Population:	60.6 million
Coverage:	85%
Services:	449 DAB, 20 Data
Sales (accumulated):	10,000,000 devices
Penetration by household:	32%

Last update: 20-07-2010

On Thursday 8 April 2010 a new law, The Digital Economy Act, was passed which will ensure the smooth transition from analogue to digital radio. The Act includes six sections relating to radio which will allow a date for switchover to be set, grant licence renewals to local and national analogue stations also broadcasting on digital to facilitate investment in digital radio, gives Government the power to withdraw those renewals, gives greater operational freedom for local Commercial Radio stations, gives Ofcom, the UK regulator, the flexibility to re-plan local multiplex licences and extend the coverage area of Digital One, the national commercial multiplex and allows a new piece of (secondary) legislation to be brought forward to extend multiplex licences. The Act gives broadcasters, manufacturers and listeners a clear roadmap for the future of digital radio in the UK.

20 million people now tune in to digital radio each week, an increase of two million from last year, according to the latest RAJAR figures released. Weekly reach has increased by 11% year on year from 18 million to 20 million, and now 43% of all radio listeners are listening to digital every week. DAB listening now accounts for 15.8% of all radio listening, an increase of 20% year on year (up from 13.1% of all listening from last year and up from 15.1% in the last quarter). The proportion of adults claiming to own a DAB set at home has increased by 7.6% year on year, with over one third of the population or 18.2 million adults (aged 15+) now claiming to live in a household with a DAB receiver.

About 90% of the population now live within the coverage area of DAB services.

In this country there are

• National multiplexes: 2 Regular
• Regional multiplexes: 10 Regular
• Local multiplexes: 37 Regular

There are 43 public services and 126 commercial services available on DAB.

There are hundreds of DAB products on the market in the UK being sold through a large number of high street and online retailers as well as most of the big electrical chains. The cheapest receivers are sold at no more than GBP20.

Slide show trials via DAB are currently on-going in the London area.

A Royal Charter and Agreement govern the public broadcaster; the BBC, with new stations subject to Government approval and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) regulate the commercial sector. Multiplex licences are currently awarded on a beauty contest formula rather than auctioned. Regulation controls such things as minimum bit-rate for music stations, mandatory must carry’ obligations, maintenance of service providers stations commitments and the amount of data content.

The UK Government published its final Digital Britain report on 16th June. This follows on from the government’s Digital Radio Working Group report which published its own recommendations for the digital future of radio in the UK. The Digital Radio Working Group suggested that these criteria could be met between 2015 and 2020 and therefore a switchover could occur as early as 2017.

The Digital Britain Report set out a five point plan for DAB to be in all new cars by 2013 is proposed and the report called on the European Commission to lead a common Europe-wide approach to digital radio. The Digital Britain report by Lord Carter, the British Minister for Communications, is the culmination of work by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DIS).The report can be found in full at http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf

Details of the Digital Economy Act which sets out details of plans for migration of analogue to digital radio can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010/ukpga_20100024_en_1