All posts by Mark
Below are all of Mark's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
June Toms:
Petitions are not going to work with a private limited company. There will be only be a national current affairs talk station (LBC or something else) when there is a good business model for it and the ad revenue exceeds the cost of DAB transmission.
That business model doesn't exist at the moment.
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The BBC's DG isn't having second thoughts about DAB, unless Helen Boaden is singing from the wrong hymnsheet.
Her speech at the Radio Festival included a lot of references to DAB and the need for radio to go digital by expanding DAB (the 162 new sites are evidence of this).
In any case it isn't possible for the BBC to pull out of DAB, it's a licence fee commitment to expand the DAB network to "FM equivalence as a switchover draws near".
On 16th December (at the Go Digital conference) Ed Vaizey will say that the Government agrees in principle that there should be a switchover, and that will free up public funding for the local DAB expansion (in line with the MoU agreement).
The actual date doesn't need to be named for the funding to be released.
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@ Trevor Harris:
"For the home internet radio is very attractive because most already have wifi setups"
That isn't much good for listening to BBC 6 Music or BBC Radio 4 Extra in the car, on the beach or out and about generally. Neither of these stations are available on FM and yet they have a sizeable (and growing) audience. BBC 6 Music will shortly overtake Radio 3 in popularity.
The future of radio cannot be left to the internet, with mobile data limit caps (Three & T Mobile may not have their unlimited data plans in place forever). It must include broadcast platforms, and that includes the ability to listen to 6 Music, 1 Xtra, 5L Sports Extra & 4 Extra on the move - free and unlimited for all licence fee payers.
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David:
Labour have pretty much the same policy on DAB, as they came up with the proposed 2015 switch-off date (back in 2009).
You could vote for UKIP if you want to keep FM though.
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Trevor Harris:
If stereo is important there are plenty of DAB stations in stereo, including 6 Music, 1Xtra, Absolute, Capital Xtra and many stations on the local multiplexes. Radio 1, Radio 2 & Radio 3 are in stereo on DAB, as they are on FM.
If you list the major stations that are in stereo on FM but mono on DAB it's quite a small number e.g. Planet Rock (West Midlands FM), Kiss (East Anglia & Severn Estuary FM). BBC Radio 4 sometimes drops to mono in the evenings but many of the programmes transmitted are in mono anyway.
BBC Radio 1 has only been in stereo since the late 1980s - it was reported that they had about 20 million listeners on medium wave in the 1970s & early 1980s.
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michael:
All broadcasts of the Proms are 192kbps discrete stereo (on BBC Radio 3).
BBC Radio 3 is always at this bit rate after 5pm. When 5 Live Sports Extra is on the air before 5pm Radio 3 drops to 160kbps joint stereo.
Ian:
Planet Rock on DAB is currently in mono. If you're in the West Midlands you might be listening on 105.2FM, which is in stereo.
80kbps mono is the same quality as 160kbps stereo - the only difference is the lack of stereo.
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MikeP:
The 162 transmitters announced covers the period to December 2015, but there will be further transmitters launched after this date before any switchover happens.
There is no error in the DAB car research - the 40% relates only to cars that have factory-fitted DAB included in the standard specifications (not those where DAB is offered to customers as an upgrade option). There is now a wide range of models with DAB fitted as standard.
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Monday 14 October 2013 6:14PM
@ Ian Sherwood:
The list will be very similar to the draft plan issued in April 2012. The vast majority of the sites will be the same as in the local mux plan. Digital One has fewer sites than BBC national or the local plan.
@ David
All of these transmitters are capable of using DAB+ when the time is right for the BBC to switch. The Netherlands has now fully switched to DAB+, and Germany has awarded more local DAB+ licences today.