[cma-l] Small Scale DAB

Richard Berry richard.berry at sunderland.ac.uk
Fri Mar 6 12:56:19 GMT 2015 

Nick,
I think the bits we know have been answered.

The licence as a service provider is £250, with £100 application fee. It's unclear if the £500 PPL fee is for newcomers to broadcasting, or is in addition to our fees for FM. As always they are playing catch-up as technologies change. I suspect the fee will be anything from nothing to £500.

As for technical costs that depends on what you want to do and who you want to work with. Are you planning to be a multiplex holder? Or a service provider? As the holder you will need to pay for the site, and the installation costs. Ofcom will supply (most of) the kits and cover line costs. As a service provider you might be asked to pay for carriage, or to supply the kit to send and receive your audio stream to the multiplex operator. On this list there are a mix of people. Some want to run the technology (the engineers) and some want to supply services, either current CR stations or those hoping for a brief fling to show what they can do.  How much it costs depends where on that scale you fall. Of course it does working with our commercial friends, but that's part of the trial to see if we can. As by working in partnerships we can cut costs and run genuinely local services ourselves.

It's a lot of unknowns, but I suspect this is part of the trial. Not telling us what to do in a prescribed fashion to see what creative technical and business approaches come out when you test things in the real world

Richard



From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Canalside's The Thread
Sent: 06 March 2015 12:29
To: 'The Community Media Association Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Small Scale DAB

Dear All

Is there any chance please that someone '''in the know'''   our '''experts'''    could place in laymans terms some straight to the point figures ??    I for one, plus many others I would imagine, would like to see them.

For example :- how much is the DSPS Licence ??  we don't want to know the tricks of the trade or the ways round the outside (sharing etc)   just how much over 12 months ..... is there a one off fee as well (start up fee) ?    how much for PPPPPP brigade ?   how much for fitting and installing  ?   how much for kit once the trial has taken place  OR  do we keep the kit 'for free'     give us all a ball park figure please.

I think a lot of the not so clued up tecky members (me included)  are getting slightly lost with all of this which isn't good. I can understand getting slightly lost during the process, but being lost before you've even set foot out of the front door isn't going to win any orienteering medals.

Come on chaps :- Ian / Alan / David / John / Mr Ofcom / Dr PPL / Sir PRS / Uncle Tom Cobbley

Much appreciated

Thank you

Nick

________________________________
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Alan Coote
Sent: 06 March 2015 12:04
To: David Duffy; Clive Glover
Cc: CMA-L
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Small Scale DAB

We were approached a while ago by 2 content producers about teaming up and sharing airtime on a multiplex.

After a lot of phone calls, Ofcom confirmed that DSPS licenses are required by each service provider, even if they are sharing air time.

However, in our case the multiplex owner wanted a single contract with a holding company rather than deal with individual DSPS holders. They felt it gave them better security.

This highlighted several issues of working with other companies on a DAB multiplex whose financial stability we had to rely on.

I'd suggest that stations should carefully consider what happens if the partner companies don't pay their way or go out of business.

And, it may be worth getting professional advise about setting up a limited liability broadcast company to protect the underlying community station.

Kind Regards

Alan

From: David Duffy <david at theradiopeople.co.uk<mailto:david at theradiopeople.co.uk>>
Date: Thursday, 5 March 2015 20:56
To: Clive Glover <clivegloveruk at gmail.com<mailto:clivegloveruk at gmail.com>>
Cc: "cma-l at commedia.org.uk<mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk<mailto:cma-l at commedia.org.uk>>
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Small Scale DAB

Hi Clive,

Now I get it! That's a very interesting proposition.

We are looking at creating/hosting a matchmaking service to introduce content providers to multiplex operators - www.localDAB.co.uk/brokering<http://www.localDAB.co.uk/brokering> - where the additional content providers pay their own way (DSPS licence and the two sets of copyright).  We are also working with speech-only content providers who have no copyright responsibilities! Ah the holy grail - to be able to format a cost-effective speech station.  It's not as far off as people might imagine and would certainly set your application apart from the hefty competition for these ten licences.

I'd be interested in what Ofcom/PRS/PPL say - keep us posted.

David
www.localDAB.co.uk/faqs<http://www.localDAB.co.uk/faqs>



On 5 Mar 2015, at 20:14, Clive Glover <clivegloveruk at gmail.com<mailto:clivegloveruk at gmail.com>> wrote:

David

Thank you. I realise I didn't perhaps explain my point very well. As part of the trial it is necessary to broadcast two services in a multiplex. If we created an additional service it would need its own  DSPS licence as well as our needing a DSPS licence for our existing FM service to be broadcast on DAB. So we would need two DSPS licenses plus two sets of copyright licenses.

