The UK Government published its final Digital Britain report today with a number of actions to secure DAB digital radio as the primary radio broadcast platform in the UK. It proposes all national radio stations will be transmitted on DAB-only within 6 years, signalling the end of national FM services in the UK. A five point plan for DAB to be in all new cars by 2013 is proposed and the report calls on the European Commission to lead a common Europe-wide approach to digital radio.
The UK government proposes that radio will undergo a Digital Upgrade so that all UK national broadcast radio stations are DAB-only from the end of 2015. It recognises that existing national FM infrastructure will be at the end of its useful life and any further investment in analogue transmission would be wasted. The report requires the national BBC and commercial radio multiplexes to increase coverage to match that offered by FM now. Community radio will continue to use FM spectrum whilst local and regional DAB is to be re-planned to provide more efficient digital coverage.
Quentin Howard, President of WorldDMB, said: “We welcome this positive report and the action points to secure the take-up of digital radio. In particular, the transfer of all national stations to DAB, and cessation of FM transmission gives an unequivocal timescale for the automotive industry and receiver manufacturers. The call for a common approach to digital radio across Europe is welcomed and WorldDMB stands ready to work with the European Commission and national governments to achieve this.”
The Digital Britain report also sets out a five point plan to encourage the take-up of digital radios in cars:
- Work with manufacturers so that vehicles sold with radio are digitally enabled by the end of 2013
- Support a common logo for digital radios and ensure that non-DAB radios, and their limitations, are clearly labelled
- Encourage the development of portable digital converters, such as the Pure Highway, and the integration of DAB into other vehicle devices such as sat-navs
- Promote the introduction of more sophisticated traffic information via DAB and comprehensive marketing by broadcasters
- Work with the European partners, including the European Commission, to develop a common European approach to digital radio. Such an approach, as was adopted in digital television, could provide certainty well in advance for vehicle manufacturers and those providing in-car devices to bring the unit price of conversion down.
Quentin Howard added, “We have already engaged with the European automotive industry to address the other points in Lord Carter’s report, including using digital radio to deliver more sophisticated live traffic information directly to the car and sat-nav systems”.
The Digital Britain report by Lord Carter, the British Minister for Communications, is the culmination of intensive work by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DIS) and deals with a number of digital media issues including broadband access, content rights and digital radio.
(Source: WorldDMB)
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 18:19
The British people dont want DAB so the Government forces them to buy DAB receivers.
In 1967 the British people wanted the Pirates, so the Government forced them to listen to the BBC.
L’Histoire se repete.
Actually, wasn’t this Government Labour?
Isn’t Labour doing very bad in the polls.
Ah, that’s how modern left wing dictatorship works.
As usual and as any European Government they are lying about the capacity of FM, only Here in Holland it is proven that you can do a lot more on FM.
DAB is not an issue in this country.
In the report nothing is mentioned on Local and Regional (commercial) FM.
When they can stay on FM their future is bright as never before, and the national BBC wil lose all its audience. (Except for Radio 4 as long as they continue LW).
This cannot be true, so I must be missing something.
(Only community radio is mentioned, nothing said on local BBC and commercial radio??)
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 18:20
Sweden will vote in the parliament in September to the new proposal of radio.
All national radio will be in dab+ in 20 channels.
20 regional dab+ stations in 19 ares.
40 local dab+ in 34 areas.
New FM licences in local areas and AM/DRM in regional areas.
National networking allowed in am and fm, but licence as local only.
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 19:16
It would have been more sensible to do away with local and regional multiplexes, replacing them with more national multiplexes, then using FM for all local services, allowing radio stations to cover bigger areas, such as West Yorkshire as a pose to just Leeds and Wakefield in the case of Radio Aire.
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 09:32
That would be a good idea senior,expand existing ILR and BBC local stations on FM to cover whole counties rather than just small areas;as exists with the current model by increasing power of local BBC/ILR FM transmitters and fitting omnidirectional masts to ensure that large uninterrrupted coverage,it doesn’t matter if there is overspill outside.
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 10:00
MW stations should increase TX power to several kW of AM ie 100kW to improve DRM MW coverage in local areas and high power 150kW DRM-SW stations on UK mainland should be set up to transmit national MW broadcasters across the whole of the UK/RoI/NI/Wales and Scotland.
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 11:47
DRM?
Some technical people are still DReaMing.
They really should talk to their mother in law to find out what she thinks of DRM and DAB.
(No, Thank you, FM is just fine with me)
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 12:28
DRM doesnt come into it. The government has already decided that DAB is to be the primary system for this country.
However, the speed of the advancement in internet and other digital radio technology is such that not many people may want DAB in 2015 itself. Nevertheless, the announcement may, unfortunately, mean that DAB will start to take off in the short term. It will be interesting to see how far it gets before it is superceded.
