The number of commercial and SBS radio stations available to listeners in Canberra is set to increase with the announcement today by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) and multicultural and multilingual broadcaster SBS that a regional trial of DAB+ digital radio will begin in Canberra in early July 2010.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive, Joan Warner said the first regional trial of DAB+ is the next step in making digital radio services available to all Australians. “The radio industry is committed to ensuring all Australians are able to access free to air radio broadcasting via digital technology. People living in regional Australia must have the same rights of access to digital radio as do those living in the five big cities. We do not want to see a nation of metropolitan digital ‘haves’ and regional digital ‘have nots’.” Ms Warner said.
“The Canberra trial will provide valuable firsthand experience for regional radio broadcasters in working with the DAB+ signal and increased functionality, while we continue to work to get the Federal Government to commit to allocating spectrum so that regional Australians will have the same right to digital radio as Australians living in metropolitan areas. The trial will also allow us to test how to ensure a signal can be received in a building such as Parliament House, a structure with both man-made and natural barriers,” said Ms Warner.
SBS and commercial radio broadcasters, Capital Radio, ARN and Austereo will jointly fund a trial that will transmit from the Broadcast Australia transmission tower on Black Mountain. Although the signal will be at relatively low power for the trial, it is still expected to cover a large part of the Canberra area. The second phase of the Canberra trial will be a retransmission of the trial signal into Parliament House to allow Federal politicians to experience digital radio first hand.
SBS Managing Director, Shaun Brown said: “SBS radio is pleased to be part of such an important trial and to showcase the additional in-language services available on digital radio to SBS’s Canberra listeners.”
Supporters of the regional trial include; broadcast transmission infrastructure company Broadcast Australia, and multiplex infrastructure providers and systems integrators UGL Infrastructure/Radioscape as well as digital radio receiver manufacturers who are all keen to fast track the roll out of digital radio into regional Australia.
Permanent full power digital radio services began in Sydney, Melbourne Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth last year and the industry recently released figures indicating there are already nearly 500,000 people listening to digital radio across those markets.
“In 2009, Nielsen research showed 32% of commercial radio listening occurs in the car. In order to ensure rapid integration of digital radio into cars, the automotive industry needs a clear signal from the Federal Government that DAB+ digital radio will roll out across the country. The ability to advertise and promote the sale of digital radios in all markets is also important to ensure the ongoing support of the retail sector,” said Ms Warner.
Another trial is in the planning stages for Darwin and two other areas currently being considered are Townsville and Hobart.
(Source: Commercial Radio Australia)
