All posts by Mark
Below are all of Mark's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
It's nothing to do with greed, it's simply that the MP2 DAB system is uneconomic for stereo transmission, as the bitrates required are too high and unaffordable.
Absolute & Planet Rock have tried reducing to 112k and they are still losing money. Nobody is getting bonuses from these companies. I understand that these stations are also in mono on satellite TV, so it isn't just DAB.
A switch to DAB+ would enable these stations to use an affordable 64k and broadcast in stereo.
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@PJH
Channel 5 declined the offer of the spare slot on the HD mux, and I think it's very unlikely that they will take one of the new slots.
As I understand it Channel 5 only have to transmit their main channel in SD on DTT to retain their Ofcom PSB licence. It's up to them if they want to make it available in HD on free-to-air TV, and they clearly don't.
It's a similar position with ITV2, ITV3 & ITV4 where ITV receives income from Sky for exclusive carriage. They are commercial channels so it's their call.
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I assume you're in the North East or in the Severn Estuary region.
Real XS is on the MXR regional multiplex which is closing down because the licence operator has handed the licence back, and there were no other interested parties for it. You can't force someone to continue with a broadcast licence if it reaches the expiry date and they no longer want it.
There have been some big changes with Netherlands DAB recently, and analogue stations will be simulcast on the national DAB+ multiplex from 1 September 2013. If there was a ban on simulcasting it has now been lifted.
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The LBC carriage on MXR was fulfilling a licence obligation to supply a news/speech service after the closure of DNN. Initially there were regional news opt-outs on LBC but Ofcom allowed Global to drop these.
With the closure of MXR this licence requirement is not applicable and Global don't want LBC to lose its London focus.
LBC won't be on the Cardiff multiplex, unless Global are keeping it quiet. The scrolling text on MXR is advising people to listen online or on digital TV from next Tuesday.
Personally I would put LBC on Digital 1 instead of Smooth 70s, as Smooth 70s isn't earning Global any money and it would probably persuade more people outside London to buy DAB radios. That surely has to be the aim of all radio operators, give people content on DAB that is worth listening to.
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@trevorjharris
FM listening is NOT increasing - it was 67% in Q4 2010 and 60% in Q1 2013 (Q2 2013 results are out next Thursday). Even if you extrapolate on s straight line basis digital listening will exceed analogue listening by the end of 2016.
In practice digital listening is likely to accelerate as more people have DAB built into the car and more listen to the radio via smartphones and tablets.
All of the indicators from Government are that the decision will be made (in December 2013) to go ahead with a switch-off in 2018-2020 (phased by region, with Wales & Scotland being last due to the terrain).
For the record internet radio only accounts for 5% of listening while DAB accounts for 22%.
I'm not sure what the "expansion issues" are - there is a national multiplex block (11A) which is internationally cleared for use in the UK and waiting to be allocated to a new operator by Ofcom (Digital 2).
One other interesting piece of international news this week, Sweden has appointed a "special investigator" to handle a transition from FM to DAB+ (in 2022). This follows similar announcements in Norway, Switzerland & Germany.
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@ Tim
The business case is that if people from Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham & Manchester start phoning in large numbers it's no longer "London's Biggest Conversation" and people in the capital listening on FM will drift away to BBC London.
LBC was licensed as a station for Londoners to discuss issues relevant to the capital (the format still states this on the Ofcom website). To be fair it isn't Global's fault that there is no equivalent talk station in other major cities, you need to blame Ofcom for that. I believe it was tried in Edinburgh and Liverpool and it didn't take off.
It seems ironic that people on here are criticising Global for providing a local news & information service in London.
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@ Lord Clifton
Let's be honest here, if the sums showed that advertising from non-London listeners exceeded the cost of carriage on DAB multiplexes Global would be doing it.
The sad truth is that it was costing them more than it was bringing in and that's why they have pulled it.
They are perfectly entitled to do that, LBC only needs to be on DAB in the London area to secure carriage of the 97.3FM licence.
Nobody is expecting BBC London 94.9 to be broadcast on DAB around the UK, although they do have some very good programmes (available to everyone in the UK online).
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I forgot to say earlier, there is one piece of positive news today.
The DCMS has published a digital strategy document, and is suggesting that the re-advertisement of the second national commercial DAB multiplex is not far away. This is the one that was handed back by Channel 4 in 2009.
This national multiplex could include news/talk or general speech stations.
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@ trevorjharris
Ofcom have today announced a low-cost version of DAB for small-scale stations:
Ofcom | Report on a possible low-cost DAB platform for small stations
The reality is that DRM+ isn't going to happen in most EU countries. Today's Ofcom report is a game changer, as it allows community and RSL stations to use DAB at low cost.
The Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Swiss & Italians have all rejected DRM+ in favour of DAB+ and today's research paper from Ofcom on low-cost small-scale DAB must make sobering reading for the DRM project team.
The link you have posted on Swedish "public reaction" is from the blog of a well-known Swedish DRM+ supporter.
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Tuesday 26 March 2013 6:08PM
According to a DCMS paper DRM was dropped due to the night-time interference issue:
"DRM is the replacement for SW/MW radio and provides better audio quality using low bit rates. A BBC consumer trial in 2007 found that whilst the service was more resilient than MW during the daytime, reception at night-time suffered from interference."
http://www.gov.uk/govern….pdf