News

DAB+ has officially launched in Lyon following earlier launches in Paris Marseille, Nice and Lille. Speaking at the official launch in Lyon, Alain Liberty, president of the union of independent radios, highlighted this as being "the most important change in the radio industry since the launch of the FM band".

We take a look at the latest developments that have helped drive the significant progress of DAB+ in the car in recent weeks, and what we can expect to see in coming months, including the new European legislation, manufacturers and broadcasters coming together in support of digital radio, and recognition of DAB+ as the core industry standard for digital radio.

The creation of a working group analysing the development of digital radio in Spain, brought forward by Valencian political party Compromís, is expected to be debated by the Spanish Senate Industry Committee on Monday 17 December.

Supporting the expansion of digital radio - while urging the Government to confirm that small commercial radio stations will be given a choice of when to stop broadcasting on FM -featured as part of the key recommendations in the report produced by the APPG on Commercial Radio.

Cagliari's university radio is now available on DAB+ following an agreement with the DigitalRadio Group consortium, marking the first time a university radio in Italy broadcasts on DAB+.

22 FM stations are being shut down in no fewer than seven locations across South Tyrol, a region in which DAB+ has already surpassed FM, with DAB+ population coverage standing at 99.6%.

Radio listeners in France are encouraged to acquire a DAB+ radio as the country continues its transition toward digital radio standards.70% of the population of France is expected to be covered with DAB+ in the next three years.

Following the launches in Lyon and Strasbourg, DAB+ has reached the 20% population coverage in France, the threshold needed to trigger the law requiring all receivers to integrate DAB+.

Following the expansion of the DAB+ broadcasting networks in Sulden and Pfelders, 99.6% of the Alto Adige population is served by 22 digital radio stations, while 95% of the population has access to 35 DAB+ stations.The RAS has also announced the shutdown of 22 low-power FM transmitters in the region.

The NDR continues to drive forward the expansion of its DAB+ broadcasting network with the Lüneburg, Stralsund and Greifswald locations scheduled to go into operation in December. More regions set to follow in 2019 and 2020.