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Up to three new stations are to be prepared for digital radio broadcasting by the nationwide commercial radio Impuls, said Jiří Hrabák, CEO of Impuls and chairman of the Association of Private Broadcasters, in the third session of the DIGIMEDIA 2024 conference. "It could be one, but it could also be two or three. It depends on the conditions the network operators give us," Hrabák said. Of the eight winners of the auction of frequencies for networks dedicated to digital broadcasting of commercial radio, representatives of five of them attended the conference. Jan John from Play.cz announced the conclusion of a three-month exclusivity agreement with Czech Radio Communications for the design and construction of their network for digital radio. Play.cz plans to create a platform that will combine DAB+ terrestrial digital broadcasting with online streaming of the existing Play.cz service.

The Public Service Union (GÖD) is pleased to announce that RADIO GÖD - DER MUSIKSENDER will be available throughout Austria from 21 June 2024. With this expansion of the broadcasting area, Radio GÖD will provide its listeners with an interference-free sound experience via DAB+. The radio station offers a unique music programme from the 60s, 70s and 80s and is guaranteed to be free of advertising. GÖD Chairman Eckehard Quin also sees Radio GÖD as an important information channel: "We are proud to be able to offer our listeners a unique music and information programme via DAB+. This is a big step towards reaching even more people and informing them about important public service topics as required."

The highly anticipated final session of Thursday's Digimedia 2024 conference was extended from the planned hour and a half by more than an hour, but it outlined several important facts that will influence the future development of DAB+ technology in the Czech Republic. Several representatives of operators confirmed that they would like to share some of the broadcasting quotas with other entities and share any costs.

DAB radio broadcasters need to better communicate what they have to offer to in-car listeners, and collaborate more effectively with each other to make the medium grow. This was the message delivered by WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst as she opened the WorldDAB Automotive 2024 on June 13, 2024. The one-day conference was held in Prague, Czech Republic, in front of an in-person audience and streamed online. WorldDAB is the international association spearheading the adoption of the DAB digital radio transmission standard globally. “Last time I was here was for Radio Days Europe 2023, when we were celebrating 100 years of Czech Radio,” Bierhorst told her audience. “This anniversary is a great example of what the UK media consultant and DAB operator Matt Deegan called ‘radio’s relentlessness.’ But we can’t be complacent. We can’t rest on our success. The dashboard is critical to our future.”

The Association of Austrian Private Broadcasters is very positive about the planned increase in funding for private broadcasting: "The initiative motion submitted to the National Council today is an important measure to strengthen broadcasting services in Austria," states Mario Frühauf, Chairman of the VÖP Executive Board. The digitisation fund is to be increased by 1 million euros per year. This fund supports the costs of digital terrestrial radio broadcasting via DAB+. "From June, 30 new radio stations will be launched via DAB+ and will make the radio offering in Austria even more colourful and diverse," says Corinna Drumm, VÖP Managing Director. "This will give Austrians even more choice, completely free of charge and with a low threshold. However, refinancing these stations is difficult, especially in the first few years, so this start-up funding is important to stabilise the offering."

On 12 June 2024, the DGTEL of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT) published on the Ministry's website the list of expressions of interest received by the same Ministry of consortium companies admitted to the procedures for the assignment of rights to use frequencies for the terrestrial digital radio broadcasting service under the PNAF-DAB for the following catchment areas: no. 03 - Lombardy; no. 10 - Umbria and no. 19 - Sicily.

At a total of nine locations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Thuringia, the majority of Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur programmes will be broadcast digitally in future. Together with Deutschlandfunk Nova and the special channel Dokumente und Debatten (Dlf DokDeb), the two programmes can already be received digitally locally via DAB+. In view of the very good regional DAB+ coverage, parallel analogue broadcasting via some smaller FM transmitters with a limited range will end on 30 June 2024. In Bad Tölz, Bavaria, a new DAB+ transmitter will go on air on 19 June; FM broadcasting (87.8 MHz) will also end here on 30 June. Another frequency will be switched off on 17 September, when Deutschlandfunk's FM broadcasting in Pfronten, Bavaria (96.5 MHz) will end.

The first final DAB network for commercial radio was launched on 12 June from the Prague-Zizkov transmitter. The R15 regional network was built following a licensing auction. The signal of this network, which broadcasts 14 radio stations, will cover more than 1.5 million inhabitants of Prague and Central Bohemia. While until the end of May it was possible to tune in to the CRA DAB+ multiplex from the Žižkov transmitter on channel 7A, it is now broadcasting on channel 6B, which was auctioned by the Czech Digital Group (a subsidiary of CRA) as Regional Network 15 in a frequency auction organised by the Czech Telecommunications Office.

A new radio station using the name Atlantic 252 is set to launch on DAB. The station has a modern version of the original Atlantic 252 logo and will commence broadcasting at 8am on June 24th, 2024. Whilst the people behind the revival want to remain anonymous, the station voice-over will be Jim Merkel, who was the voice behind the original station. Atlantic 252 won’t be on 252 LW, but in certain areas of the North West on DAB, including Stockport, Bury, Bolton, Tameside, Rochdale and Oldham with plans to expand across the UK and Ireland as the year rolls on.

Cumbria.Digital has announced plans to apply for the small-scale DAB multiplex licence covering Carlisle and Penrith. The company plans to reserve capacity for six community stations, surpassing Ofcom’s minimum requirement of four, to better serve the diverse communities in Carlisle, Penrith, and the surrounding rural areas. “We are looking to provide a platform that gives communities and organizations a voice, opening up the power of radio to all and bringing greater choice to listeners in the area,” said a spokesperson for Cumbria.Digital. “We will support the existing community stations in Carlisle and Penrith, ensuring they have capacity on the multiplex if they wish alongside supporting new stations.”