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Obviously Mr Taunton hasn't done his homework.<BR>
Ofcom has stated very clearly that there are no plans to cease FM broadcasting.<BR>
<BR>
I do wish some of these high-flying executives would engage brain before operating mouth.<BR>
<BR>
We've had multi-platform radio receivers offering LW/MW/FM for 55 years.<BR>
Adding another platform - or two - isn't really that impossible.<BR>
<BR>
Ian Hickling<BR>
Partner<BR>
transplan UK<BR>
<BR>
<HR id=null>
<BR>> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 09:56:11 +0200<BR>> From: salvatore.scifo@communitymedia.eu<BR>> To: cma-l@commedia.org.uk<BR>> Subject: [cma-l] UTV Radio chief exec warns of 'two-tier' future<BR>> <BR>> Source:<BR>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/03/utv-radio-two-tier-future<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> UTV Radio chief exec warns of 'two-tier' future<BR>> <BR>> Local radio stations left behind on analogue would cease to exist after <BR>> digital switchover, says Scott Taunton<BR>> <BR>> * John Plunkett<BR>> * guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 February 2010 16.59 GMT<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> The UTV Radio chief executive, Scott Taunton, today warned that digital <BR>> switchover risked creating a "two-tier" environment in which small local <BR>> radio stations left behind on analogue would cease to exist.<BR>> <BR>> Taunton, whose company owns TalkSport and 14 local stations, attacked <BR>> plans to shift national and large regional services to digital audio <BR>> broadcasting (DAB) while leaving smaller local stations and community <BR>> broadcasters on FM.<BR>> <BR>> The UTV Radio chief executive said not enough investigation had been <BR>> done of a rival technology, DAB+, which would have the capacity to <BR>> transfer all stations to digital, including smaller local commercial <BR>> broadcasters.<BR>> <BR>> "It will create a two-tier system," Taunton told the House of Lords <BR>> communications committee's inquiry into digital TV and radio switchover.<BR>> <BR>> "It's like keeping analogue television services while moving the vast <BR>> bulk of services on to digital television, and expecting consumers to <BR>> come out of Sky or their digital service and back to analogue to listen <BR>> to them."<BR>> <BR>> Taunton said his group, which left the commercial radio trade body, the <BR>> Radio Centre, in protest at its policy towards the government's digital <BR>> economy bill, had "significant concerns" about the proposed 2015 <BR>> switchover to DAB.<BR>> <BR>> "There are a number of avenues that we don't believe have been fully <BR>> investigated at this stage. We don't believe there is a significant <BR>> benefit in rushing through the legislation and tying ourselves to a DAB <BR>> platform that gives a digital future to some stations but leaves 100 or <BR>> 120 commercial stations on AM and FM," he added.<BR>> <BR>> "We operate FM radio services – Tower FM in Bolton and Radio Wave in <BR>> Blackpool. They serve their communities very well but there is not the <BR>> capacity for them on the [DAB] multiplex. Under the current proposals <BR>> they would be left behind on FM, and in all likelihood these audiences <BR>> would be eroded to the point where they would not be viable in the future."<BR>> <BR>> William Rogers, the chief executive of local radio group UKRD, which <BR>> also quit the Radio Centre over its approach to the digital economy <BR>> bill, said the bill was "ill-considered" and "poorly executed".<BR>> <BR>> But John Myers, the former chief executive of GMG Radio who wrote a <BR>> government-commissioned report into commercial radio ahead of Lord <BR>> Carter's Digital Britain report, said any delay of the bill would be a <BR>> disaster for local radio and called on media regulator Ofcom to support <BR>> smaller stations by giving them local licences. GMG Radio is part of the <BR>> group that publishes MediaGuardian.co.uk.<BR>> <BR>> "The whole world is going digital. For radio to remain analogue in a <BR>> digital world is not viable," Myers told the committee.<BR>> <BR>> But radio analyst Grant Goddard painted a bleak history of digital radio <BR>> in the UK, listing some of the 14 digital-only stations that have closed <BR>> in the UK since DAB radio launched in 1999, including ITN News, <BR>> Primetime Radio and Capital Disney.<BR>> <BR>> "They failed to attract a sufficiently large audience. Not one single <BR>> digital station [in the UK] has managed an operating profit," said Goddard.<BR>> <BR>> "The commercial radio industry mantra was 'build it, they will come'. <BR>> There was no massive marketing, no huge expenditure. Throughout the <BR>> early years of DAB the commercial radio industry wanted to believe it <BR>> was just around the corner, that you just had to hang on and wait. But <BR>> they never actually did come."<BR>> <BR>> Goddard said DAB might become a home for niche services, such as traffic <BR>> and travel information, Premier Christian Radio and the BFBS armed <BR>> forces channel, rather than mainstream broadcasters.<BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> <BR>> cma-l mailing list - cma-l@commedia.org.uk<BR>> <BR>> Community Media Association - www.commedia.org.uk<BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> <BR>> To manage your mailing list subscription please visit:<BR>> http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l<BR> </body>
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