[cma-l] Ofcom to invite small scale DAB testers

Tony Bailey ravensound at pilgrimsound.co.uk
Thu Oct 16 09:47:17 BST 2014


Just in case anyone hasn't seen the test report:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/radio-research/Software-DAB-Research/

On 15/10/14 15:34, Ian Hickling wrote:
> I've also made enquiries with established contacts at Ofcom and the 
> answer I received was that Ofcom at present plans to provide a limited 
> number (unspecified) of sets of equipment which may or may not include 
> antennas and feeders for the trial period (as yet undecided).
> But it was mentioned that trials will be supported by and will 
> assumedly be carefully observed by Ofcom.
> No mention as yet of how or when the participants will be selected, 
> but they will be expected to arrange their own installation/erection 
> processes.
> Ian
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: clivegloveruk at gmail.com
> Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:19:36 +0100
> To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
> CC: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [cma-l] Fwd: Ofcom to invite small scale DAB testers
>
> Sorry to put a dampener on this but OFCOM have told us they will NOT 
> be providing equipment and period for experiment will be shorter than 
> suggested in article. Our initial back of envelope costing is £5K plus 
> for equipment but could be more in many locations, especially if you 
> need more than one transmitter to cover designated area.
>
> Worse -  if the experimental period is short and any subsequent 
> decision to change the existing Broadcasting Act to allow this type of 
> system takes (as usual) many months or even years, then the 
> expenditure on equipment will be largely wasted (not least because the 
> experimental areas and stations may not be awarded licenses in the end 
> anyway).
>
> The only way this will work is for someone - and OFCOM would be the 
> most obvious, perhaps funded by DCMS - to purchase or lease equipment. 
> If they thought about it they could probably get some funds from the 
> Business Dept or the EU I suspect, doing what we all do in putting 
> together grant applications for projects!  Maybe the CMA could take  a 
> lead on pushing for this?
>
> Clive Glover
>
>
> On 14 Oct 2014, at 09:28, Richard Hilton wrote:
>
>     I think the sector should put down a strong marker fairly early on
>     that if there is to be a new multiplex structure for our not for
>     profit sector we would expect the structure to be run on a not for
>     profit basis.
>     Richard
>     *From:*cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
>     <mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk>[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk]*On
>     Behalf Of*Richard Berry
>     *Sent:*14 October 2014 08:16
>     *To:*martin at martinsteers.co.uk <mailto:martin at martinsteers.co.uk>;
>     The Community Media Association Discussion List; CMA Discussion
>     List List
>     *Subject:*Re: [cma-l] Fwd: Ofcom to invite small scale DAB testers
>     It was. He said they will supply the kit but broadcasters should
>     sort out the sites, links etc. The impression I got was that they
>     are mainly seeking community and commercial partners. The less
>     good news from an earlier session on reusing blocks on low power
>     was that to avoid interference you would need more than one site
>     to cover a given area. It's certainly worth exploring
>     Quickly sent from a mobile. Hope I've not been auto-corrected.
>
>
>
>     -------- Original message --------
>     From: Martin Steers <martin at martinsteers.co.uk
>     <mailto:martin at martinsteers.co.uk>>
>     Date:13/10/2014 22:32 (GMT+00:00)
>     To: CMA Discussion List List <cma-l at commedia.org.uk
>     <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>>
>     Cc:
>     Subject: [cma-l] Fwd: Ofcom to invite small scale DAB testers
>
>     Very Interesting!
>     http://radiotoday.co.uk/2014/10/ofcom-to-invite-small-scale-dab-testers/
>
>     *Small-scale DAB is to get a boost as Ofcom prepares to licence a
>     number of smaller multiplexes.*
>
>     The regulator will launch a consultation next week inviting
>     stations to be part of the test, which will give existing stations
>     a chance to go on DAB for a nine month period.
>
>     Peter Davies, Director of Content Policy at Ofcom, speaking at the
>     Tech Con event in Salford today, said: "There are around 150 small
>     scale radio and 200 or more community radio stations and for them
>     the existing multiplex structure just doesn't work.
>
>     "We want to give those stations a chance to go digital, and we'd
>     like to see community and commercial stations working together,"
>     he said.
>
>     Peter started off his session by admitting that DAB has not been a
>     good platform for small scale radio so far and this new
>     consultation will take a look at the licence conditions and awards
>     process.
>
>     Trials will be for nine months and ofcom will provide equipment
>     but not operating and installation costs. Once a station has been
>     awarded a trial, they will be expected to be on-air within 12 months.
>
>     More details will be released by Ofcom next week, when we'll
>     update this story.
>
>     *Posted on Monday, October 13th, 2014 at 3:02 pm by Radio Today UK
>     <http://radiotoday.co.uk/author/radiotoday/>. *
>     The information in this email is confidential and may be
>     privileged. It is for use by the addressee only. If you are not
>     the addressee or if this email is sent to you in error, please let
>     us know by return and delete the email from your computer. You may
>     not copy it, or use its contents or disclose them to another
>     person. No liability is accepted for viruses and it is your
>     responsibility to scan any attachments.
>     _______________________________________________
>
>     Reply -cma-l at commedia.org.uk <mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
>
>     The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the
>     Community Media Association -http://www.commedia.org.uk
>     Twitter:http://twitter.com/community_media
>     http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
>     Canstream Internet Radio & Video:http://www.canstream.co.uk/
>     _______________________________________________
>
>     Mailing list
>     guidelines:http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
>     _______________________________________________
>
>     To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription
>     please visit:
>     http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________ Reply - 
> cma-l at commedia.org.uk The cma-l mailing list is a members' service 
> provided by the Community Media Association - 
> http://www.commedia.org.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media 
> http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation Canstream Internet 
> Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/ 
> _______________________________________________ Mailing list 
> guidelines: 
> http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/ _______________________________________________ 
> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please 
> visit: http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk
>
> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
> http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
> Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
> _______________________________________________
>
> Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
> _______________________________________________
>
> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
> http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20141016/c53b1778/attachment.html>


More information about the cma-l mailing list