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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>Exactly Clive.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">I note that the no doubt very carefully worded
BBC statement says "national DAB coverage". This almost certainly deliberately
excludes rolling out the "local" DAB coverage which the commercial companies
are also refusing to fund.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT><FONT
size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>So there is another subtle shift in policy here - the "switchover" (as
they still insist on calling it down in Whitehall) will now be triggered when
digital listening on <B>national</B> services reaches the appropriate
limit. <!--[if !mso]><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><![endif]--></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>What's more, here in Scotland not having a
commercial multiplex means also not having all the BBC National services.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>In areas with no commercial multiplex we
get no BBC Radio Scotland on DAB (really!) nor BBC Radio nan Gaidheal (the
national Gaelic service). This is because the single BBC DAB multiplex is
already stretched to the max capacity/min quality limits to carry the
England-based services. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>In highly populous areas, such as
Edinburgh and Glasgow, the BBC gets round the problem by renting extra capacity
for these services on commercial multiplexes, but of course it can't do that
anywhere in the north/northwes of the UK where there are no commercial
multiplexes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>It also means we don't get the regional
news opt-outs from the national Radio Scotland service that we currently get at
peak times on FM.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma>They could have sorted all this by using
the northwest as a pilot area for DAB+.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><BR>Alex</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT> </DIV>
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