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

Wed Jul 6 18:08:29 BST 2011

Ian

Both Jaqui and I have repeatedly made exactly these points at the quarterly "Digital Radio Stakeholders" meetings in London organised by government departments. A major problem is that the civil servants involved - and many of the industry representatives - were previously involved in the TV switchover planning and will NOT accept that radio is different.

So the newspapers are simply repeating what they are being told by government representatives and the minister is saying what his officials tell him.

The marketing people are using "switchover" specifically to scare people into buying a new "digital" radio because their "old" FM ones won't work after 2015 and the term "digital" is being applied to all digital forms of radio & audio because the chosen form of DAB is simply not selling well and is now actually in decline year on year so will never get to 50% of listening (note NOT of listeners) to trigger "switchover". The fastest growing form of "digital" listening by far is Internet streaming so all of us online and going onto the RadioPlayer are actually already on the most likely to be successful "digital" platform.

Clive Glover

Radio Verulam, St Albans

On 5 Jul 2011, at 23:23, Ian Hickling wrote:

> 
> I do wish that people who take it upon themselves to write on technical matters in responsible newspapers would at least make an effort to get the facts and the terminology somewhere near right.
> "Switchover" applies to TV - not to radio.
> There will not be a radio "switchover" as such according to Ofcom - and who better to know?
> And anyone who uses a phrase like "The FM signal will not be switched off " either does not have a comprehension of the situation or is seriously misrepresenting it.
> Also, the terms "digital radio" and "DAB" are used synonymously, which again clearly shows a lack of knowledge.
> Ed Vaizey is equally at fault here - and all "digital radios" do not have "FM capability".
> And I'd be very interested to see exactly this "14 per cent of new cars" now having a "DAB radio installed as standard"
> Oh dear - won't they all be annoyed when we're forced to change to something else?
> 
> What a load of utterly pointless and fuzzy hot air!
>  
> ------------------------------------
> Ian Hickling
> Partner
> transplan UK
> 
> 
>   
> > From: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
> > Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 22:36:40 +0100
> > To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
> > Subject: [cma-l] The Telegraph: Government still won’t commit to digital radio switchover date
> > 
> > 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
> > 
> > \\
> > 
> > Community Media Association
> > -- 
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