More digital radio stations. Ofcom - finally - proposes DAB+
More listing choice: This could double the number of digital radio stations. Photograph: Shutterstock
From the new consultation document, Broadcast Digital Radio Technical Codes and Guidance Consultation on updates and amendments
The proposal is to allow the use of the High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding in addition to the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II that is used to encode the sound into the DAB broadcast. It does not change the fundamental levels, which remains Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing.
Ofcom says, in Section 2 Introduction of alternative audio encoding: DAB+
2.4 Use of HE-AAC encoded services within a DAB multiplex has been termed DAB+. The benefits of DAB+ are that it enables audio services to be broadcast at a higher sound quality for a given bitrate than MP2 or to fit additional services into a multiplex at a lower bitrate than MP2 but with equivalent quality. This provides the opportunity to carry many more services and/or better audio quality for services operating in the same spectral occupancy.
2.5 In our 2007 consultation The Future of Radio we said that adoption of DAB+ could be desirable if this was the future direction of DAB across the world. DAB+ is now being adopted in many countries across Europe as well as Australia and other parts of the world.
2.7 It is likely that a complet change to DAB+ in the UK would be a longer term transition that would take into account the installed base of DAB-only receivers in the UK and the current relatively low level of penetration of sets that are compatible with DAB+. It is however likely to be beneficial to include the DAB+ standard into the Digital Code and to permit its limited deployment now and therefore enable the future wider adoption of the technology in the UK.
2.10 Inclusion of DAB+ in the Digital Radio Technical Code does not provide consent for services on existing multiplexes to switch to DAB+. Ofcom would however consider requests for services to switch to DAB+ from operators of existing multiplexes, taking into account the reasons for the request and the potential impact upon listeners that such a change would entail.
I am going to make a guess that this is going to please all the readers of UK Free TV!
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Thursday, 24 April 2014
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Stan6:42 PM
MikeB: Excuse me, but 90000 licence fees amount to over £13million. The annual cost of keeping the 198kHz on the air is around £9million (an estimated figure, and one that is probably vastly exaggerated because it comes from a report advocating the shutdown of the service).
Even more to the point - the Droitwich transmitter is also used by a large number (Hundreds of thousands, if not millions) of dual rate electricity meters to control the rate changes, and by a number of laboratories as an extremely accurate frequency reference. All these would have to be replaced if the LW transmitter were to be shut down.
michael: If or when the massive failure in communications comes, they will rue the day they let all bomb-proof old fashioned systems wither on the vine. If they shut down Analogue AM completely, it will be obviously consigned to history and forgotten pretty quick. The idea that in a national emergency we could then simply "go back" to Analogue broadcasting if there are no regular broadcasts on it anyway is, therefore, pretty simplistic. It must be sustained, if only as a "standby", but a standby that is never allowed to go out completely! As long as there are Analogue (especially MW/FM) broadcasts of any kind, there will be an audience and it will remain pretty mainstream because it is the bog-standard.
Unfortunately, it may now be too late to try and re-invent LW. As I said in an earlier post, local MW/FM infrastructure will probably have to be relied upon in any emergency.
When I try to look to the long-term future, I see two main mediums of broadcasting will thriving in the long-term: Wifi on one end, and Analogue (MW/FM) on the other. Wifi because this is, after all, the age of the internet, and Analogue because of it's simplicity, reliability and low running costs.
Certainly this radio of mine
http://www.audioidiots.co…935, WHICH STILL BEATS MOST DAB's IN SOUND QUALITY will not be made completely redundant yet, perhaps not EVER.
Okay, there may (or may not) come a time when Analogue is discontinued because it will become so irrelevant that it will make the 198kHz of today look like mainstream in comparison. I just don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (I'm 26). Realistically, I think as long as there are Analogue broadcasts, there will be listeners, and because of it's low running costs, radio stations will be able to afford to simulcast on FM or MW to reach ALL their listeners.
Finally, their idea of "switch-over" - it is intended to begin migration by main national stations from Analogue to digital when 50% are listening to digital. So the other 50% will still be listening via Analogue, right?
