News

The Chairman of Poland's National Broadcasting Council (Krrit), Witold Kołodziejski, has announced that broadcast TV channels on MUX-8 are to be moved to a new multiplex to free up space for digital radio. Krrit is preparing for a national DAB+ multiplex.

Radio Arabella Bayern will be broadcast throughout Bavaria via DAB+ from December 15. The technical range will be over 12 million inhabitants.

The first DAB+ pilot projects for local radio stations in Flanders are taking shape. Applications for each province were due by December 1, although the Flemish Regulator for Media has announced that it will not be difficult if the deadline is exceeded by a few days. In West and East Flanders respectively 15 and 16 local radios participate, while in Limburg they currently have eleven participating stations. In Antwerp the light will go green with 13 stations. Details for Flemish Brabant will be published soon.

Prague radio network COLOR DAB+ has been expanded by another station - East Bohemian Radio Orlicko. The station operator wants to test what possibilities the DAB+ technology brings and what it couldpossibly offer to the listeners in the future. "We bring our listeners what they don't have anywhere else. We map and bring information mainly from the field of culture." said station founder Věroslav Musil.

ICASA councillor Dimakatso Qocha said: "Digital sound broadcasting is the future of radio, with immense benefits to listeners, as digital radio promises universal service and access." ICASA published Digital Sound Broadcasting Regulation in March 2021. With a large number of radio services on air, South Africa has experienced radio frequency spectrum scarcity in FM, particularly in the metropolitan areas. South Africa has not yet made a call on whether FM will be switched off completely.

DAB+ receiver sales in Germany have increased compared to the same period of the previous year. Just under 1.2 million DAB + devices were sold between January and September (+14%) amounting to 152 million euros (+9%). ARD, Deutschlandradio, private broadcasters and other members of the Digitalradio Deutschland association are together promoting DAB+ with a nationwide campaign running from November 22nd to December 5th, on TV and radio, as well as in print and online. Deutschlandradio supplements the joint nationwide activities with regional DAB+ campaigns that call for a switch from FM to DAB+. As the No 1 public broadcaster, Deutschlandradio has begun in recent years to implement purely digital programme distribution in selected regions.

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) is putting two new DAB+ transmitter sites into operation on 25 November in Schönsee in Upper Palatinate and in Volkach in Lower Franconia. The DAB+ network will thus expand to 77 locations in Bavaria by the end of the year. For 2022, BR plans to put five more DAB+ transmitter locations into operation - across Bavaria.

National radio stations offered exclusively via DAB+ - Absolut Hot, Absolut Relax, Lulu.fm and Radio Schlagerparadies - have come together to form DAB+ Radiokombi Germany. "Opening up new markets and placing new channels is a market economy in the best sense of the word. This is the only way to achieve growth, further development and innovation," said Reinhard Hild, Head of Sales Communication at MDR Media.

Almost a fifth of all radio listening in Belgium is via DAB+, up from only 3% in three years. According to figures collected by survey agency Ipsos, 41% of the total radio listening volume is via a digital platform; 19% via DAB+. In 2018, that figure was only 3%.

Media agencies see the acquisition of Grant Broadcasters by ARN as positive. The transaction will see the creation of a national radio broadcast network with 58 stations, 46 DAB+ stations, across 33 markets - a 8 million broadcast and digital audience. Insiders say the new ARN will give advertisers more scale, a better national advertising solution, reaching more than a third of Australian audio consumers in one transaction. And both ARN and Grant have given a commitment to a continuing flow of "live and local content" important in keeping the attention of local audiences.