So our thought - and question to OFCOM - was whether a time shifted version of our existing FM service would be considered as a different service or just as the same one so would not need a separate licence or copyright licenses.

The difference is cost is substantial!

Clive Glover

Sent from my iPad

On 5 Mar 2015, at 19:39, David Duffy <david at theradiopeople.co.uk<mailto:david at theradiopeople.co.uk>> wrote:
Hi Clive,

Unlike your current licence, which is for broadcasting on FM, a DSPS licence allows your content to be broadcast (time-shifted or not) on a DAB platform. So all content providers will require a DSPS licence if they don't have one.  Ofcom should have been able to answer that straight away.

The PRS and PPL fees (as they apply) are for each platform on which you broadcast.  That's why, in their returns, they ask which platforms (AM/FM/Internet) you use.

The cost of a DSPS licence is £250 .  The annual fee is £100. The DSPS licence allows your service to be broadcast on a DAB multiplex (subject to being accepted by the multiplex operators).  So it's value goes beyond this trial and that's why Ofcom did't rescind the cost.

As you say 'that's radio for you'!

More info (including, shortly, an explanation of the 3 different equipment configurations for the trial) can be found here www.localDAB.co.uk/faqs<http://www.localdab.co.uk/faqs>

David




On 5 Mar 2015, at 18:33, Clive Glover <clivegloveruk at gmail.com<mailto:clivegloveruk at gmail.com>> wrote:

David

Being creative is part of CR of course. I have asked OFCOM (but not got  a response) if a + 1 hour service (i.e. our FM service time shifted) would need to have a separate DSPS licence  and the same question could be asked of the copyright people I suppose. Otherwise participants in this trial will need to spend a significant amount of money - over £1,000 - on DSPS licenses for two services and copyright while almost nothing on the technical equipment etc at the core of the trial. Seems barmy but that 's radio for you!

Clive Glover

Radio Verulam, St Albans


On 4 Mar 2015, at 22:49, David Duffy wrote:

Hi All,

Just a quick update regarding PRS and PPL liabilities for content providers on the Small Scale DAB trial multiplexes.

We spoke with PPL today and they advised us they are levying the full £500 annual fee, payable in advance. PRS are reviewing the fee and their payment terms (which are usually quarterly in advance).  They advised a decision would be forthcoming early next week.  We'll keep you posted.

There is also a great of uncertainty regarding which licences you might need.  However, we are advised that content providers will need to hold a DSPS or DAS licence (or be eligible to acquire one within 12 weeks of the multiplex owner being awarded their WTA licence). That is a separate application/licensing process to the Small Scale DAB trial initiative.

There is a list of questions answered here www.localDAB.co.uk/faqs<http://www.localdab.co.uk/faqs> and we are adding to them daily. There's even a form for you to ask your own. Please do!

All the best,

David








On 2 Mar 2015, at 13:03, David Duffy <david at theradiopeople.co.uk<mailto:david at theradiopeople.co.uk>> wrote:

I just want to share that we have teamed up with transplan UK to offer help and advice to any groups thinking of applying for the recently announced small scale DAB broadcasting trials.
For those who may have missed it, following a consultation last year, Ofcom has announced plans for up to ten trials of small scale DAB across the UK allowing new digital radio services to broadcast to local areas, exploring how groups of radio stations can work together. The trials are expected to run for nine months and the deadline for applications is 3pm on 7 April 2015.
As we all know, the cost of broadcasting on DAB radio is currently beyond the reach of many community radio stations. But this new initiative means that stations could start broadcasting on DAB radio for a fraction of current costs.
For those who don't know, transplan UK is well respected for implementing small and large scale stations. The Radio People has a successful track record of winning licences on behalf of commercial and community broadcasters. By coming together we hope to have everything covered from the application through to implementation. Whilst Ofcom has invited applications from commercial, community and Internet broadcasters as well as new entrants to the sector, we want to make sure that community radio is well represented both as operators of the multiplex or as a content provider on a mux.
If you have any questions whatsoever then you can email us on our joint email team at localDAB.co.uk<mailto:team at localDAB.co.uk>  You can also follow the trials on Twitter @localDAB<http://www.twitter.com/localDAB>
David
The Radio People

Email:        david at theradiopeople.co.uk<mailto:david at theradiopeople.co.uk>

Website:    www.theradiopeople.co.uk<http://theradiopeople.co.uk/>

Twitter:      @theradiopeople<http://www.twitter.com/theradiopeople>

Facebook: facebook.com/theradiopeopleuk<https://www.facebook.com/theradiopeopleuk>






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