News

DPG Media has announced that it will be launching Willy, a new digital-only rock station, in Belgium on 11 October. The station will be available to DAB+ listeners as well as online. DPG Media is a Belgian publishing company that owns media assets in Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Azerbaijan has successfully launched a DAB+ trial in Baku. A total of 12 DAB+ stations are available to listeners in the capital and the wider region of the Absheron peninsula, covering approximately 3 million people.

In this interview, WorldDAB president Patrick Hannon discusses the current state of DAB+ digital radio in Europe, highlighting the reasons behind the success of DAB+ and touching on the importance of the 5 Cs - content, coverage, cars, consumer equipment and communication.

The Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) will host a joint workshop with WorldDAB on Thursday 10 October 2019. The workshop will take place at the ASBU headquarters in Tunis and will focus on the current deployment of DAB+ digital radio in Tunisia and how radio, manufacturers and retailers can benefit from new business opportunities presented by the growing DAB+ market.

After Paris, Marseille, Nice, Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Nantes, DAB+ has now launched in Normandy. As of 1 October, the city of Le Havre has 13 DAB+ stations on air, while listeners in Rouen can benefit from 18 DAB+ stations.

The DAB+ offering in Austria continues to grow with Radio Fantasy, a new DAB+ station launching in Vienna this week. Wolfgang Struber, Chairman of the Digital Radio Austria Association and Managing Director of Radio Arabella, welcomed the launch as a sign of Austrian radio's commitment to digitisation.

Phase three of the South African DAB+ trial went on air on 15 March this year and will run for eight months with an extension of six months. The current MUX can accommodate 24 radio stations, of which a third of the capacity has been allocated to community-based radios stations.

Slovenia's Agency for Communication Networks and Services (Akos) has launched a call for tenders for DAB+ frequencies. The contract concerns two multiplexes – R2 (national) and R3 (Ljubljana) – and the deadline for the submission of bids is 11 November.

While the radio industry in Europe continues its transition to digital, the Spanish government has yet to manifest any signs of commitment to the rollout of DAB+ in the country, prompting industry experts to raise their concern on the matter.

The new national multiplex operated by Czech Radio, which is set to be divided into two parts serving the west and eastern parts of the country, will help bring population coverage to 80% by the end of 2019.