News

The radio station Candlelight Radio has recently started to be heard in part of the Netherlands via DAB+. DJ Jan van Veen has had his own online radio station Candlelight Radio for several years. The online radio station is derived from the radio programme Candlelight, in which poems are read from listeners by Van Veen. The programme has a long history on Dutch radio. In the Almere region, Candlelight Radio can now also be heard via DAB+ on channel 10C.

Broadcast Services will begin construction of transmission sites for its regional digital radio networks as soon as possible. It has won five blocks in the frequency auction and will cover the largest cities first. "The frequency allocations obtained on the basis of the auction results will allow us to start preparing the implementation of DAB+ broadcasting networks for the Prague, Central Bohemia, Pardubice, Vysočina, South Moravia, Zlín, Olomouc and Moravia-Silesia regions as soon as possible. First we will start the construction of broadcasting sites in the largest cities: in Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava, and then in other regions," said Jakub Juhas, Executive Director.

A new spin-off radio station is launching in February called Boom Rock to go with Boom Radio and Boom Light. The third service from Phil Riley and David Lloyd’s growing radio brand will be available from launch on DAB digital radio in Nottingham and online. Boom’s programme director David Lloyd told RadioToday: “We’ve always had plans to broaden our offering – and this is certainly a format for which our listeners have shown an appetite.” Boom Radio launched on February 14th 2021, joining the national DAB multiplex Sound Digital a month later. Its first spin-off station, Boom Light appeared in summer 2022.

The operators of the two full-screen commercial DAB+ multiplexes that will be launched on the Czech market in the coming years will be České Radiokomunikace, or its subsidiary Czech Digital Group, and RTI cz. The Czech Telecommunications Office announced this in a press release on 5 January. According to the regulator, the auction raised almost CZK 80 million.

RTI cz has won the tender for the operation of one of two national DAB+ networks in the 174-230 MHz band. The auction part of the tender procedure was launched by the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) at the end of October last year and ended on 4 January 2024. According to the company's managing director Václav Ježek, this is a great success for RTI cz, and it is a logical step because it is one of the first ever promoters of the development of DAB broadcasting in the Czech Republic.

The electronic auction of the tender for the award of rights to use radio frequencies in the 174-230 MHz band has ended. The auctioned frequency blocks were divided among all eight participants of the tender. "I am pleased that we were able to complete the auction successfully, having satisfied all participating bidders and managed to allocate all the blocks on offer. Thus, nothing stands in the way of the further development of terrestrial digital radio broadcasting." said Marek Ebert, Chairman of the CTU Council. The tender sets out development criteria that should ensure not only the successful development of DAB broadcasting, but also the efficient use of the allocated radio frequencies. The national networks are to cover 50% of the population and motorways within 18 months, and 80% of the population and motorways within a further 12 months.

All eight participants in the auction of frequencies for DAB+ networks for commercial radio were successful and won frequencies for at least one multiplex. The two nationwide networks B and C were acquired by České Radiokomunikace (or its subsidiary Czech Digital Group) and RTI cz. The Czech Telecommunications Office (ČTÚ) succeeded in auctioning all 29 frequency sets, i.e. 27 regional multiplexes in addition to the two national networks.

After extensive planning work, Sunradio - Best international Music, based in the Bernese Oberland, is further expanding its terrestrial broadcasting area on DAB+. Sunradio has already been broadcasting in the Bernese Oberland in collaboration with network operator Digris since 2018. Now the Bernese Mittelland and large parts of the canton of Solothurn are being added, as the music station announces. "After careful financial considerations and detailed clarifications, we are taking this step for the next two years, 2024 and 2025. In mid-2025, we will then weigh up the options and analyse the situation again. However, the goal is clearly a longer-term DAB broadcast in this attractive transmission area," Sunradio operator Stefan Grünig is quoted as saying.

At the 1-24 session held on January 4, 2024, the Council for Electronic Media in Croatia opened the offers received on the Notice of Intent to Grant Concession No. 09/23 for the provision of digital radio media services (DAB+). Bids have been opened from: MUX 1 (Republic of Croatia) – bravo cbc d.o.o.; DD0 (part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Istarska, part of Lika-Senj County) – Radio tvornica jdoo; DF0 (Split-Dalmatia, part of Dubrovnik-Neretva) – Media consulting doo.

The Communications Regulator of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Regulatorna agencija za komunikacije/RAK) has published a public call for a licence to operate DAB+ "MULTIPLEKS 1". Applications must be submitted by 12 February 2024. In the call, the regulator sets out deadlines for the licensee: no more than nine months from the date of issuance of the licence, to start broadcasting DAB+; to achieve coverage of at least 50% of the population in BiH by a maximum 18 months; and to achieve coverage of at least 85% of the BiH population by a maximum 36 months. The coverage must be achieved with at least one transmitter in each of the nine digital regions.