I haven't heard anyone suggesting that internet radio and radio via TV be shut down, even though they only account for 5% of listening each.
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Stan7:26 PM
MikeB: Also, I think you may have somewhat misunderstood the Ofcom's table of digital listenership. What it really tells you is that all age groups aside from the over-65's, on average, spend more than 50% of their time listening via some kind of digital, not that half of them only ever listen to digital.
Here in Norwich, for example, we have two local independent stations (both FM only), commercial RadioNorwich99.9FM, whose prime target are 25-55yr olds, and community FutureRadio107.8FM, which is listened to largely by the youth. Both are reporting rising audiences year on year and I know people who have DAB radios that they have tuned to FM to recieve one of these stations. And, unless Norwich is somehow different to the rest of the world, I can only guess that the same is happening up and down the country.
Millions of listeners tune into their favourite stations and shows on MW, which, by the way, currently accounts for more listening hours than DAB. Being as FM is vastly superior, there is no reason to believe that they won't do the same for their favourite local FM station, post any daft future digital switch-over.
Long Live Long Wave (and all Analogue!).
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michael9:59 PM
Stan: To repeat, I am suggesting that to cut costs national Radio 5 and BBC local radio could be prioritised on Medium Wave analog. At the same time this would serve the largest number of battery and car radios in an emergency using a minimum of transmitters. To cut costs further, these could even be removed from DAB and FM. An emergency services network could be established on 198kHz using new solid-state transmitting equipment, but military-style technology on shortwaves might be more flexible and less vulnerable.
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MikeB11:03 PM
Stan:
' Excuse me, but 90000 licence fees amount to over £13million. The annual cost of keeping the 198kHz on the air is around £9million (an estimated figure, and one that is probably vastly exaggerated because it comes from a report advocating the shutdown of the service). '
I couldn't find out how up to date that '90,000' figure is (and if that number is just in the UK, includes expats, or how many are actually are licence fee payers), but £9m does not sound excessive (and why should they be wrong?) . Even assuming there are still 90,000 listeners (who all stump up for the licence fee), that means that transmitting the service costs £100 a head! Not for content - just for transmission. And whats on LW that you cant get elsewhere? 'The Daily Service' for 15min each weekday, 'Yesterday in Parliament' for 30min six days a week, and Test Match Special. So 4 and a half hours a week, plus cricket when its on. For a hundred quid a head.
I have no objection to LW being used as an emergency channel (although how many people would be able to use it, or even know about it is another matter - and why would we need such an emergency service - is there something that Norwich is aware of that the rest of us in East Anglia are not?)), but if Economy 7 customers wish to use it as a timer, then its not unreasonable to ask them to pay for it.
Its true that figure 3.49 does not assume that listeners only use digital (but are using it at least some of the time monthly), but the trend is clear from looking at figure 3.48.
Look at Rajar's latest figures. 'Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of
weekly reach* has increased by 10% year on year , with 27.7 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV, Online) each week (up from 25.2 million in Q4, 2012).' The share of digital listening is now 36.1%, up 9% in a year, and DAB listening is up 10% year on year (and people are listening more). Commercial digital listeningfor national stations is at 57%, and the BBC is at 35%. Considering the low number of DAB radio's in cars, thats a lot of listeners. The number of non digital radios being sold is dropping, while DAB remians constant.
The data shows a clear trend, and this chap is reading it Digital Radio | Matt Deegan Writes - and he pointed out one vital fact.
'radio has a 90.8% reach in the UK.....In home, radio has a 76.3% reach. That means 76.3% of the UK population listen to the radio, in some form, at home in an average week.
I thought I'd then look at Total Analogue' and Total Digital' reach...The result is that analogue radio (AM and FM) only has a 51.7% reach in homes.'
His killer fact? 'So only half the country, in radio's most-popular location, during an average week, listen to ANYTHING on AM or FM.' Ouch!
He points out 'As a station owner I will go where the ears are, on platforms I can get access to or can afford. DAB, Internet, DTV, whatever reaches the most people in the most cost-effective way, my stations will be there.' FM is still there, but getting a smaller share as time goes on, as his chart shows.
