News

To mark the one year anniversary since the launch of DAB+ digital radio services in French-speaking Belgium, maRadio.be has organised the Digital Radio Week - taking place from 16 to 22 November. As part of the event, information campaigns on DAB+ are now live across various platforms in French-speaking Belgium.

The WorldDAB Asia-Pacific Technical Group will offer participants the opportunity to discuss, learn and collaborate on all technical aspects of DAB+ digital radio, with information tailored specifically to the region. The group will ensure all activities are aligned with the DAB standards and will refer sustained new ideas or thinking back to WorldDAB Committees.

South Africa regulator ICASA has published draft digital radio regulation, outlining its intention to introduce licences for DAB+ digital radio. The draft regulation is open for consultation until 29 December 2020.

In 2021, DAB+ radio stations in Switzerland are set to benefit from financial packages covering around 50% of the DAB+ broadcasting cost, as opposed to 30% as originally outlined.

DAB+ is taking off in France. DAB+ launched in Bordeaux and Toulouse at the start of November, and is now available to 30% of the population. Two national multiplexes are set to launch in 2021, hosting a total of 25 stations.

Next year is set to be an important year for French radio, as confirmed by Nicolas Curien of the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, at the WorldDAB General Assembly. Not only will France be celebrating 100 years since the launch of its first radio broadcasts, it’ll also celebrate the rollout of national DAB+ services, with two multiplexes launching in summer 2021.

At last week’s General Assembly, the BBC’s Sustainability Data Scientist Chloe Fletcher presented the a BBC study comparing the energy footprint of BBC radio across AM, FM, DAB, IP and DTV radio services. The study found that DAB radio services have the lowest energy consumption per device hour.

Media Broadcast announced an expansion of the transmitter network for the nationwide digital radio offering - nine additional locations are expected to be covered by this expansion by the end of 2020.

Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) has announced plans to launch a new DAB+ all sports station in Mandurah, to be known as SEN Peel, on the back of another month of digital growth in Western Australia.

Bauer Media's launch of three additional radio stations - including the launch of new station Pop FM 80s - brings the total number of Bauer national stations on DAB+ to nine. "This is a perfect time for us to expand on DAB+. Listening is increasing and with DAB+ as standard in all new cars, we expect even more digital listening to come" said CEO Jim Receveur.