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<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Apologies if you get this twice, but I think I sent it
only to Clive first time around...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>A worthwhile persepctive, Clive, thanks.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>I too tried suggesting to the incoming Secretary of
State that now was the time to bite the bullet and get the digital radio train
back on the rails without loss of political face. It was a golden opportunity to
right the wrong of what has to be one of the BBC and Ofcom's poorest strategic
decisions of all time - that of ploughing ahead full steam with DAB when every
clear thinking person could see the coming quagmire, with only a pair of
buffers on the far side!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Where I <FONT face=Calibri>would diverge from your
reasoning a little is on the question of DAB+. There was (and still is) no need
to disenfranchise DAB receiver owners by introducing DAB. At the time (and still
to some extent now) there was a large swathe of the UK in the Highlands and
Islands with no DAB coverage whatever, and consequently no significant installed
base of DAB receivers at all (and of course almost none incars, even those of
visitors).</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>At the same time, this region has 6 national BBC
channels and numerous 'ILR' stations - far too many for the planned DAB
multiplexes to cope with - even the BBC can carry only 4 of its 6 national
channels on DAB outside the major connurbations (in those areas it rents extra
capacity from commercial MUXes). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>DAB+ could have solved these capacity problems at a
stroke with no creation of redundant sets, since all those newly bought in the
region could be DAB+ capable, and all DAB car radios are DAB+ as well. It would
also have provided invaluable field experience of using the system in
challenging terrain which would benefit the UK as a whole. In the fullness of
time DAB+ migration could then take place across the UK as the old rump of
DAB-only sets became a small minority.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>There need be no problem in overlapping
border regions or a gradual migration across the UK either - DAB and
DAB+ are quite capable of operating in the same region if planned for
correctly.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>I see Ofcom has been asked to chair a review of DAB
coverage planning standards and options for getting to the point of matching
coverage for FM (although it proposes to achieve this partly by lowering its
standards for minimum quality of DAB signal). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Incidentally, it's not just uninformed parlimentarians
or journalists who appear to believe digital *switchover* is the term to
use for what is planned. Ofcom's own summary of its new brief to work on DAB
coverage planning says the purpose of the Digital Radio Actio Plan is "<SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); FONT-SIZE: 14px"
class=Apple-style-span>'to provide the information to allow for a well-informed
decision by Government on whether to proceed with a radio <U>switchover'</U>.",
and that part of its work will be "<SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN
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class=Apple-style-span>A study investigating the feasibility of different radio
<U>switchover</U> scenarios ..."</SPAN></SPAN> <FONT face=Calibri><SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN
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class=Apple-style-span>There's that s-word again, Ian! I guess they really
are referring only to switchover of BBC and national ILR
stations.</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>The question I haven't been able to get answered is will
it be looking at coverage just in terms of there being some DAB coverage
across the same footprint as present FM, or in terms of fully equivalent
coverage - ie in an area such as ours, would provision of BBC R1-4 on DAB be
regarded as equivalent coverage when our present FM coverage also includes the
other two national BBC channels, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal?
At present the BBC has no plans to provide the latter two on DAB here unless a
commercial multiplex operator also decides to set up shop (oh, I see a pig
passing our aerials!).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=clive.glover@lineone.net href="mailto:clive.glover@lineone.net">Clive
Glover</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ian@transplan.uk.com
href="mailto:ian@transplan.uk.com">ian@transplan.uk.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=cma-l@commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 06, 2011 9:52
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [cma-l] The Telegraph:
Government still won’t commit to digital radio switchover date</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><BR></DIV>Ian
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><BR>
<DIV>The driver is government support for British industry, both manufacturers
and the big commercial radio groups who want to be able to force the BBC onto
DAB only to "level the playing field" so that, say, BBC R2 is seen as equal to
Heart or Capital or Smooth in terms of all being national radio stations.
We actually do also have a number of manufacturers of radio equipment
including consumer radio sets and this means there is a new market for them to
fill with DAB radios. And,, if they had got in first with something that other
countries adopted too then these manufacturers could have been first into
those new markets leading to more jobs for British workers etc....Over the
last year or so the emphasis has been on getting DAB radios into vehicles. But
this is difficult because car manufacturers have a five year development cycle
and modern cars no longer have "radios" at all, instead an electronic
dashboard which incorporates everything from traditional speed and petrol
indicators etc to sat-navs and "audio" systems - and, increasingly, Internet
access.</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>