News

Ofcom release report of how the decision was made to award UK's new national digital radio multiplex to Sound Digital, a consortium of Arqiva, Bauer and UTV Media GB.

Ofcom today announced the UK's new national digital radio multiplex will be run by Sound Digital, a consortium of Arqiva, Bauer and UTV Media GB. Digital radio listeners will benefit from a choice of new national Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio stations, expected to launch in March next year.

Sound Digital won the two horse race for D2 because of its technical plan, confirmed station line-up and ability to cross promote DAB on analogue radio. In reaction to the news, Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, said: “The award of the second national commercial DAB network to Sound Digital is a defining moment for digital radio and an unprecedented expansion, which will more than double the number of national commercial stations on DAB. Nearly 50% of UK households already have a digital radio, and over 60% of new car registrations have digital radio as standard, so if you don’t have digital radio at home or in your car, the time is now.”

The second national commercial radio DAB multiplex has been awarded to Sound Digital – a consortium of Arqiva, Bauer Media and UTV Media. It means new services such as talkRADIO, Virgin Radio and Magic Mellow will start broadcasting soon, whilst existing stations heat, Jazz FM and Kisstory will go national. The multiplex will launch within 12 months and will spend £15m promoting DAB over the first six years.

fcom has awarded the second national DAB multiplex licence to Sound Digital. As part of Sound Digital’s line-up, the two Asian radio stations that will go national include Sunrise Radio, which is currently available in London only and British Muslim Radio. The latter is a part of Asian Sound Radio’s foray into a national platform of broadcasting.

As part of Style Week, we’ve found the 12 best-looking DAB radios available to buy in the UK. Who doesn’t love retro looks with modern capabilities?

Ofcom, the UK regulator, have today released their Annual Plan for the coming twelve months. In the plan there are two specific elements highlighted for the radio industry. Small-scale DAB is now highlighted as a piece of significant work. Ofcom are currently looking for small-scale operators of multiplexes for a trial, and these should launch in the summer. These trials will run for nine months, after which Ofcom will submit a final report to government in summer of next year.

Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, officially switched on the new local DAB expansion programme at SMMTConnected, a major car conference hosted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders at the QEII Centre in London. The official start of this major programme of work to build out coverage of local DAB stations includes 182 new transmitters which will extend coverage of local DAB stations to more than 90% of the population, and add over 4,100 miles of roads into coverage, benefitting drivers as well as listeners at home.

Silicon Labs, a leading provider of broadcast audio solutions for automotive infotainment, have introduced a complete portfolio of receivers/audio processors and multi-standard digital radio ICs designed to deliver best-in-class AM/FM and digital radio performance for the global car radio market. According to IHS Automotive, global automotive sales for 2015 will reach 88.6 million light vehicle units. Silicon Labs developed the Si479xx and Si46xx portfolio to address the global demand for advanced car radio technology supporting all worldwide broadcast radio bands.

WorldDMB today announce further details of the 6th WorldDMB European Automotive Event which will be held in the heart of the European Union in Brussels at the Autoworld Museum on Wednesday 20 May 2015. The theme of the event is ‘Radio - the best connection in the car’. Topics covered will include DAB/DAB+ market updates, the connected car and the OEM perspective, user interface, EC ITS directive on emergency warnings using DAB+, the Europe-wide initiative for a digital tick mark, and more.