Following the publication of a report from the Ministry of Culture yesterday, Norway will enact legislation to enable the migration of radio from FM to DAB across the country by 2017, when analogue FM broadcasting will cease. Norway was one of the first countries to embrace digital radio using the Eureka 147 family of standards, and coverage currently stands at 80%. This will rise to 99.8% by 2017 as broadcasters build out transmitters to match FM reach.
Ole Jorgen Torvmark, General Manager of Digitalradio Norway, welcomes the government’s decision. “We are pleased with the fact that our Minister of Culture, Ms Anniken Huitfeldt, understands the need for a clear strategy from the authorities. It will provide all radio listeners with a much bigger selection of channels,” he says.
The news from Norway supports a growing trend in Europe to move analogue radio services to digital platforms. The UK already has a target switch-over date of 2015, while in France, a law passed in 2009 calls for all domestic radio receivers to be digitally enabled by 2013, with in-car radios equipped by 2015. In Germany, a new law is currently being drafted which will set a date (expected to be within the next four years) for all receivers to be digital. Germany is Europe’s biggest radio market and recently announced a series of new national DAB+ radio stations to be launched in 2011, along with regional digital radio services from both public and commercial broadcasters.
WorldDMB President, Jorn Jensen says: “The momentum for digital radio switchover in Europe is growing very fast. Norway’s is a considered, well researched decision based on consultation with broadcasters and listeners alike. It follows several years of trials during which the benefits of digital radio versus analogue have been fully explored. WorldDMB members are delighted with today’s news which heralds positive moves in 2011 for the international radio industry.”
The report contains various criteria for switch-over, including coverage and listening targets, along with a timetable for implementation once the said criteria have been met.
(Source: WorldDMB Forum)
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on Feb 5th, 2011 at 12:30
The switchover date will depend on various criteria being met, which aren’t mentioned until the last sentence of this press release. If these criteria aren’t met they’ll move it back to 2019, assuming this report is passed into legislation without any amendment.
Nor will analogue broadcasting cease, local FM stations will have the options to stay on it.
This report has a slightly more rounded view together with comments about whether the consumer will embrace all this.
http://www.garfors.com/2011/02/norway-switches-off-fm.html
Currently according to a January press report there are 300,000 DAB receivers in Norway.
on Feb 5th, 2011 at 13:28
Are they going to use DAB+? From what we have seen all over Europe it is impossible to get decent sound using DAB with most stations using 128k or less.
on Feb 5th, 2011 at 14:57
Haweeha, in the near future all new stations will be in dabplus.A little better audio, more soft. DABPLUS can ever never replace FM’s audio and coverage.
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 12:56
I think with DAB+ it is actually possible to replace FM. Using 96 kbps AAC+ will sound good enough for the greater majority of listeners. In PL4A mode you can still have 15 stations on a multiplex.
As the cost of the multiplex is divided among 15 stations the cost per station will be lower than when each of them would have to run their own FM network.
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 17:35
FM and AM will still be aviable. 75 channel in dab+, 60 channels on FM and 120 channels on AM.That is what we can pick up on our AM/FM/DAB+ radio maximum. Ad then radio via TV-net and SW radio in DRM.100 dreds more.