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UTV has also reached an agreement with the Virgin Group to relaunch the Virgin Radio brand on the new network. Which is slightly ironic, as the original Virgin Radio morphed into Absolute Radio after its sale to the Times Of India Group in 2008, and that brand is now owned by Bauer.

Sound Digital, a joint venture between Arqiva, Bauer and UTV, has applied for the national digital radio licence offered by Ofcom last year, under the promise that it will deliver access to 15 "distinctive" national digital radio stations. The application, subject to approval, will see UTV launch three original speech stations - talkRADIO, talkSPORT 2 and talkBusiness - while Bauer will offer a range of music stations, including Magic Mellow, KISSTORY, heat radio, Absolute 80s and Planet Rock. Virgin Radio would also be set to return to UK airwaves under a partnership between the Virgin Group and UTV, which will see Sound Digital offer a non-mainstream music station which Jazz FM has signed an agreement to provide.

Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, says: “We welcome both bids for the second national commercial DAB network – it’s great news for radio and for listeners. The additional capacity on DAB will enable greater innovation, more competition and a wider choice of stations for listeners. We look forward to the launch of new stations in early 2016.”

Sabras Radio has confirmed that it will be one of 18 services that would launch nationally if its bid for a second DAB national multiplex is successful. In plans, which have been made public today, radio group, Orion Media and the UK’s leading engineering support services organisation, Babcock International Group PLC, have teamed up to submit an application for the second national digital radio multiplex. The bid, Listen2Digital, which will be chaired by Orion founder Phil Riley, will significantly broaden radio choice for listeners across the UK. -

Virgin Radio could return to the airwaves as part of one of two rival bids to run the next wave of national digital radio stations. The return of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin brand is part of a bid put forward by Sound Digital, a consortium of TalkSport owner UTV Media, Magic parent Bauer and transmission business Arqiva, to run the second national commercial digital radio multiplex.

Plans announced today for a second national DAB multiplex in the UK include putting Radio 1 on DAB across the country. One of the bids submitted by Listen2Digital, includes 18 national radio services, one of which is Radio 1.

Initiative Digitalradio Deutschland have announced that from the 30th January, the coverage of DAB+ in Saxony-Anhalt will be improved.

Emmanuel Rials, President, OÜI FM / COLLECTOR / RADIO LiFE: "Many digital radio receivers are able to automatically switch between FM and DAB based on the quality of reception... This will allow larger media groups to cover areas where they are currently not received, for example in Strasbourg where RMC, BFM, Skyrock, RTL and Fun Radio are all absent in FM, and who would benefit from digital radio to ensure continuity of service with their FM frequencies in Alsace."

Radio 2 Country will launch on digital radio on March 5 and broadcast until March 8, hosting a range of specially commissioned programmes and guest presenters from the world of Country music. The station will also broadcast live coverage of the UK's biggest country music festival C2C: Country Country to Country Festival.

Ofcom has begun a consultation over the proposed changes to local DAB digital radio coverage and frequency changes. The consultation document seeks views on a set of requests to change the frequencies and/or areas to be served by some of the local DAB multiplex services in the UK. Frequency changes are required to be able to boost coverage without interfering with other local DAB services in other regions.