News

Nation Broadcasting is inviting existing commercial and new digital broadcasters to get in touch about broadcasting on all of the small scale DAB multiplexes being advertised by Ofcom next month. Any station interested in being a part of Nation Broadcasting’s plans for small scale DAB are encouraged to contact ash.elford@nationbroadcasting.com to register their interest.

Radio has played a tremendously important role since the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the significant challenges faced by many broadcasters since the start of the pandemic, radio listening is peaking, new DAB+ services are being launched across Europe and the WorldDAB network continues to grow.

A new DAB+ marketing campaign has launched in Switzerland, where a digital switchover is set to take place by 2024. The campaign, which encourages listeners to purchase a DAB+ receiver, emphasises the quality offered by DAB+ digital radio.

In total, there were 400,000 more radio listeners in July 2020 than in the same month last year. NRK's radio channels experienced an increase of 206,000 listeners; the P4 group, on the other hand, had 142,000 more listeners than in July 2019, while the Bauer Media channels experienced an increase of 142,000 more listeners.

IZT has installed and successfully commissioned the first two of four Radio Direction Finders (RDF) for Eurocontrol. The IZT RDF, which are distributed over several locations, enable the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center to send important position information to air traffic controllers.

Following the launch of a consultation on behalf of the Department for Transport, the necessary legal regulations were approved by Parliament to support the mandating of the fitment of digital radio in passenger vehicles in the UK. The new order, which comes into force in September, is in line with the EU's EECC directive, which mandates digital radio in new cars across Europe.

RTL subsidiary BCE is set to start live DAB+ test transmissions in September or October this year. Two sites will be used for the transmissions, and all local radio stations across the country are expected to take part in the trial.

WorldDAB member Xperi has recently completed its merger with TiVo, to create the world’s deepest licensed media metadata along with its personalisation platform for improving infotainment in the car. Find out more about the merger, and the company's latest news in Xperi's newsletter.

Three new organisations have joined WorldDAB since May 2020. They are Malta's network operator Digi B Network Ltd., Chinese receiver manufacturer Hidaka Corporation and Azerbaijan's network operator Radio-Television Broadcasting and Satellite Communications Production Unity (Teleradio PU). WorldDAB now has a total of 106 members from 32 countries.

Ofcom's report highlights how the more bandwidth-efficient DAB+ standard has enabled the growth in the number of DAB services on UK-wide and local multiplexes, and how the desire to reduce transmission costs has led to a decline in the number of AM services.