News

From today, people purchasing new passenger vehicles across Europe will be able to benefit from the advantages of digital radio – greater choice, clearer audio and enhanced data services.

The Swiss radio industry has agreed to switch from FM to DAB+ in 2022 and 2023. The members of the radio associations and SSR SRG have approved the procedure. According to this, public broadcaster SRG will switch off its FM stations in August 2022, followed by private radio stations by January 2023.

All 45 applications for the first 25 areas in the first round of the Small Scale DAB licence process are now online.

Digital Radio UK has put together a virtual offering titled “Drive to Digital 2020 Stakeholder Video Briefing.” The video provides an update on digital radio progress in 2020 and looks ahead to key developments for 2021.

The 2021 budget, which will be increased by one million crowns compared to 2020, will cover the broadcast of Czech Radio's 23 stations, as well as the launch of a new digital station.

The new transmitter operated by Media Broadcast, which will help increase the DAB+ programme offering on the island of Sylt, was launched on 15 December 2020.

The #Radioweek will offer five days of virtual events related to digital radio from 18 to 22 January 2021, while the Paris Radio Show will be moved to January 2022 instead.

Switzerland's media regulator Ofcom has decided to maintain the percentage of contributions paid to cover the costs of DAB+ broadcasting, which in 2021 should have dropped from 50% to 30%.

The daily use of digital terrestrial radio has increased by around 50 percent in Germany, compared to the same time last year. There are also 1.8 million more DAB+ radios in households now than in 2019. Germany launched a new national mutliplex in October 2020, and public broadcaster Deutschlandradio has started switching off FM transmitters in light of the continued growth of DAB+.

The DAB+ playout, previously divided into four regions, has been replaced by a completely new redundant DAB+ ensemble multiplexer system for 16 regions. With the installation of NDR’s new DAB+ playout system supplied by AVT, listeners will be able to receive news and weather information from their respective regions via DAB+ with a coverage that was previously only possible via FM.