[cma-l] The Telegraph: Government still won’t commit to digital radio switchover date

[CMA-L]

Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor, The Telegraph, 12:38PM BST 05 Jul 2011

The Government has refrained from committing to a digital radio
switchover date, originally tabled for 2015, saying the decision to
move away from FM is still two years away.

Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative
Industries, has refused to commit to a digital radio switchover date,
saying that the decision will not be made until 2013.

Talking in London at the annual Intellect technology conference, the
event where Vaizey first announced the digital radio switchover action
plan a year ago, he said: “We will make the decision [about digital
radio switchover] in 2013 whether we will go ahead in 2015 or delay.

“I don’t think it [the date] affects the consumer because obviously
the consumer is free now to buy digital radios, and also all digital
radios have FM capabilities as well.”

Digital radio switchover will see all major radio stations transfer
away from FM to DAB only. The FM signal will not be switched off but
used by smaller stations and community radio groups.

Vaizey denied that switchover, which is greatly hampered by the need
to have digital radios fitted in all vehicles, both old and new, was
behind schedule, but stopped short of committing the Government to
pressing ahead with it in 2015, the switchover date set by the Brown
administration.

“We want to get into the position where we can be certain about the
date for switchover. We have said that 2013 is the right time to take
that decision to give you [the radio industry] time if you [the radio
industry] do go for a 2015 switchover to make that happen.”

Currently 26.5 per cent of all radio listening is conducted digitally
through mix of the web, DAB and digital TV. However, DAB, which the
Government has prioritised as the next generation platform in the
Digital Economy Act, only accounts for around 16 per cent of total
radio listening.

The Government has said that 50 per cent of all listening must be
conducted digitally before switchover can begin to happen.

James Cridland, senior radio consultant and former BBC Radio digital
executive, thinks the Government will have to announce a clear update
soon.

“I think realistically Ed Vaizey will have to have to come out soon
and say that the Government may not hit the 2013 target of getting
digital listening to 50 per cent. The question is when does it become
politically sensible to admit the industry may fall short of its
targets? Digital radio switchover will happen but there is a consensus
[among the radio industry] that it’s going to be a real stretch to hit
the Government’s deadline.”

Experts and radio industry executives think it could take as long as
20 years for full digital radio switchover to occur.

Owen Watters, the sales and marketing director of Roberts Radio,
issued an attack on the feasibility of the Government’s current
digital radio switchover timetable earlier this year.

He told The Telegraph: “Digital is no doubt the future of radio and we
support this fully and completely, but we still strongly feel, as we
have from the beginning, that we should not try to force the issue
onto the consumer and that we should look at ways of getting our
industry into a ‘digital ready state’, responsibly and honestly,
regardless of how long it takes.

“We would do well to remember that following the launch of FM, it took
over 20 years to become the mainstream format that we know and love
today.”

Vaizey said that there had been some progress is moving towards the
digital radio switchover, with 14 per cent of new cars now having a
DAB radio installed as standard.

He also praised the BBC and commercial radio sector for having
launched Radioplayer, a new web player which offers listeners more
than 300 UK radio stations in one place earlier this year. He said
that digital only content had been improved by the BBC’s rebranding of
Radio 7 to Radio 4 Extra and the addition of new digital only station,
such as Absolute 90s.

However, he said although the changes represented good progress, the
moves were “not yet transformational”.

A funding agreement has yet to be reached between the broadcasters and
the radio multiplex operators as to how DAB can be built out to the
current FM coverage standards. Nor has a timetable for the extended
coverage build-out been drawn up.

“I think we have achieved a lot against our ambitions for radio but
obviously there is still a lot more to do,” Vaizey said.

“We are still on course for a decision on switchover in 2013…Hopefully
[by then] every radio sold by major retailers will have digital radio
capability and the content proposition will continue to improve.”

Source: http://is.gd/WWNXEt

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