News

The expansion of the ongoing DAB+ trial in Bangkok Thailand was announced at the WorldDAB Technical Group meeting on December 9, 2021. With this development, the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NBTC) is set to coordinate the construction of 10 new transmission sites which include both National and Local DAB+ layers. This expansion will include the areas and cities of Chang Mai in the north, Khonkaen and Nakhon Ratchasima in the northeast, Pattaya and Chonburi adjacent to Bangkok, and Songkhla, Nakhon Thammarat, and the tourist centre of Phuket in the south.

At the end of this month, the Slovak Radio and Television will switch off the medium-wave transmitter on Rimavská Sobota. Only the stations in Nitra and Čižatice will continue to operate. The public broadcaster is also considering turning off the AM signal at these locations, to be partially replaced by the DAB+ network.

The Bulgarian regulator - the Communications Regulatory Commission - has held a positive meeting on the implementation of DAB+. Participants included representatives from CRC, the Electronic Media Council, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Transport and Communications, and the radio industry body ABBRO. As a next step, ABBRO expressed its readiness to provide legal and practical proposals and information on good practices on successful deployments of DAB+ in Europe and from around the world.

The Flemish Regulator for Media (VRM) has approved all five submitted local DAB+ pilot projects. After payment of the broadcasting licence fee (100 euros per broadcasting location), VRM issues the licences. They will come into effect on 1 February and will be valid for a year, and may be extended pending the final frequency plan for local DAB+. A total of 63 local radios will participate.

Oldie Antenne, previously a web radio station from Antenne Bayern "Antenna Bayern Oldies but Goldies", has announced its launch date via DAB+ digital radio. The new station will be available via DAB+ in Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland from February 1, 2022, according to the station's website.

The DAB+ offer is growing continuously in Germany. There are now 300 DAB+ programmes that can be received in different regions, 100 of them exclusively via DAB+. Details on the continued growth is reported by the Digitalradio Büro Deutschland, with new developments having taken place in the north, middle and south of the country. Full information can be found at www.dabplus.de.

A new radio station playing nothing but live performances has launched on DAB. Arena Radio’s plan is to expand through DAB digital broadcasting and it has already started airing on DAB in Cambridge with more areas to come in the next few weeks. The station says talks are taking place with concert promoters and venues about sponsorship.

Launched at the end of 2020, the WorldDAB Asia-Pacific Technical Group concluded the year by holding its 4th meeting on 9th December. Throughout 2021 the WorldDAB APAC Technical Group grew from strength to strength, with membership of the group growing to over 60 radio industry representatives from over 20 countries from across the region, and with virtually all Southeast Asian countries being represented. The meetings focused a range of topics around the “DAB adoption process” covering topics from Trials and Experimentation to DAB requirements and Allotment planning.

Two new regular digital radio multiplexes launched by PSN Infrastruktura have started in Toruń and Rzeszów, both offering five local DAB+ radio stations. A third multiplex was launched by Dabcom in Tarnów, with initially five local radio stations, and a sixth one to join soon. Further local multiplexes will also be launched soon in Poznań, Warsaw, Katowice and Częstochowa.

A recent study shows that by purely broadcasting on DAB+, Bayerischer Rundfunk could save two million kilowatt hours. In Germany, on average this is a CO2 saving of 856 tons. The transmission of a single BR program only consumes 26% of the energy of a program broadcast on VHF.