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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>Hi Alex,
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>For me I think the biggest issue of switching to DAB+ is the listeners,
as I dont think we have their full support to move to DAB anyway (Does the
'Man on the Street' even really know what its all about). If we dont have full
audience support now with DAB, how are they going to feel if we change
direction and move to DAB+.. How many sets are there out there that are DAB
only and would never support DAB+ (and I would guess cost a fortune in the
first place as its an early model)..</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The only way we could do it in my honest opinion is with a full scale
move by the BBC and Government and a huge investment by
both.. </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV dir=ltr>I understand that point of view, but I disagree that it is the only
way. Also, did the man in the street have any idea what DAB was about in the
first place - apart from the dishonest 'CD-quality radio hype'. With 80-90%
of people consistently saying they are satisfied with the range of radio
services and platforms available to them, this was never a consumer-driven
development.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>An alternative to the German
big-bang strategy is to start deploying DAB+ in the areas that do not
yet have any DAB coverage, and then over the years start working backwards in
towards the early areas. As a bonus you might even get the requisite
listener-driven demand as the populated centres start clamouring for the same
grade of service as being delivered to the outliers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>In technical terms DAB and DAB+ can coesxist,
and by luck the regions that do not yet have DAB, and therefore woudl be the
places to start DAB+, are also ones where the existing BBC DAB multiplex has
insufficient capacity to replicate current FM services.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>There appear to be around 13m DAB radios out
there, mostly DAB-only. That's half the number of receivers the industry
predicted for this date back in 2006. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>But in any event in my proposed present-day
strategy we wouldn't have a big bang retrofit - and the incumbent sets would be
getting old and outdated anyway. In fact all the same arguments currently being
applied to older FM radios! Cars, which might drive into DAB+ areas,
are generally already able to receive DAB+, and so are all new receiver designs.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>After a few years when all the willing adopters
have shelled out for updated radios, the industry could even fund a so-called
amnesty - subsidizing the upgrade of old DAB radios to DAB+ models. Now where
have I seen that idea before?!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>The really frustrating thing is that the same
strategy was being proposed (by others more prominent, not just little
me!) back in 2007/8 and if the BBC/DCMS/Ofcom had been grown up enough to
make the right decision then we would be in so much better a position now, for
no greater amount of money spent, and DAB receiver sales would probably be on
the climb instead of in decline. (NB FM receiver sales continue strong, but
Ofcom et al conveniently ignore the number of them in mobile
phones, keeping the FM sales looking artifically lower.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Calibri>PS from our quirks dept - almost every
single steam shower cabinet on the market today in the UK has an FM radio in it
as standard issue - I haven't seen a single one offering DAB! Total number of
FM-capable tuners in the UK appears to be in the 90m-120m range.</FONT></DIV>
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