News

The European Parliament's Industry, Research and Technology Committee has voted in favor of a regulation that will require all new cars to have digital terrestrial radio reception. However, it is only after the summer break that the final vote is taken in plenary, making the regulation binding on all manufacturers offering their cars on the European market.

The number of new cars being sold with DAB as standard has reached a new record number growing to 92.4% in Q2 2018, according to data from industry analysts CAP and The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This is up from 90% in Q1 2018 and 86.8% in Q2 2017, and means that 2.2 million new cars with DAB have been sold in the last 12 months.

Standard comfort and convenience features include seven-inch colour touchscreen, six-speaker sound system with DAB+ and Bluetooth phone connectivity.

New figures published by the ma 2018 Audio II has shown growth in DAB+ listening in Germany by 32.6% since the previous study, with more than 122,000 people listening to digital radio.

German station Radio Schlagerparadies has been hailed as Germany's most successful nationwide broadcaster on DAB+, according to new figures by the Media-Analyze 2018 Audio II study. It shows the station has reached 14.4% more listeners per hour in the age group 14-49 years during weekdays than in the previous evaluation.

The ma Audio 2018 / II study has shown DAB+ to be performing strongly, with growth reported at varied levels for nationwide stations Klassik Radio, RADIO BOB!, sunshine live, Radio Schlagerparadies and Absolut Relax. Growth in DAB+ listening was also reported for private stations Deutschlandfunk Nova, SWR Aktuell, MDR Klassik and BR Heimat.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has welcomed the European Parliament vote that will update existing must-carry rules and provide for a wider choice of free-to-air radio content while on the move. The code introduces new provisions requiring radio sets integrated in new passenger cars in the EU to at least be capable of digital terrestrial radio reception.

The GT-Line features forward collision mitigation, adaptive cruise control, daytime running lights, selectable driving modes, lane departure warning, digital DAB+ radio, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The WorldDAB Automotive Working Group is asking for your feedback on how our guidelines on Automotive User Experience (UX) have been used and how they can be improved. We would encourage all interested stakeholders working in the automotive and broadcast industries to complete our short survey.

WorldDAB addresses concerns of South African broadcasters on competition from streaming radio over the internet, the business model for commercial broadcasters and the availability of digital radio receivers.