I have nothing against analogue at all, and its still very popular. However, the trend is clear, and the market can see it.
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Friday, 25 April 2014
MikeB: Just to add..
"And whats on LW that you cant get elsewhere? 'The Daily Service' for 15min each weekday, 'Yesterday in Parliament' for 30min six days a week, and Test Match Special. So 4 and a half hours a week, plus cricket when its on. For a hundred quid a head. "
Test Match Special, when it is being broadcast, is also carried on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
"I couldn't find out how up to date that '90,000' figure is (and if that number is just in the UK, includes expats, or how many are actually are licence fee payers)"
The bit I don't get is: if you can only get Radio 4 on long-wave, why are you paying the Television Licence Fee?
If you can get any form of TV in the UK, BBC Radio 4 is carried on it. So you don't need long-wave...
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michael: "this would serve the largest number of battery and car radios in an emergency using a minimum of transmitters. To cut costs further, these could even be removed from DAB and FM. An emergency services network could be established on 198kHz using new solid-state transmitting equipment, but military-style technology on shortwaves might be more flexible and less vulnerable."
I'm really not clear what you are trying to suggest.
We ALREADY have a perfectly good emergency radio system, based on TETRA technology:
The Police, fire, NHS ambulance services, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, some armed forces, Highways Agency Traffic Officers, Civil Contingency Services, HM Coastguard, Red Cross, Highland Council, and misc. emergency services uee Airwave.
London Transport uses CONNECT and Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen airports use AirRadio AR-en.
There is no possible requirement for short-wave radio as an "emergency system" when there are working (and workable) replacements.
Even if the power was lost to every single part of the UK, the Astra satellites would continue to work as they are solar-powered: this renders shortwave radio pointless as a "backup".
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Stan: I'm not sure if Economy 7 meters still use a LW signal: if they did, how could Faulty electricity meter clocks 'could be costing households thousands' | Money | The Guardian be true?
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Mark5:57 PM
Stan:
Radio Norwich 99.9 had a fall in listening figures during 2013: According to RAJAR the number of weekly listeners (reach) fell from 52,000 to 47,000 and total listening hours fell from 341,000 to 298,000 year on year (Quarter 4 2012 to Quarter 4 2013).
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Stan7:27 PM
Briantist: I think if they stopped using the LW singal and started getting their custmors' bills wrong because of it, they should consider going back to using it again, don't you think?
MikeB: Okay, you have explained things quite well. I am just saying that, realistically, there will always be Analogue radio, in one form or another, even when/if the big nationals eventually stop Analogue broadcasts. For example, MW, if we are led to believe, has been on death row for half a century. Here we are, in 2014, if it was a dead duck then commercials wouldn't bother with it. Why has Analogue proved so resilient to market trends for more and more fancy digital equipment? Because it's simple, reliable and low-cost and low maintenance, and the same can hardly be said for any digital platform.
michael: I would say that Short Wave is pretty well obsolete by now, but that's not to say there are no broadcasts. If you are like me and like to tamper with it when you are feeling abit bored in the evenings, it can make a very entertaining listening with all those foreign stations from all over the world, I can sometimes tune in to the BBC World Service even though broadcasts to the UK were discontinued several years ago (they are still broadcasting to other parts of the world, though). Anyone else ever listen to comedy shows on Radio Armadillo on 75m band? There are also no end of pirate operators on Short Wave, and American Catholic extremists also use it (not that I am a regular listener, though). So, in that sence, you could say that Short Wave is still alive and kicking. But no, would not be suitable as a mass emergency service. LW, too, has more or less gone the way of the dodo. MW is slowly going the same way. SOME DAB radio include MW capability, not many. But virtually all include FM, which is why I said in an earlier post that local FM transmitters would really be most suitable to broadcast essential information in an emergency. Everyone has FM and it is robust enough.
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Stan: I think I'm going to say "no": there's far more value in meters using Power-line communication for telemetry than in some 1960s technology using Long Wave. Power-line communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia etc etc
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