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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>The BBC has confirmed it will pay for taking DAB
coverage up from 90% to 97%, reaching all towns with a population greater than
5,000. Sadly (or not!), we don't have any towns with a population of over 5,000
within 50 miles of us! I presume also that it will continue doing this in our
part of the UK with insufficient capacity on an inefficient single DAB multiplex
to carry even all of its own national channels, let alone any community-based
stations!</FONT></DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>
<DIV><BR><U>From the Guardian:</U></DIV>
<DIV><BR>The BBC has confirmed it will pay for the rollout of digital audio
broadcasting (DAB) radio to 97% of the population, but culture minister Ed
Vaizey has warned a "huge amount of work" remains to be done to get to
switchover.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>The corporation's director of audio and music, Tim Davie, said the BBC
would fund the expansion of its national DAB platform – coverage currently
stands at just over 90% – "despite the tough financial environment".<BR></DIV>
<DIV>He said that every town with a population of more than 5,000 people would
have indoor DAB coverage, but admitted that "small pockets of poor coverage in
some of these areas" would remain.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Davie said the priority was "solid coverage" in the UK's top 25 cities,
with boosts to the signal in areas including London, Leicester, Glasgow,
Coventry and Swansea.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>In a speech to the Drive to Digital conference at the BBC's Broadcasting
House in central London on Tuesday, Davie eschewed mention of a switchover date
– preferring to talk about "radio's digital hybrid future".<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Vaizey picked up on the 2015 switchover target now effectively abandoned by
the industry and said it "still has an important purpose".<BR>"You will no doubt
have heard the negatives of digital radio, there has certainly been no shortage
of column inches devoted to the subject," he added.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>"They often suggest that DAB is an out-of-date technology, that coverage
and sound quality are inferior to analogue and listeners are already happy with
what they've got, so why change?"<BR></DIV>
<DIV>"There are of course elements of truth in all these statements," admitted
the minister, a sentiment that may have sent eyebrows soaring towards
Broadcasting House's newly-refurbished roof.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/18/bbc-rollout-dab-radio">http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/18/bbc-rollout-dab-radio</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>