News

Saxony's State Media Authority has licensed STAR FM MAXIMUM ROCK Sachsen and Radio BHeins for the state-wide private DAB+ multiplex. This means that the state-wide private DAB+ multiplex is now fully occupied. Due to the great interest, a selection decision had to be made. There were five applications for the two remaining capacities available. The President of the SLM Media Council, Prof. Dr. Markus Heinker, sees the digital distribution of radio in Saxony strengthened by the licences:"The increase in the variety of private radio programmes will further advance the digital switchover of broadcasting and make it possible for all Saxons in the city and the country to not only listen to their favourite programme in higher reception quality with digital added value, but also to receive more programmes on the radio."

How can favourite music and personal interests in announcements be combined on linear radio, what technologies are necessary and how does it sound to the audience? The Bayerische Medien Technik (bmt) together with the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for new media (BLM), Mediaschool Bayern, Bayerische Lokal-Radioprogramme (BLR) and Bayern Digital Radio (BDR), is investigating the combination of music-only programmes with an announcement channel in DAB+ digital radio. The project has a duration of 14 months and is funded by the Bavarian State Chancellery.

For two days, Thursday 15 and Friday 16 June, radio stations and listeners will celebrate the medium. The French stations will allow listeners to discover all the facets of radio, from its broadcasting to its reception, whether it is analogue or digital, live or recorded. On the occasion of the third edition of the Fête de la Radio, Arcom will organise a morning of discussions on the challenges facing the radio medium on Friday 16 June from 08:30 to 12:30 with Roch-Olivier Maistre, President of Arcom, and Hervé Godechot, President of the Arcom "Radio and Digital Audio" working group.

Made for children - always approachable, cheerful and for explorers - we introduce you to stations with content suitable for children that can be heard exclusively on DAB+. Whereas "children's radio" in the analogue FM age was mainly a matter of a few, isolated programmes, digital DAB+ radio for children offers around-the-clock programming.

On Friday, the Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the Radio and Television Broadcasting Act, which was submitted by STAN MP Ondřej Lochman as an addendum to the government's amendment to the Electronic Communications Act. Radio operators will be able to obtain an unlimited number of licences for digital terrestrial radio broadcasting once DAB+ digital radio broadcasting networks for private radios are established. This regulation applied to analogue radio broadcasting and was due to the frequency band limitation. However, in digital broadcasting there will be room for a range of new nationwide programmes, including thematic stations established by existing operators.

Radio Starlight Urk can be heard via DAB+ from this week. In the Noordoostpolder / Urk region, the station can now be received on channel 11B. Three years ago, the internet radio station Starlight Urk was revived and until last March the station could also be listened to via medium wave. Shortly after the launch of medium wave, there was almost immediately also the ambition to broadcast via DAB+. Radio Starlight Urk currently has programme makers from 20 different radio studios who deliver their programme from Belgium and England to the station in the Netherlands.

ANRCETI [Agenţia Naţională pentru Reglementare în Comunicaţii Electronice şi Tehnologia Informaţiei / The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology] requests interested persons to submit their intention to participate in the tender for the issuance, free of charge, of licences for the use of radio frequencies. The spectrum resources for the provision of the national T-DAB+ A multiplex may be exploited, depending on demand, in the form of a national multiplex or 6 separate regional digital terrestrial broadcasting multiplexes. The decision and the timetable for the release of the available radio frequencies will be drawn up on the basis of the market demand identified following consultation and dialogue with all interested parties.

With the publishing of guidelines for delineating local DAB+ networks on 20 April 2023, Italian regulators are ready to begin allocating approvals to local network operators. The guidelines detail the criteria and methods to be adopted for assigning DAB+ operator authorisation across Italy. The provisional national plan for the assignment of frequencies for DAB+, or PNAF-DAB, identifies frequencies for three national single-frequency networks; 54 regional networks, 27 of which can be broken into sub-regional “basins;” and 36 local networks with provincial or multi-province coverage. With PNAF-DAB in place, regulators hope to have DAB+ networks assigned for 40% of the population of each operating region or sub-region within two years, 60% within four years, and 70% within five years.

The adoption of Resolution no. 286/22/CONS of AGCOM approved the "Provisional National Plan for the Allocation of Frequencies in the VHF band - III for the DAB+ Digital Audio Broadcasting Service (PNAF-DAB)", thus allowing the Ministry to proceed with the granting of the rights of use on the networks planned by AGCOM. The Ministry has published the summary of the national public consultation, carried out on the version of the guidelines published on 13.12.2022, with the Ministry's evaluations and the final text of the guidelines relating to the criteria and methods that will be adopted to proceed with the assignment of rights of use to local network operators for the terrestrial digital radio broadcasting service.

On the 13th anniversary of the opening of the newly built Aval tower, four more stations from Radio Belgrade were added to the DAB+ network. "Listeners to Radio Belgrade and the whole of Serbia will get the new offer on the DAB+ network, they will get the opportunity to enjoy with our four thematic channels, in addition to the existing Radio Belgrade 1, 2, 3 and 202, the musical wealth of the digital archive of Radio Belgrade. What has been carefully archived and selected for 99 years, is offered this time in digital form for the enjoyment of all our citizens", said Director of Technology and Production of Radio Belgrade Zorana Bojičić.