News

Following on from ASBU Arab Festival for Radio and Television, the EBU's Director General Ingrid Deltenre and the Technology & Innovation department's Marcello Lombardo were part of a high level delegation hosting the EBU Radio Days 15-16 May in Tunis where DAB radio was discussed.

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to auction off 31 new DAB+ digital radio licenses. The government will in the coming years also continue with its digitalisation policy for commercial radio broadcasting. All current licenses will be renewed for five years, in-line with the wishes of the Lower House of Parliament.

At a meeting on 15 May 2017, the Media Council of the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) agreed to put out to tender DAB+ transmission capacities in Berlin and Brandenburg. "The interest in DAB+ is increasing," said MABB Director Dr. Anja Zimmer. "Since it is to be expected that the number of prospects for a DAB+ spread in Berlin and in the state of Brandenburg will exceed the number of available programs, MABB has proposed the DAB+ capacities be put out to tender." Applications must be submitted to the MABB by 14:00 on Friday, 23 June 2017.

The latest RAJAR figures paint a very positive picture for radio listenership in the UK. Almost 60% of us are tuning in on digital platforms as DAB radio penetration continues to make its way through the North of England. The UK is creeping ever closer to the government’s goal of digital radio accounting for 50% of all radio listening – almost half of all consumption now takes place on a digital platform.

Sony has just released the XDR-V20D clock radio and the XDR-S41D portable radio, both with DAB+.

Standard equipment has also been improved, with the GT86 benefitting from Toyota's Touch 2 infotainment system that incorporates satellite navigation, DAB radio and Bluetooth connectivity.

Digital radio listening radio in the UK has grown to 47.2% of all radio listening, according to new figures from RAJAR released today. DAB continues to deliver the lion's share of this listening, at 33.8% of all radio listening.

Teracom Denmark has won the new contract for the national DAB network in Denmark, and Paneda has been selected as partner for the DAB Head-End system. Karsten Madsen, Project Manager at Teracom: “Paneda has proven that the offered system suits our needs very well, the Paneda system makes it easier for us to create an attractive platform and businesses model for our customers where each radio station or group of stations will have access to the system and can enjoy all benefits with DAB independently from each other and without limitations, in this system Teracom can focus on core knowledge and transmission.”

Almost 6 in 10 adults currently listen to radio via a digital platform, according to the latest RAJAR results for the first quarter of 2017. In total, 32 million people now listen to radio via a digitally enabled receiver- DAB, digital TV or online - each week. In an average week, digital listening accounts for 483 million hours; DAB has a 71% share of digital listening hours, digital TV 12% and online 17%.

Digital radio listening has edged closer to 50% and reached a new record share of 47.2%, up from 44.1% in Q1 2016, according to RAJAR Q1 2017 data released today. Digital listening hours grew by 9% or 39.5 million hours compared to Q1 2016, boosted by strong growth of 1.2 million additional digital listeners with 66% of all radio listeners now listening on a digital platform.