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 16:19
There are over 100 million analogue radio sets in use in the UK, which, being simple and reliable technology, could last for years beyond the proposed switch-off date of 2015. DAB offers no real advantages over analogue, so why are the UK people being forced to buy expensive new radios and consequently generate thousands of tonnes of waste radios?
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 16:29
The quality on DAB here in the UK is rubbish compared to FM. Also, coverage even on the national multiplex isn’t that great that is, if your trying to listen to DAB on a portable DAB radio in a car, plugged into the stereo via a portable FM transmitter.
Currently in the UK DAB reception is so bad that if your inside a building then, in order to receive radio stations, you have to be close to windows or, fully extend the huge Arial on a portable DAB radio, assuming your portable has one.
DAB really doesn’t work that well on my Sony portable DAB radio, which has no Arial at all. I think all of the above is probably due to the fact that they need to increase the power on the DAB transmitter network. Contrast this with FM where you don’t need to have a huge Ariel up to receive coverage and the audio sounds far superior.
Also, DAB breaks up really badly on local multiplexes if your walking through the streets in the centre of a large city like London.
Finally, don’t have any DAB coverage here in Gillingham Dorset. Hmm, FM coverage isn’t that great either though; at least it’s listenable. Don’t understand why they aren’t going for DAB plus, DRM or some other more efficient free standard such as .aug that would allow more channels at higher quality in the same amount of spectrum?
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 17:15
Who is benefiiting from a change-over to DAB (or improved system like DAB+ or DRM+).
Not the listener - quality is poorer then FM, nobody really caters for more programs, he must buy a new receiver
Not the broadcaster, - coverage is and will remain worse then FM - audio quality lower -
Not the Government - an auction of a part of VHF spectrum band 3 raised exactly 2 Euro, for each alotment there was only 1 party interested
Not the environment - tens of milions of radioos will be dumped - digital radiios take more energy and use more batteries
The retailers are the only ones who can make more money out of the forced sale of more receivers.
And the pirates, they will love a FM switch, now a big part of the spectrum is for them.
And they have a real audience. Everybody has a FM radio, many will not have a DAB set.
Why cant goverments stick to solve real problems and not atificial or quasi problems.
Again, no listener has a problem with FM
In the UK a Zero Base procedure will make the FM band much more efficient and will allow at least 13 - 15 national FM networks, as we have here in Holland, and we need to take care of our neighbours, Great Britain is an island.
on Jun 17th, 2009 at 19:35
I think the environmental issue should be given much more attention. Digital receivers use considerably more power than their analog counterparts. And what for? To be able to receive more stations than the number that is economically viable for a country? Or is that the real goal: pushing out commercial radio by providing a lot of public stations?
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 06:40
One of Roberts current radios for DAB (don’t know the model number exactly) has more energy efficient circuitry and isn’t wasteful on power haweeha giving longer running times from a set of alkaline batteries;this technology could be applied to all their sets throughout their product range, and I think Roberts will do that. DAB+ has better codecs and more efficient audio compression than regular vanilla flavoured DAB with its outdated technology and MP2 compression with better sound quality that doesnt suffer and a more reliable transmission/reception. Internet broadcasting isnt for everybody, and doesnt get that big a market share of the audience and/or advertising revenue whereas commercial (and national) radio delivered via AM/FM/Satellite/Cable/Digital Terrestrial Television/DAB/DRM on MW,LW and SW and DRM+ via the FM bands 87-108Mhz reaches hundreds of thousands of millions of listeners and gets the advertisers the much needed listenerships for adverts/products and services that they need. A commercial station broadcasting on the internet only doesn’t get as many listeners and it just doesn’t bring in the massive amounts of money needed for the station to survive through that means, and if a station isn’t making money through an internet only existance then it may as well discontinue broadcasting altogether and just not exist.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 09:14
I agree with you Anthony. unfortunatly the government aren’t considering other varients of DAB such as DAB+. Isn’t this document going out for public consultation? If so then, I would be happy to offer my thoughts/suggestions.
