<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div dir="ltr">Very Interesting!<div><br></div><div><a href="http://radiotoday.co.uk/2014/10/ofcom-to-invite-small-scale-dab-testers/" target="_blank">http://radiotoday.co.uk/2014/10/ofcom-to-invite-small-scale-dab-testers/</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px"><strong>Small-scale DAB is to get a boost as Ofcom prepares to licence a number of smaller multiplexes.</strong><span></span></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">The regulator will launch a consultation next week inviting stations to be part of the test, which will give existing stations a chance to go on DAB for a nine month period.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">Peter Davies, Director of Content Policy at Ofcom, speaking at the Tech Con event in Salford today, said: “There are around 150 small scale radio and 200 or more community radio stations and for them the existing multiplex structure just doesn’t work.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">“We want to give those stations a chance to go digital, and we’d like to see community and commercial stations working together,” he said.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">Peter started off his session by admitting that DAB has not been a good platform for small scale radio so far and this new consultation will take a look at the licence conditions and awards process.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">Trials will be for nine months and ofcom will provide equipment but not operating and installation costs. Once a station has been awarded a trial, they will be expected to be on-air within 12 months.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">More details will be released by Ofcom next week, when we’ll update this story.</p><b style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:HelveticaNeue,'Droid Arabic Kufi',Helvetica,Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;line-height:24px">Posted on Monday, October 13th, 2014 at 3:02 pm by <a href="http://radiotoday.co.uk/author/radiotoday/" rel="author" style="color:rgb(18,108,163);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Radio Today UK</a>. </b><br></div></div>
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