[cma-l] DAB trial

[David Duffy]

Hi Alex,

As I said, although the regulatory framework for rollout of local DAB (small scale DAB) has not yet been consulted on, I think it’s safe to say that it will not be offered exclusively for social/public ownership.  I would refer you to Ed Vaizey’s interview yesterday on Panjab Radio (prospective content provider on National D2). Not only is Ed keen to stay on at the DCMS if the present Government is re-elected, he is committed to greater relaxation in regulation. 

So, I predict that ownership will decided along the same that we see with the current tendering process for national DAB D2. This will be on the grounds of financial sustainability, expertise and previous experience, and the bouquet of content providers that you can bring to your mux - listener choice.  make no mistake, large commercial operators will be interested in this initiative - not because it provides a platform for their content (they’ll already have a more cost effective regional and national DAB presence) - but because they will be able to influence and shape how radio develops in the UK.  Plus it pays for itself!

The consensus from various informed sources is that, if successful, this will role out with first multiplex licences being advertise from 2017/18 onwards.  Watch this space!

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






> On 7 Mar 2015, at 17:39, tlr at gairloch.co.uk wrote:
> 
> David, surely we already have 'local DAB' - there are local DAB multiplexes all over the country (though none within 50 miles of me!). Isn't the new DAB pilot supposed to be all about "low cost DAB" - ie in the reach of micro commercial and community stations? The localness is incidental, except that only local stations are likely to be especially interested in low power sytems.
>  
> If Ofcom is serious that there is no guarantee of the DAB service continuing after 9 months, then the spectre of luring listeners onto DAB during the trial and then having them decide 'not to bother' to revert to FM when the trial ends is a serious one. A small station could spend a lot of time and effort on an experiement whose upshot is to transfer a chunk of its audience to competitiors on DAB.
>  
> For the DAB platform to become affordable to low-budget stations, and to remain affordable, the multiplex is likely to have to be under the control of such a station, or a third-party constituted with similar aims. Otherwise what will differentiate it from the existing local DAB multiplexes?*
>  
> If the multiplex is not in social/public ownership Ofcom would have to control commercial aspects of the market  in ways it has always seemed reluctant to do. Otherwise there would be nothing to stop access and carriage charges becoming unaffordable to small players as they have been until now. The current multiplex fees are not closely related to the cost of the systems, they are charging 'what the market will swallow'. It's not hard to imagine RadioCentre's likely reaction if Ofcom were to invite applications for multiplex operator licences open only to not-for-profit/community-owned applicants, or allowing them low-cost access while denying it to 'big' stations.
>  
> I guess one feasible approach would be to open up licensing of a new tier of multiplexes that have a strict low power limit, to make them less attractive to big commercial stations. But that would just generate and propagate more of all the angst and inconsistencies that have been generated by the present 25W guideline limit for community radio.
>  
> Again, none of these crucial issues is addressed nor affected by the trial. They should be under public discussion and consultation now, not waiting until after the trial - we all know that the systems being trialled will work technically - the trial will only provide information around the edges as to how well they work and a little more information as to their limitations.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20150307/5ea97da0/attachment.html>