News

On December 21, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting decided to announce a tender for digital radio of the T-DAB (DAB+) standard in Kyiv, and also approved the tender conditions.

On December 21, the National Council approved the competitive conditions and decided to announce the T-DAB Digital Broadcasting Contest in Kiev. This was reported in the press service of the National Council. Two transmitters for distribution of a digital signal are planned to be installed on the streets Dorogozhichy and Saperno-Sloboda. Synchronous broadcasting will be organized on the 7D channel. Number of programs - 14, broadcast volume - 24 hours a day.

In the Netherlands, 581,000 DAB+ radio sets have now been sold, according to WorldDAB. It concerns figures up to and including the fourth quarter of 2016 and they include cars delivered with DAB+. Halfway through 2016, the counter stood at 439,000 units. This equates to a growth of 33% compared to 2015. This puts the Netherlands on track with the plan to realize the fastest rollout of DAB + within Europe.

The Active version, proposed at € 32,700, is the entry level of the range and is characterized by 16 "alloy wheels, full smart entry & start system, Safety Sense, multi information system with eco drive monitor, multimedia system Touch2 (iPod ready, 6.1 "display, 6 speakers, bluetooth, Aux-in and Usb) with DAB+ and touch-sensitive capacitive keys, steering wheel controls (audio, telephone, air conditioning, touch tracer and cruise control) and adjustable external mirrors, heated and electrically foldable.

New programs are starting all the time, whether in Hamburg or Berlin, both public and private. Many cities already have more DAB+ stations than FM channels. 2018 will see the start of the 2nd Federal Muxes, for which Antenne Deutschland won the contract. But it will also see the merger of the current DAB+ listener research with information from Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analyze eV (agma) – the results of this will be seen next year.

In the last meeting of the Federal Council on December 15th, the federal chamber of the German Länder announced support for legislation in the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) that would require radios to be capable of receiving digital signals. The statement explains how the interoperability of radio receivers across Europe can contribute to the development of new and existing networks and services. The Council has provided guidelines to the Federal Government for discussions within the European Council and the regulations will be discussed in the first months of 2018 as part of the upcoming trilogue.

OiV on November 20 this year launched test broadcasting in digital broadcasting aimed at popularizing a new digital radio platform based on DAB+ technology that is already widely used in other countries.

Long in the embryonic state in France, DAB+ will assert its presence on the air this year. While in Germany, the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, nine out of ten inhabitants have access to radio in digital quality, the vast majority of French is deprived of it. However, the CSA has persevered and DAB will take a new scale on the territory from 2018.

In 15.1 percent of German households there is at least one DAB+ radio, compared to only 12.5 percent in the previous year, according to the digitization report of the state media authorities. This means that six million households have at least one DAB+ device, which is one million more than in the previous year. In Germany over 21 percent of new cars will be equipped with DAB+ radios in 2017, which will allow free reception via an antenna without internet connection. There are currently around 3.7 million DAB+ car radios in operation in Germany.

The UK's second commercial radio multiplex is to be filled up in the new year following the addition of two new stations. There were two empty DAB+ slots on the Sound Digital multiplex, which covers around 3/4 of the UK. On 24th January 2018, Forces Radio BFBS will return to DAB digital radio in the newer DAB+ format.