News

It has been announced by the Ministry of Culture that the national commercial Multiplex (MUX1) is going to be owned and run by a network operator on the expectation that the operator will act as a gatekeeper, developing the radio market and increasing the number of commercial DAB stations.

According to a new TNS Gallup survey there is a digital transformation in radio listening habits. Good sound and more channels are what listeners appreciate most with DAB radio.

A further 7% of all new cars had digital radio available as an option, taking the total proportion of new cars available with digital radio in Q4 2015 to nearly 90%.

Public broadcaster WDR is working on a new digital station for listeners over 70 which they believe will increase the current DAB+ offering.

Data from industry analysts CAP and The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for the final quarter of 2015 shows that the percentage of new cars sold that were fitted with digital radio as standard grew to 80.1%, compared to 7.5% five years ago and 61.2% year-on-year. This is the second biggest quarterly increase since monitoring began in 2010.

A year before the shutdown of FM stations in Norway, Bauer Media’s Kiss and Radio Rock stations have switched off their FM stations and are now exclusively available on DAB+ or the Internet. Bauer Media says the decision to shut off the FM broadcasts of both stations was to accelerate the digitisation process.

Slovenia's Agency for Communications Networks and Services (Akos) has issued a decision on the allocation of radio frequencies for the DAB+ multiplex R1. Public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and its transmission unit Oddajniki in zveze will be responsible for managing the DAB+ network.

The UK now has many formerly local radio stations on national DAB radio, like KISS and Capital Xtra; and now, some UK radio stations are using DAB to help them expand overseas.

UK station Panjab Radio has launched its service on DAB+ in Oslo and Akershus, Norway. Panjab Radio have increased its DAB+ reach across Europe by recently launching on DAB+ in Germany.

WorldDAB's Technical Committee meeting (WorldDAB committee members only) will conclude the EBU Digital Radio Week 2016 on 11 February. The week takes place in Geneva during the week of 8 February and will cover a series of meeting and discussions on digital radio including case studies on hybrid radio, smartphones and radio in the car.