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In the last meeting of the Federal Council on December 15th, the federal chamber of the German Länder announced support for legislation in the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) that would require radios to be capable of receiving digital signals. The statement explains how the interoperability of radio receivers across Europe can contribute to the development of new and existing networks and services. The Council has provided guidelines to the Federal Government for discussions within the European Council and the regulations will be discussed in the first months of 2018 as part of the upcoming trilogue.

OiV on November 20 this year launched test broadcasting in digital broadcasting aimed at popularizing a new digital radio platform based on DAB+ technology that is already widely used in other countries.

Long in the embryonic state in France, DAB+ will assert its presence on the air this year. While in Germany, the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, nine out of ten inhabitants have access to radio in digital quality, the vast majority of French is deprived of it. However, the CSA has persevered and DAB will take a new scale on the territory from 2018.

In 15.1 percent of German households there is at least one DAB+ radio, compared to only 12.5 percent in the previous year, according to the digitization report of the state media authorities. This means that six million households have at least one DAB+ device, which is one million more than in the previous year. In Germany over 21 percent of new cars will be equipped with DAB+ radios in 2017, which will allow free reception via an antenna without internet connection. There are currently around 3.7 million DAB+ car radios in operation in Germany.

The UK's second commercial radio multiplex is to be filled up in the new year following the addition of two new stations. There were two empty DAB+ slots on the Sound Digital multiplex, which covers around 3/4 of the UK. On 24th January 2018, Forces Radio BFBS will return to DAB digital radio in the newer DAB+ format.

The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications released an additional DAB+ frequency block each on 20 December 2017 for German, French and Italian Switzerland. The two new DAB + radio licenses in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino go to SwissMedia Cast AG (SMC), which already operates a voice-regional and a regionally subdivided DAB+ platform in German-speaking Switzerland.

Flanders is going to speed up its move to DAB+ in 2018, with Minister of Media Sven Gatz making additional capacity available to enable more radio stations broadcast digitally.

The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) released an additional DAB + frequency block each on 20 December 2017 for German, French and Italian Switzerland.

Forces Radio BFBS is returning to national DAB digital radio next year on January 24.

Forces Radio BFBS is joining Sound Digital’s almost-national DAB multiplex nine months after leaving D1. It’ll return on January 24th with a new schedule, after listeners told the station how they missed it when it left the national platform earlier this year.