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Arcom has today published a White Paper on radio that outlines an ambitious future for the radio medium. In particular, it sets out a realistic and progressive strategy for the radio industry's transition to DAB+. Radio France is delighted with the prospects outlined by Arcom. DAB+, a modern digital technology, has many qualities: it is sovereign, resilient and resource-efficient, it respects personal data and there is no risk of it being monopolised by the digital giants. Radio France has therefore been fully committed to its deployment since 2018 and is participating in the radio sector's drive in its favour. Radio France supports Arcom's call for the Ensemble pour le DAB+ association to become a genuine coalition of all the players involved in steering this transition.

The result of more than 30 hearings and consultations with the main players in radio, Arcom has published its White Paper on the future of radio in France, which provides a broad overview of the sector and its economic, legal and technical aspects, as well as changes in usage. The White Paper on Radio was presented by Hervé Godechot, Arcom member and chairman of the Radio and Digital Audio working group, at the Assises de la radio 2024 conference on Tuesday 18 June at the AMF headquarters in Paris.

WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst has described radio as “relentless” and calls for continued collaboration to ensure broadcast radio’s prominence in the car dashboard. International organisations including EBU in Europe and NAB in United States came together to highlight broadcast radio’s strength, and new in-car opportunities at the annual WorldDAB Automotive event on Thursday 13th June. Over 300 executives from across the global automotive and broadcast sectors gathered in Prague, Czechia to talk radio. Setting the scene, WorldDAB President, Jacqueline Bierhorst made a passionate call for continued collaboration to ensure broadcast radio’s prominence in-car. She described radio as “relentless” for its longevity and added: “We all have to pull together to ensure that DAB+ remains at the heart of the dashboard, in the best quality possible.”

Radio Arabella Austria has launched a new DAB+ programme. arabella MAGIC can now be heard throughout Austria via DAB+ and replaces the previous arabella RELAX programme, which can only be heard as a webstream and in apps such as Radioplayer. The new DAB+ programme aims to offer "feel good vibes" and "magic moments" with music from the 2000s to the present day from the pop, pop-dance and singer-songwriter genres, such as Coldplay, Ava Max, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, One Republic to Taylor Swift and James Blunt. Even before the general industry launch of MUX III on 21 June 2024, arabella MAGIC will present itself in the colourful DAB+ scene with a new look. According to Arabella boss Birgit Steurer, the focus is on a clear and accentuated variety of stations for the Radio Arabella group of companies in the digital Austrian radio landscape.

In keeping with its commitment to increase coverage on a monthly basis until the end of the year, with the aim of reaching around 50% of the population coverage, RNE has begun broadcasting Radio Nacional, Radio 3 and Radio 5 in DAB+ in Mijas at Cellnex Telecom's broadcasting centre in the town. From there, coverage is provided to the towns of Málaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola. The start of broadcasts also coincides with the high season in an area that is a tourist destination for citizens from different countries where DAB+ is already available to listen to. Moreover, these visitors use rental cars which are no more than three years old and which therefore incorporate DAB+ receivers.

“The dashboard is critical to our future, and that’s why we are here — to unite the automotive and broadcast sectors.” Jacqueline Bierhorst, WorldDAB president, could not have been more direct in her opening address at the WorldDAB Automotive 2024 conference on June 13. The hybrid event brought together about 300 professionals, both in person and online, from the broadcast and automotive sectors to explore the latest developments in digital radio technology for the automotive industry. In-car listening has always been crucial to radio, but while radio still holds prominence in cars, will this continue? How will the rapid evolution of advanced dashboards and onboard entertainment systems impact this?

At Digimedia 2024, Karel Zýka, technical director of the CRo introduced Jacqueline Bierhorst, president of the international organisation WorldDAB, as a guest at the conference, who presented the current situation of DAB+ in Europe and the world. Václav Ježek, the future operator of the nationwide digital radio network RTI cz, informed about the operator's readiness to start broadcasting. "We have purchased all the broadcasting technology and are waiting for the coordination of frequencies. We will be the first to retune our existing transmitters," Ježek said. Broadcast Services, which tested digital radio broadcasting in Brno until the end of May, is counting on sharing broadcast sites and masts with other operators, according to its CEO Jakub Juhas. "But in terms of clients and providing content for these networks, we will normally compete," he added.

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.