: “I would like to thank Sam Hunt at Maxxwave, Dr Rob Watson at Decentered Media and the Broadcast Licensing Team at Ofcom for all of their help in getting this new Small Scale DAB Multiplex for Coventry licensed and commissioned with such a fast turnaround.”

Since the start of the year, Swiss TopCC Radio can also be heard in Zurich via DAB+. It is broadcast on the Digris multiplex on channel 9D. The station is backed by the Swiss large-scale supermarket chain TopCC, which belongs to SPAR Holding. The branded radio station is produced and marketed by Silverspot from Uster. "It's like a dream that has become reality. Or to put it another way: we actually did the right thing at the right time," Remo Civatti, Managing Director at Silverspot AG, said. The radio customers who can already be heard on the station through successful marketing include established brands such as Unilever, Feldschlösschen, Rivella and many more.

The number of channels distributed in the DAB+ digital radio multiplex operated by Towercom, has increased to 12. The new station called Radio Slovakia will be available on a separate channel (Service ID: 5008) for Radio Slovakia International listeners with a bitrate of 72 kbps.

Telecommunications operator Towercom has launched a new DAB+ transmitter in the last few hours, which distributes digital radio in VHF band III. The news will certainly please listeners in eastern Slovakia, given that coverage there has improved significantly. According to SatelitnáTV.sk, the Košice - Dubník transmitter is already active, transmitting on channel 10C (213.360 MHz) with a maximum permitted power of 5 kW.