News

Ireland’s newest media brand, Onic, has launched with a commitment to re-shaping the future of the audio and digital landscape in Ireland. Onic, formerly Wireless Ireland, is home to some of Ireland’s best-loved radio stations. In a significant move, Onic also confirmed the launch of 10 new services on the much anticipated DAB+ trial across the broader Leinster area, a suite of new digital streams, an expansion of talkSPORT Ireland and newly refreshed websites. Highlights that underpin today’s announcement include a suite of DAB+ and digital services delivering expanded consumer choice, and complementary audiences to our existing brands. These will target audiences in niche formats including Rock, Kids, Country and RnB amongst others.

Radio Nova Xtra will be a new radio channel broadcast by Radio Nova on DAB+. Nova Xtra will bring all the best from Radio Nova - The Home of Seriously Addictive Music in Ireland. Nova Extra is a specialist, rock radio service, designed as a supplement to Radio Nova. Radio Nova is owned by Bay Broadcasting, an Irish-owned radio group that also owns Classic Hits Radio. In 2025, the Broadcasting Services Strategy will be implemented by Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland's regulator for broadcasting and media. This strategy will lay the groundwork for radio licensing over the following five years.

The Czech Telecommunications Office has confirmed that private DAB+ radio network operators are meeting their coverage obligations—some even ahead of deadlines. With 93 transmitters now in operation, digital radio availability is expanding rapidly. Other deadlines by which operators must increase population or highway coverage will expire in the second half of 2026 or later, and therefore the CTU has not yet checked these criteria.

The Czech Republic is currently in the imaginary halfway point of the DAB+ digital broadcasting rollout. This year should be an important milestone for DAB+. Now we are waiting for České Radiokomunikace to expand its nationwide network to 80 percent of the population at the end of March and for Play.cz to put its cards on the table, which, in addition to the Pardubice Region and Vysočina, won the auction of the CTU to cover virtually the entire Czech territory. But what we did not know at the very beginning of 2025, we know now. Several radio stations on the market have decided to fundamentally change their signal distribution, which has so far been based exclusively on analogue broadcasting. The imaginary "holy trinity" consists of Radio Proglas, Radio Prostor and Country Radio.

Country Radio will stop broadcasting on medium wave from Liblice in Central Bohemia at the end of March. This decision is irreversible and the replacement will be an extension of DAB+ coverage. The medium wave transmission will continue on average commercial terms for South Bohemia only. The aim is to ensure a smooth transition of listeners from one platform to another, with DAB+ network coverage reaching 80 per cent of the population. According to the Digital Radio portal, the remaining 14 DAB+ transmitters of Czech Radio will be launched at the end of March. This expansion will significantly increase the coverage of digital radio broadcasting in the Czech Republic. Martin Hroch, director of Radio United, the company that operates the station, confirmed the plan to the editors, stressing the importance of a smooth transition for listeners.

On 19 March, Radio Network Netherlands officially took Allotment 31 into use, including a new antenna configuration and transmitter installation in the Stedendriehoek region (Apeldoorn, Deventer and Zutphen). "Thanks to this expansion, listeners of local public, regional and commercial local broadcasters in Apeldoorn, Deventer, Zutphen and the surrounding region can now enjoy interference-free DAB reception," the network operator said. "In the coming days, we will further optimise the network by commissioning a second transmitter in Deventer."

News in the Editrice Reporter II group (publisher of RTR 99 Ti Ricordi). As of 1 April, the reorganisation of the broadcasting of all digital radio stations begins. Among others, an important comeback ‘on air’ is announced in these hours. Two years later, Radio Pop e Rock will be reborn on DAB+, this time with regional coverage of the whole of Lazio. More details in the coming days.

Local DAB+ allotments in frequency layer 6 are steadily being filled with radio stations that have received broadcasting licences for this purpose. A new channel within the local offer in the The Hague region via channel 5C is radio station 2:TheBeat. This station started DAB+ distribution on 20 March. In early March, the new radio station already started DAB+ broadcasting via the allotment in the Rotterdam region. This was followed by DAB+ distribution within the Zoetermeer/Capelle aan den IJssel allotment. By linking the allotments, 2:TheBeat can now be received in a large part of Zuid-Holland both indoors and outdoors.

In no other German federal state is the expansion of the DAB+ transmitter network as important as in Schleswig-Holstein. Because in the far north of Germany, the FM switch-off begins on 9 April. An additional site was added to the regional private transmitter network in Kiel on 20 March. The Neumünster Armstedt transmitter site is a new addition. It is equipped with a transmission power of 2 kW ERP. The south of the broadcasting area in particular will benefit from this new facility. The new site should be able to be received as far as Kiel, Lübeck and Hamburg.

The Media Council of the Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (mabb) has adjusted the DAB+ funding programme and extended the application deadlines. The funding was increased to a maximum of 70 percent of the additional costs for almost statewide programme distribution via channel 10B. Funding will be available for a period of three years. This deadline extension gives local and regional broadcasters more time to apply for funding to distribute their programmes via DAB+. The goal is to strengthen the diversity of the radio landscape in the region and to improve the digital terrestrial reach of private radio broadcasters.