I think the points that you have all made on the environment are valid too. I suspect noone in the UK government has given that much thought. When we all go digital, then, we won’t be able to set our clocks using the time signal any more as there will be a slight delay which from my understanding of this, is inconsistent across digital products. In other words, if you have several DAB radios on you will here the audio come out of the various radios at different times. We never had to deal with any of this with analogue. Guess the only way around this would be to purchase the same model from the same manufacturer.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 10:39
Yeah phil I hear you. The govt should be going for a multiple digital radio strategy not merely based on poor DAB and its indifferent reception/sound quality;
Local and national BBC stations on FM should be allowed to broadcast on DAB+ and on existing FM bands using Digital Radio Mondiale Plus if they wish to do so(and this would also be trialled),
National commercial and BBC stations on MW aka Five Live/Absolute should be allowed to broadcast 24:7 in Digital Radio Mondiale format on high power SW outlets of at least 200kW erp with omnidirectional beam antennas from a central transmitter location in Great Britain to cover the whole of the UK and give up the MW band (this would eliminate the need for hundreds of MW transmitter stations scattered around the country for MW coverage and the higher power transmitted by the DRM-SW transmitters would probably improve reception and coverage of those two services on DRM Shortwave, 50kW would probably be inadequate for all UK coverage),
Local BBC stations and ILR stations on MW should be allowed to increase transmitting power of their existing MW transmitters to 120kW and retrofit Digital Radio Mondiale transmitting equipment for eventual transmissions in DRM MW format(the higher power of MW transmissions in DRM format would probably better solve the problem of poor reception and breakup at night after dark as the Beeb were experiencing on their BBC Radio Devon 855kHz/351m MW trial),
Receiver manufacturers should manufacture universal home and portable multiband MW/FM/SW/LW/DAB+/DRM/DRM+ receivers and sell them on the back of the DAB+/DRM/DRM+ transmissions once these start tests and eventual transmissions.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 13:25
Dear frinds,
all am’s are inkordinated in ITU, but can be in DRM, but with -7 db. Even frequencies not allocated in England can be in service during daytime in England. Mainly powers of 10 kW AM. The proposal from the parliament of ENgland is a lobbyist, supporters of dab, not the governments idea.AM/DRM licences could be some licencing of to private individuals to run radio. Easy to get a licence.
DRM in 26MHZ is great to private licences, too, powers max. 1000 watts = 10 kW and audio of 2×18 or 2x 20 kHz.. You will own the TX by our self.
DRM+ in band l = 47-68 MHz will give more national stations than dab+.
DAB+ in FM at the same powers and rasters will offers 4 times more local stations in CD-quality.
Use all spectum that are to broadcasting. AM/DRM/FM/DAB+ and DRM+. all over Europe, than you don’t need any webbradio receivers any more.
In one specific place it will be 20 dab+ nat., 20 reg,.40 local dab+. 120 nat. drm+, 400 local in FM band as dab+. 40 drm in 26 MHz. and 120 DRM stations on mediumwave.
A receiver of all bands and modulations gives you all radio stations and format you need.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 13:54
The problem I have with your theory is that leave out options.
Such as. BBCR5Live should use DRM on their AM frequencies.
What a nonsense, when you introduce DAB (+) you dont need to be on the AM band anymore. Radio 5 Live will simply be on the same platform. Only for transition reasons and that implies analogue.
Thats why I stick to my opinion that DRM on AM is unwanted and unneeded. Let the AM’s analogue for transition reasons.
Still nobody can come up with real hard arguments why we should go to digital. Stories like - everything is getting digital, so radio -must- follow- or -more efficiency- dont impress me, again the demand for spectrum is highly overrated.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 14:35
Yes Ruud, but the coverage for BBCR5L and BBCR5LSportsXtra and Absolute1215AM on DAB+ would have to be significantly increased and improved, and this can only be done by a massive DAB+ transmitter building programme by the multiplex operators to increase the coverage even further to take in areas where DAB+ in the UK might have difficulty reaching such as mountaineous areas of Scotland and Wales and Northern England and areas of NI/RoI where very little DAB coverage exists due to deadspots in these mountaineous areas where there is no signal, and that would costs lots of money-who would pay for it, money doesn\’t grow on trees you know!!! Where the DAB+ signals cannot get to(and where it would be expensive to set up and erect DAB+ masts to relay to these difficult reception areas), it would make sense to have a second option to fall on which provides full UK-wide coverage of BBCR5L/BBCR5LSX and Absolute1215AM using very high powered 200kW SW stations in the Midlands countryside radiating a high powered omnidirectional beam DRM signal across the whole of the country so that DRM/DAB+ car-radios would retune to the more reliable DRM-SW signals where the DAB+ signals falter and and burble/bubble due to the mountains and hills of these troublesome areas(DAB+ signals depend very much indeed on line of sight/transmitter power and reception terrain very much similar to FM conditions, in the Netherlands where you are Ruud as it\’s so flat DAB+ would work wonders but here in Britain 85% of the population may well be covered by DAB but the mountains and hillier areas in some parts of the UK tend to block out the signals or provide poor reception).
on Feb 12th, 2012 at 22:06
Pity that there is only c**p played on DAB stations, they aren’t worth listening too. Also in my area often it sounds like an underwater signal, all garbled.
The crazies want to promote DAB because they are crazy. Most respectable countries will continue to use AM, FM and SW. Britian won’t be heard because it’s broadcast stations will be limited in range to DAB.